Pacific Ocean and atmosphere must be studied, says Asik

THE Pacific region’s oceans and terrestrial atmosphere needs to be fully understood because of their vulnerable and poor resilience capacity in the face of climate change, Ronald Asik said.
Asik, who is PNG’s Vice-Minister for Forestry and Climate Change, said this during the launch of the Pacific Climate Change Science Programme (PCCSP) at the COP17, Durban South Africa.
The side event was hosted by the Australian government and the secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.
Speakers highlighted the extensive new science, future climate projections and capacity-building initiatives of this programme.
The PCCSP programme is committed to establishing a robust scientific platform from which Pacific Island nations can develop and implement effective adaptation strategies. The programme’s approach has been to simultaneously build capacity in partner countries and develop, in collaboration, important scientific resources and tools. 
In August, a team from the Australian government’s PCCSP were in the country training climate change stakeholders, including PNG National Weather Service and the Office of Climate Change and Development in the use of two new computer-based climate science tools.
PCCSP scientists from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have been researching past and current climate trends and natural variability, as well as developing climate and ocean projections for 14 Pacific nations and Timor Leste.
A key part of the PCCSP has been developing computer-based tools to support the role of national weather service offices in partner countries. PCCSP scientists delivered training in a web-based climate projections tool called PCCSP Climate
Futures.
However during the launch, Asik said the PNG government was pleased to be a part of the programme, adding that regional contribution would support the work of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change’s 5th Assessment and influence political and economic decisions.
He acknowledged the contribution of the Australia government under the adaptation funding to PNG and the Pacific countries and thanked the Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet in filling a gap in improving PNG’s scientific understanding and information and much needed data to expedite our adaptation measures and sustainable development in the Pacific.