FILOMENA NELSON: Like right now there's a new project that is being rolled out in Vanuatu funded by the Green Climate Fund. The idea of that project is to improve observation systems, to put more observation systems in place. And also to work with the different sectors such as agriculture, health, tourism, to really understand what the climate information is telling them. What are the implications of saying 'ok in the next six months' or 'in the next so-and-so years we're expecting drier weather conditions'. And what does that mean in terms of agriculture? It means that they need to look at crops that could withstand that kind of conditions. It means that they could look at the water supply system to look at back up water supply like water tanks and things like that. So that they have a continuous supply of water for their farmers. In terms of the health sector, it basically means that they have to look at the correlation between the different weather conditions expected and how they could trigger outbreak things like dengue fever and other related diseases.

JENNY MEYER: And how are the countries responding to all that information? Are they swapping ideas about what's working and what's not working for them?

FN: Well they are responding well to this training that we are delivering this week for them. There's a lot of interest in the tools that are being taught throughout this week. But I know the challenge is the application on the ground in the real life situation. Some of the things that we're advising them is, the best way of learning is through the application in the real programme that they're going to work on within their respective countries. So one thing is delivering training but the sustaining of those skills and that knowledge it's always a challenge in the region. So us the regional organisations have to look at ways to ensure that there is a continuation of support through the provision of technical support to continue to provide guidance to them in the application of what they're learning this week on the ground.

JM: When you say tools, what exactly do you mean?

FN: Well the tools, things like there's a tool called cost-benefit analysis. I can give you an example, I can explain it using an example in Samoa where we've had a lot of issues in terms of flooding. We had that big flooding when Cyclone Evan affected Samoa in 2012. And we experienced it again earlier on this year when Cyclone Gita affected Samoa. The option that the government took to address the flooding issue to reduce the risk of people being affected is to build a wall, a revetment wall along the Vaisigano River. A cost benefit analysis was undertaken to look at; what are the costs to the government, to the communities. It's not just the cost of putting in the revetment wall, it's also the cost to the individual households living along the riverbanks of that river. And also we have to look at benefits. If we put in the wall, what do we get out of it? Of course the ultimate one would be the protection of the lives and the livelihoods of the people living along those areas. Land issue is a sensitive issue in each of the individual countries in this region and of course that has to be taken into account. If we have to relocate people there's also a cost attached to it. So we have to weigh the costs against the benefits to help governments, to help the communities to make the decisions on which is the best option that could address the flood issues that they're facing.

Climate resilience training underway

RNZ