Coastal flooding in Palau is already affecting daily life—overtopping roads, disrupting access, and threatening critical and culturally important places. In partnership with Pacific RISA, Hawaii Sea Grant and the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Level Center (UHSLC), this work supports partners in in developing practical, place-based flood indicators that translate sea level and tide information into clear, decision-relevant insights for locations identified as vulnerable.

Over 10 days in January, Coastal Adaptation Specialist Moehlenkamp helped support field visits where a team collected 120 high-accuracy elevation measurements across Koror, Babeldaob, and Peleliu to support flooding threshold analysis. These measurements help link what communities observe on the ground with what tide gauge records show over time—so communities and agencies can better understand how severe flooding has been at specific places in the past, and how the frequency and depth of those events are likely to change as sea levels continue to rise.

From interviews to a priority site list

This field data collection effort was built on a stakeholder-driven process. An initial list of flood impact locations was compiled through interviews and meetings with community members, and stakeholders across the NGO, private, and government sectors. Those conversations identified roads, causeways, schools, taro fields, cultural sites, and other places where flooding creates real impacts. That list was then refined in collaboration with the Office of Climate Change (OCC) and the Palau Automated Land and Resources Information System (PALARIS) focusing on priority sites where elevation data could most directly support flood thresholds and locally usable indicators.

Field visits with local coordination and context

With support from the OCC, Coastal Adaptation Specialist Moehlenkamp visited sites and helped coordinate on-the-ground engagement. At many locations, the team met with state governors and/or state Protected Areas Network (PAN) coordinators, who guided them to the precise points to measure, and who also shared valuable context on flooding history and community impacts. These brief site meetings helped ensure the elevation measurements are not only technically accurate, but also locally meaningful and directly useful for the communities most affected.

What these measurements enable: localized flood indicators

Unlike broad flood risk assessments, this approach is designed to produce highly localized results. By linking high-accuracy elevation measurements at flood-prone sites with long-term tide gauge records, the analysis can evaluate a specific location—such as a road segment, school, or other critical site—and estimate:

• Historical flooding frequency (how often water levels likely exceeded a site’s flood threshold)
• Severity (how far above the threshold water levels reached during exceedances)
• Future changes in frequency and severity under different sea level rise scenarios

This level of detail can support both community and government decision-making, strengthen national adaptation planning, and inform updates to regional planning products and assessments.

After learning during the 2024 climate services dialog in Palau that taro (kukau, in Palauan) is a staple crop of high importance for food security and island sustainability, the team developed a prototype of an early warning dashboard for taro producers, who are primarily women as heads of households. During this visit, the goal was to evaluate ways to improve the draft dashboard and enhance its practicality for users. Information below was primarily gathered through taro patch visits with farmers, but also includes information gathered during meetings with NGOs, as well as government officials. Nearly all taro patches in Palau depend on surface water availability, so knowledge of rainfall amounts and frequency, as well as temperature and duration of hot and sunny weather, is crucial for making planting decisions or other interventions, such as when to cover vulnerable crops. With this information, the team will update the dashboard and integrate other suggested tools, such as a community news page for information exchange.

“The challenges of climate change aren’t coming–we are living them”

~President Surangel Whipps of Palau

The workshop aimed to both facilitate the development and delivery of locally relevant and impact-driven climate early warning products to support sector-based decision-making in Palau and foster increased alignment and coordination of climate projects in country, including within the UNEP CIS-Pac5 as well as across other partners, such as the Local 2030 Islands Network.

To develop Climate Early Warning Systems (CLEWS), Pacific RISA followed the Pacific Islands Dialog process that was developed by NOAA in collaboration with USAID throughout the Pacific Islands region. Participants heard stories about climate events and impacts in Palau and engaged in interactive breakout activities to construct historical timelines and maps: creating a dataset of the “where and when” of those events and impacts that would later serve as a template for creating prototypes of sector-specific CLEWS for agriculture and health.

During the week, the Local2030 Islands Network celebrated the launch of a new Palau Green Growth Dashboard, a public-private partnership to track Palau’s progress toward locally-relevant sustainable development goals. Pacific RISA collaborators from the University of Guam’s Center for Island Sustainability and Guam Green Growth were present for the launch and were central to the development of Palau’s dashboard. Additional workshop sessions were dedicated to presentations by partners in the UNEP CIS-Pac5 program and discussions around how to harmonize data, as a means to support communication, coordination, and collaboration across projects and initiatives within Palau, and elevate the important messages from the week. Throughout the workshop, local artist Janine Tewid created a live graphic interpretation of the CLEWS discussions, which was unveiled at a reception held the evening of February 29.

