At its 27th Board meeting of on 10 November 2020, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved the submission of a US$49.9 million programme.
Niue will receive 7.8 million of this allocation of grant funding towards Enhancing Climate Information and Knowledge Services for resilience in 5 island countries of the Pacific Ocean.
This is UNEP’s first multi-country programme initiative in the GCF, and will cover the Cook Islands, Niue, Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu, countries with some of the world’s smallest and most dispersed populations surrounded by vast ocean areas.
In a statement to BCN news this morning Premier Tagelagi said that “Niue is highly vulnerable to climate-related hazards and extreme climate events. This GCF programme will empower our island populations to initiate timely and appropriate actions to reduce the impact of hazards and extreme events by using improved climate information, early warning, and risk knowledge”.
“The benefits of this project will impact greatly on the continued efforts of the Niue people to building a safer, more resilient Niue to impacts of Climate Change and towards achieving sustainable livelihoods for the Pacific”.
The statement from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction says that strengthening the resilience and capacity of Pacific Small Island Developing States to adapt to climate change cannot be achieved without scientific knowledge and data on climate and its impacts.
The new programme aims to develop climate science and information services that are essential for sustainable development, environmental management, disaster risk reduction, food security, health services, water resource management and energy efficiency.
Premier Tagelagi applauds the efforts by everyone and the hard work towards the successful outcome of the approved project Enhancing Climate Information and Knowledge Services for Resilience.