In the Eye of the Storm Reflections from the Second Pacific Climate Change Conference

Abstract

This volume is a record of the Second Pacific Climate Change Conference hosted by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington on 21-23 February 2018. One of the main strengths of the conference series is that it brings together perspectives from across all sectors of society, from science to policy; engages community activism; and highlights the role of the arts and of faith communities. Hence, this book is a collection of disparate voices, representing the diverse participants to the conference. There is a wide range of styles and substantive content, but there is a strong common theme: climate change affects us all, and a successful response involves all sectors of society. To adapt to changes that are already under way, a concerted effort is required to protect communities from changing hazards associated with sea level rise, increasing extremes of rainfall, more violent cyclones, and the inevitable impacts on food and water security. To bring climate change to a halt, the whole of the global community must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to zero as soon as possible, ideally by 2050.1 The risks and the challenges of climate change are huge, and no more so than across the Pacific. This book is titled "In the Eye of the Storm" because the Pacific, especially the western Pacific, is at the front lines of the changing climate; the title also pays tribute to the theme of the inaugural Pacific Climate Change Conference held in Wellington in 2016. Sea level rise is higher than the global average, rainfall variability is set to increase dramatically, the tropical cyclone season is lengthening and the most powerful storms are becoming more frequent. Many communities live on low-lying clusters of islands, especially prone to the effects of sea level rise. While Pacific nations have done very little to cause the climate change problem, they are very much at the forefront of suffering the consequences.