Featured image: the Rock Islands of Palau. Photo by Krista Jaspers.

Conference organizer and Pacific RISA co-lead investigator Laura Brewington described the profound impacts of invasive species on the Pacific Islands region, while pointing to the need for regional collaboration to address the issue. “This first PESC has reminded us that invasive species impact every aspect of Pacific Island life and security. While we have many of the tools we need for their prevention, control, and eradication, we also recognize that no country can do it alone,” said Dr. Brewington.

Participants shared stories from across the region about the multi-faceted and devastating impacts of invasive species on climate resilience, food security, and ecosystem sustainability. Dr. Brewington, as a co-founder of the Pacific Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change management network, gave a keynote presentation focusing on three main interactions between climate change and invasive species in Pacific Islands:

• Climate change is expected to alter mechanisms for invasive species transport and introduction, by creating new tourism or shipping opportunities, or by increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events like storms and flooding.
• Climate change will alter the distributions of invasive species that already exist on islands, allowing them to spread into new areas, especially under warmer conditions.
• Climate change will alter the effectiveness of our current methods of controlling invasive species, so much so that restoration may not even be possible under new climate regimes and conservation strategies will have to be dynamic.

High-level conference outcomes

• Participants at the PESC acknowledged the importance of invasive species work to building and maintaining the climate resilience and adaptability of Pacific Island ecosystems, as well as food security, biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, and the protection of native traditions and cultural resources.
• Participants developed three Strategic Action Plans to address the issues of coconut rhinoceros beetles, invasive ants, and biocontrol needs. The Plans are living documents that are intended to be modified as milestones are achieved and new needs are identified.
• Statements, backed by conference, recommended that the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) collaboratively take on the PESC outcomes, and the issue of invasive species itself, as a joint effort.
• A second PESC must be convened in two years to address other critical invasive species issues, such as biosecurity, invasive vertebrates, and marine invasive species, as well as to report on progress in implementing Plans from the first PESC.

Momentum initiated at the PESC has already been translated into concrete legislative outcomes: At the Association of Pacific Island Leaders (APIL) meeting in mid-October, Resolution 39-GA-15 was passed to endorse and support invasive species management, control, and eradication in Micronesia. For more information about the PESC, conference resources, and outcomes documents, please stay tuned to the Conference Website!

From July 23-30, a diverse group of Pacific Islanders working on traditional forms of aquaculture and navigation across the Pacific Rim came together for a knowledge exchange at the Ebiil Society in Ngarchelong State, Palau. The exchange was hosted by Ann Singeo, Executive Director of the Ebiil Society, an NGO that runs educational programs centered around environmental protection and proper management of natural resources through Indigenous Knowledge. The meeting brought together participants from Hawaiʻi, Guam, Palau, FSM, and the Pacific Northwest, who sought to support the re-learning of Indigenous technology; explore Indigenous coastal solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience; and reestablish ancient alliances as well as build new ones for a united Pacific. In addition to the host organization the exchange was also supported by the Indigenous Aquaculture Collaborative, Purple Maiʻa, Pacific RISA, Local2030 Islands Network, Global Island Partnership, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant, Washington Sea Grant, and KUA. Pacific RISA Project Specialist Paula Moehlenkamp attended as a representative of the collaboration between Pacific RISA and the Local2030 Island Network, a project that aims to support climate resilience and adaptation management in the Pacific Region through the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework.

One focus of the exchange was on traditional fishing methods, modern threats to fisheries, and finding solutions. Participants visited Ebiil Channel, which has been documented as an important aggregation site for groupers and other species of reef fish. While exploring Palau’s diverse and rich marine life, the group learned how the reef in Ebiil Channel was impacted by Typhoon Surigae in 2021, and how it continues to be threatened by the impacts of climate change, such as warming sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification. The importance of management by the local fishing community in order to maintain sustainable fish stocks for local communities was highlighted. The group was excited to join one of the marine restoration work projects led by the Ebiil Society—the outplanting of giant clams in Ebiil Channel. Palau is home to eight of the ten known species of giant clams, a species of great cultural importance, and Ngarchelong is known for its giant clam populations. High demand for Ngarchelong’s giant clams both in subsistence and commercial fishing caused their numbers to decline. Now the local fishing community is helping grow the clams to a reasonable size so they can be replanted, with the goal of replenishing the reef and increasing wild populations.

