Most of the time, the Sarakata River in Espiritu Santo is a serene and beautiful waterway. After heavy rainfall, however, it becomes a raging torrent, flooding adjacent populated areas. Although such floods are a natural phenomenon, human-induced climate change is making the rainfall events that cause this flooding more extreme. This is resulting in more severe flooding in the Sarakata River catchment and is leaving adjacent communities more vulnerable in terms of their physical safety, economic stability, and overall development.

18 August 2023 - Port Vila, Vanuatu. OSCAR – the ‘tailOred System of Climate services for AgRiculture’ developed by the APEC Climate Centre (APCC) as part of the Vanuatu Climate Information Services for Resilient Development Planning Project (VanKIRAP) was handed over to the Vanuatu Government at an official ceremony held in Port Vila last week.

15 August 2023, Nadi Fiji - The sixth Meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC-6) and related meetings is an opportunity to call for further support from governments, development partners and donors to ensure that National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in the Pacific have the necessary capacity to support sustainable and resilient development.

16 August 2023, Nadi Fiji – A new tailor-made tool which gives the people of Vanuatu the ability to make informed decisions to improve crop resilience based on what is happening in the local climate has been launched by the Vanuatu Klaemet Infomesen blong Redi, Adapt mo Protekt, (VanKIRAP) project on the margins of the Sixth Pacific Meteorological Council Meeting (PMC-6) in Denarau, Fiji.

With a history of around eight years of providing climate information services in the Pacific Island region, the APEC Climate Center (APCC) has officially become a member of the WMO RA-V Pacific Regional Climate Centre Network (Pacific RCC) node on long-range forecasting.