By Mike Scott, Program Director, PASAI
If you have been captured by the title of this piece, welcome to the world of the strange connections made in the mind of a veteran performance auditor. Bear with me as I try to explain.
The findings of climate change adaptation audits from 9 government audit offices in the Pacific [1], recently brought together into a regional report, show how painfully real the effects of climate change are in the Pacific. In the words of the audit teams:
“The effects of climate change are real and literally at our doorsteps. We are experiencing more intense and frequent cyclones, droughts and flooding, erosion and saline intrusion, causing loss of ancestral homes, displacement of people and health risks, threatening food and water security, and endangering children’s futures.”
Time for the first dubious connection: pain. When I was growing up, I have memories of stinging nettles leaving painful blisters on my arms and legs as I ran through the fields of long grass behind the house where I lived. I would hunt out ‘dock’ leaves to soothe the burning sensation. There were also sometimes bulls in those fields – the second dubious connection.
But why I am linking these stinging plants and horned beasts to climate change. Well, “grasping the nettle” or “grabbing the bull by the horns” were expressions I often heard growing up in Britain, meaning to tackle a difficult problem boldly or confront a difficult situation directly and with determination. That is what is needed for more effective climate change adaptation in the Pacific.
Implementing climate change adaptation measures is not easy. It often involves complex and innovative solutions, depends on multiple parties coming together with common purpose and requires substantial funding. Nonetheless, governments need to act with greater urgency and greater effect to ensure that investments are made to adapt to climate change and that these investments have significant and enduring benefits.
The messages from the audits are clear and consistent. Governments need to act now to ensure that:
they secure available financing and expertise for long-term, sustainable solutions
measures are better planned and targeted to where they are needed and can be most effective
measures are implemented more effectively through more coordinated and inclusive action
there is accountability for delivery of the intended outcomes through monitoring and reporting.
So, where do the cowboy heroes come in, the third dubious connection, I hear you asking. Well, one of my all-time favourite movies is the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. It is based on the original 1954 Japanese epic Seven Samurai, which I have never seen but have just put on my must watch list. Both are stories of threatened communities pooling their resources and working together with external assistance to act with courage and conviction to adapt, preserve their lifestyle and build a future for generations to come.
These stories of triumph over adversity and rising to a seemingly impossible challenge against immense odds are, in many ways, a reflection of the very serious and real threat that climate change poses to the futures of many Pacific communities.
The regional report on the 9 audits concludes that the time for more concerted action to adapt to the realities of climate change for people in the Pacific is now. Governments need to urgently respond to the calls for action in the report to be effective in the planning and response to climate change.
Endnotes
[1] Those of the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
