We are now Pacific Research on Island Solutions for Adaptation, or – as you already know us – “Pacific RISA” for short.

Why make a change?

Fifteen years ago, we adopted NOAA’s national program moniker “Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments” into our name to clearly demonstrate our relationship with the NOAA RISA network. In 2022, however, NOAA selected a new program name and all of the former RISA teams are now collectively known as “NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships“. This gave us an opportunity to consider whether to keep our current program name or explore other options.

After discussing with the team and our close partners, we agreed that maintaining the Pacific RISA brand was our preferred course of action but took the opportunity to modify the acronym to more accurately reflect what we do. With “Research on Island Solutions for Adaptation“, we believe our new name captures both the science-based nature of our work and the fact that Pacific Islands are global leaders in climate adaptation solutions.

What’s next?

This change is effective immediately and we are updating our online presence accordingly. Our team members and research partners will begin using the new name in meetings, presentations, publications, and other activities. And for our existing partners and long-time collaborators, we hope you won’t find this transition to be difficult – we are still the Pacific RISA, after all!

If you have any questions about the name change or next steps, please reach out to us at info@pacificrisa.org.

Featured image: Sunrise over Kailua Bay, Oahu. Credit: Laura Brewington