Kiwa Capacity Development for NbS Consultation Workshop in Fiji

On November 15^th, in-country consultation workshop took place in Fiji, led by our partners SPC and SPREP, in partnership with IUCN.

The workshop focused on the assessment of capacity building needs associated with Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation (CCA) in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). Participants were from Government/Ministries, Academic/training institutions, Civil Society and regional organizations.

This assessment is part of the Technical Assistance component offered by the Kiwa Initiative to eligible project leaders. SPC, SPREP and IUCN wish to better support the needs of PICTs in the area of NbS.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

- Identify the current status of NbS for CCA in Fiji (interventions and associated trainings) as well as current challenges related to NbS, and thus strengthen the implementation and integration of NbS into policies and project implementations.

- Map existing training supply with identified skills needed to strengthen in-country implementation of NbS.

- Establish a local NbS network.

Key outcomes include:

1) Although there are international standards set by IUCN for NbS, there is no specific regional or national adaptation for the Pacific yet.

2) During consultations, it is essential to adopt an inclusive approach at the community level (especially with regards to the engagement of women, children and youth), but also national and regional levels.

3) In relation to various National Policies, it was noted that implementation and enforcement are areas that need to be improved, recalling the co-benefits of NbS on human well-being and biodiversity.

According to Mr. Spencer Nigel Robinson, member of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) "I share strong sentiments that the workshop delivery was spot on and achieved its objective. Like most participants we appreciate your knowledge and wisdom on the importance of wide consultation across the various actors as well as the significance of regional Training Needs and Gaps Analysis (TNGA) on NbS and CCA. The outcomes that I had documented from the workshop would be disseminated to PIDF via our internal meetings. Most of the outcomes are not know new to PIDF but this strongly reinforces the need for more robust community level engagements. Moreover, the need to be more vigilant of traditional governance systems within local communities and facilitating their input on how best to contextualize the narrative/messaging of NbS for CCA for community level.”

Many thanks to our partners for making this workshop possible and for the ongoing work provided for capacity building in the Pacific region.

Kiwa's partners (SPREP, SPC and IUCN) will now design a capacity building program to address the needs expressed, in coordination with existing initiatives in the region.