Participants also visited Ngkeklau, the birthplace of the “Beng”, a form of traditional Palauan fishing weir. The Beng was designed to direct the passage of larger pelagic fish from deeper waters outside the reef crest through the reef into shallower areas, where they could be easily fished. This practice provided access to pelagic fish from nearshore and allowed for consistent fish supply—even when weather did not allow going out to sea. Currently, the Palauan Beng is not being utilized by the community, and the Ebiil Society is seeking to revitalize this traditional Palauan form of aquaculture. Participants, which included loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishpond) practitioners, identified the remnants of the Beng and exchanged experience on the science of wall building and rock weaving.

Another highlight was visiting a traditional milkfish aquaculture pond in Peleliu, which continues to provide a consistent food source for the local community. The group met with the Governor of Peleliu and the caretaker of the milkfish farm, and learned about its history, science, social benefits, and natural dynamics. Similar to Hawaiian loko iʻa (which also targeted milkfish among other local herbivorous fish) this pond was designed to recruit smaller fish through a weir-type structure. Inside, the pond provides ideal conditions for herbivorous fish to thrive and grow to harvestable size. Similarly, loko iʻa were sophisticated aquaculture systems across Hawaiʻi, and were vital to the sustenance of an ahupuaʻa—an integrated agricultural and ecosystem management regime. Along with providing an environmentally regenerative way to increase access to local food, as well as a way to develop place-based management and a sense of connection to the land, these traditional forms of aquaculture also have the potential to create new green jobs and community-based economic development opportunities. Being able to offer traditional aquaculture as a viable career path would be a critical step towards increasing food security and food sovereignty across the Pacific.

Another component of the knowledge exchange  was traditional navigation/ wayfinding and boat building in the Pacific. Among the participants were Larry Raigetal (a Pwo master navigator and boat builder as well as the co-founder of Waa’gey), two Polynesian Voyaging Society/Hōkūleʻa crew members, as well as Sesario Sewralur, master navigator Mau Piailug’s son, who is also a master navigator and instructor at the Palau Community College. The group learned about star navigation and was honored to meet Sesario’s family and the crew of the Palauan 56-foot long double-hulled voyaging canoe Aligano Maisu (above, right). Maisu was built by Na Kalai Waʻa Moku o Hawaiʻi at Kawaihae Harbor as a gift to Mau so he could carry on his legacy of navigation in Micronesia. As part of the workday, which consisted of conversations around aligning voyaging missions and the potential to sail together as part of Hōkūleʻa’s upcoming Pacific voyage, Moananuiākea, the group also helped clean Maisu’s hull of barnacles. Sesario shared the meaning of the Satawalese name Aligano Maisu with the group: to share the beauty of the fallen breadfruit. According to tradition, breadfruit on your neighbor’s tree is off limits, but the ones that have fallen to the ground are free for the community to take and share. This lesson struck a meaningful chord with the gathering’s participants, who then further applied its meaning. All Indigenous and traditional practices are different breadfruit from the same tree. And since the survival of these practices is in jeopardy, they have essentially fallen to the ground. Gatherings like this, therefore, need to continue around the Pacific, to unite and share the fallen breadfruit with the Pacific community.

On the last day, with the fallen breadfruit in front of mind, the participants held a debrief to further advance Indigenous programs across the Pacific. Some key stakeholders who were not able to attend the exchange in Palau in person, including Nainoa Thompson (master navigator and President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society), joined the discussion remotely. The importance of building partnerships for a united Pacific through exchange and re-learning of Indigenous technologies was discussed. Tangible next steps included joining efforts with Hōkūleʻa’s upcoming Moananuiākea voyage, attending meetings and conferences such as the Pacific Forum and IMPAC5, and identifying funding for future exchanges. Together, these efforts aim to create sustainable, Indigenous-led economies in natural resource management, provide solutions for climate resilience and adaptation, advance food security and sovereignty, and achieve a safe, just, and secure ocean.

In Palau, Ms. Moehlenkamp met with diverse stakeholder groups from across the Pacific Islands region and helped present initial efforts on identifying climate and ocean impact metrics as part of a network of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Dashboards. Ms. Moehlenkamp and the Local2030 Island Network team were involved in three sessions, which featured updates and achievements of the Network:

The Local 2030 Island Network Inaugural Members Roundtable, assembled on April 12, 2022, was the first in-person high-level meeting convened by the Local2030 Islands Network. Secretary Kerry opened the meeting by noting the importance of island leadership in addressing the climate crisis and the opportunity to strengthen lasting relationships to build resilience. President Whipps spoke of fostering knowledge sharing amongst islands, and the importance of accountability for ensuring progress. President Whipps and Secretary Kerry were joined at the in-person gathering by Leaders, Ministers and other senior officials from island economies that are network members including the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Grenada, Guam, Hawai’i and  Ireland, as well as observers to the meeting such as New Zealand and Australia. Members discussed taking concrete action in support of joint objectives, including positioning the Network to support policies and steps to achieve the SDGs through island values and innovation; growing Network membership to represent the global diversity of island economies; and launching Communities of Practice (CoPs) to build local capacity around high-priority issues. The agenda focused on facilitating a candid high-level dialogue around key policy issues and providing a platform for sharing concrete island solutions to climate and sustainability topics.

