Nikhil Aiyush Kumar 
[Photo: Supplied]
Pacific countries are stepping up efforts to protect critical infrastructure from growing climate impacts.
Australia says climate disasters, coastal erosion and rising sea levels are putting pressure on the region’s economies and infrastructure.
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen announced $3 million for climate resilience projects in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, and Tuvalu.
Australia says investing in climate resilience now reduces future disaster recovery costs, with Fiji’s funding supporting upgrades to Kings and Queens Roads.
“These countries adjust to climate change, particularly focused on their coastlines, erosion, rising sea levels, and natural disasters, which are increasingly less natural and more frequent. We know that this is taking an increasing proportion of the GDP of the Pacific Islands.”
Bowen states the investment aims to prepare Pacific countries for the impacts they are already experiencing.
“We also saw first-hand a project dealing with the impacts of climate change where Australia and New Zealand are partnering with Tuvalu to increase the land base of that island by 30% and to get a chance at survival in an age of climate change. That’s resilience and adaptation.”
Minister for Climate Change Lynda Tabuya says coastal roads are among the most vulnerable infrastructure to climate change.
“We have a lot of roads around the coastal communities that are higher. A lot of them washed away because of disasters. Of course, sea level rise.”}
Tabuya adds that strengthening infrastructure remains critical as Pacific countries continue facing rising sea levels and frequent disasters.
