Pacific IWRM - Climate Variability & Climate Change Issues Affecting the Achievements of Water & Sanitation

Pacific Island Countries are facing significant challenges in providing safe water and sanitation services, meeting poverty reduction targets such as the Millennium Development Goals, and safeguarding the basic human rights of their citizens. Climate variability, and the inherent vulnerability of Pacific Islands to climatic extremes, compound and exacerbate these challenges. The emerging impacts of climate change add a new dimension to the water and sanitation challenge: threatening resources, increasing uncertainties, and in many cases intensifying the extremes of existing climate variability. As these impacts will be experienced largely through changes in climate variability, the management of water resources for variability and extremes will be fundamental to successful adaptation. To be effective, adaptation responses to climate change must also acknowledge and address the underlying pressures and constraints that limit the Pacific’s ability to meet today’s serious water and sanitation challenges. By strengthening the capacity of countries and communities to better deal with current water and sanitation challenges, adaptation strategies can improve their ability to respond to current climate variability and adapt to future climate change.

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