On March 25, the Pacific RISA was invited by the East-West Center and the Government of Japan to participate in a workshop on “Strengthening Resilience, Cooperation, and Partnership in the Pacific” in a panel focused on the impacts of compound threats such as climate and ecological change. Moderated by Dr. Victoria Keener, the panel featured Dr. Laura Brewington, Pacific RISA co-lead investigator, who said healthy ecosystems and natural resources can help insulate island communities from many of these threats, but they need protection and management. “Here in Hawai‘i and the Pacific, we’ve started to really focus on the interacting effects of climate change and biodiversity loss because our lives and livelihoods are so intertwined with our ecosystems,” she said.

The newly-formed Pacific Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change Management Network is among the regional, cooperative efforts underway to address the compound impacts of climate change and invasive species. Pacific RISCC gathers together scientists and natural resource managers to improve the ways that communities can anticipate and prepare for global warming and ecological change, said Brewington. Another regional initiative, the Pacific Invasives Partnership, has long worked on high-priority international invasive species issues, with members representing state and local institutions, non-governmental organizations and academia. The partners advocate for changes in the ways that governments approach compound threats and stressors to ecosystems, she said.

“Pacific RISCC gathers together scientists and natural resource managers to improve the ways that communities can anticipate and prepare for global warming and ecological change”

Other panelists included Austin Shelton, executive director of the University of Guamʻs Center for Island Sustainability and director of the universityʻs Sea Grant Program, who described Guam’s approach to sustainability in the face of change through the Local2030 Islands Network, an international partnership created by the United Nations to implement its sustainable development goals at the local level. The networkʻs diverse members include Hawai‘i, the Marshall Islands, and Ireland. Guamʻs watershed initiative is helping restore the islandʻs coral reefs, which are at risk because of the compound effects of pollutants in erosion runoff and other climate impacts. As part of this initiative, Guam is taking several steps to mitigate the erosion, restore vegetation, and slow runoff.

Masanori Kobayashi, senior fellow with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Policy Research Institute, described the potential for changes in fish stock distributions along with with rising temperatures, typhoon activity and other signs of climate change in the Pacific Islands region. “There may be a shift of fish stock distribution from west to east,” Kobayashi said, with Micronesia projected to see fish catch declines and Polynesia to experience increases. Attention should be paid to possible correlations involving drought, climate change, and pressures on agriculture and fisheries.

Brewington noted that for the time being, economic recovery from COVID-19 will likely occupy the most global attention, with less emphasis on issues like biodiversity and climate change. “But we can find ways to implement policies that effectively address these compounding factors in ways that are equitable without further entrenching marginalized communities,” she said. She said states and nations need to prioritize biodiversity in their stimulus packages, just as the European Commission has done, by incorporating compound stressors and adaptation in their recovery plans.

Featured image from the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Global Assessment Report 2019.