Building on the Island Network Inaugural Members Roundtable event, the Local2030 Islands Network convened Data for Ocean & Climate Resilience Side Event on April 12th, which included a panel to discuss the Hawai’i Aloha+ and Guam Green Growth framework and utility of dashboards and data to track local progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gov. Lourdes Leon Guerrero of Guam provided opening remarks and spoke about the process of building the Guam Green Growth action framework in order to stand up the dashboard for tracking progress towards Guam’s Sustainable Development Goals. Other speakers included Data & Innovation Director Kaimana Bingham from the Hawai’i Local 2030 Hub, Hawai’i Island Mayor Mitch Roth, Director of UOG Center for Island Sustainability Austin Shelton, and Minister Ngiraibelas Tmetuchl of the Ministry of Human Resources, Culture, Tourism, and Development. Members agreed that a dashboard mechanism for tracking progress can be key to promoting transparency and accountability.

The impact of the Micronesia Challenge to 2020 was showcased at the Micronesia Challenge 2030: Ocean people Leading Ocean Action Side Event. The Micronesia Challenge has expanded conservation of marine and terrestrial environment, leveraged significant resources, and scaled leadership in technical capacity across Micronesia, inspiring global commitment from other regions, including Hawaii. This event formally launched the Micronesia 2030 Challenge to spearhead a blue recovery and decade of action to achieve the UN2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Panelists included former Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr, Celeste Conors, Executive Director at Hawaii Green Growth, Palau Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment Steven Viktor, and Gov. Leon Guerrero from Guam. Ms. Moehlenkamp engaged with stakeholders involved in the Micronesia Challenge and discussed how the 2030 Micronesia Challenge goals can be highlighted and tracked through dashboards. 

The Hawaii team also held a briefing for President Whipps on the Palau dashboard, highlighting key data tracking progress towards SDG 14 – Life Below Water. They discussed the construction of a Palau Green Growth framework and a Palau Dashboard. The President identified 5 focus areas to highlight on the dashboard: Strengthening the Palauan Workforce, Protecting Livelihoods, Investing in Our Children, Taking Care of Our Health and Social Services, and Ensuring Security and Safety. 

Ms. Moehlenkamp and Ms. Bingham also met with Charlene Mersai, National Environmental Protection Council, Mr. Ngiraibelas Tmetuch, Director of Palau Visitors Authority and Kaleb Udui, Jr., Minister of Finance, Minister of Finance to discuss leadership and options for the dashboard. The importance of designating a local dashboard coordinator that convenes stakeholders from diverse sectors across Palau to identify relevant data sets and appropriate SDG impact metrics that are inclusive, stakeholder-driven, and will meet community needs was discussed.

After a busy conference week, the team was invited to join a tour with the Palau Visitors Authority and experienced Palau’s natural wonders, including the world famous Rock Islands and Jellyfish Lake. As many conference attendees joined the tour, it presented an excellent opportunity to network and discuss opportunities to conserve Palau’s uniquely rich and biodiverse natural environment.

In American Sāmoa, for example, lessons learned from a devastating drought considerably lessened the impacts of a later, even more severe drought. Constant monitoring of regional climate information and a public prepared to mitigate the risks made a striking difference. Because of early warnings, Manus residents in Papua New Guinea were ready to move uphill when an extremely rare ocean swell flooded their island. In Vanuatu, a guidebook and innovative animation are translating science from climate early warning systems into useable strategies for farmers and others especially vulnerable to climate variability. In the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the health sector benefits from advance drought warnings to prevent vector- and water-borne disease outbreaks, such as the historic dengue fever outbreak in 2019. These stories and more can be found in the new Pacific Islands Climate Storybook.

The Storybook consists of two parts: the first, details an extensive Climate Services Dialog process, with draft agendas, worksheets, and templates for users who wish to hold their own dialog workshop. The Dialogs are designed to enhance scientific and technical capacity by joining climate service providers and users to build regional networks, package and disseminate climate-related information, develop new products and services, and advance training and capacity-building. The first part of the Storybook incorporates technical material, process guides, and activities that were used to conduct the Dialogs and build Climate Stories, which make up the second part. The Climate Stories are a collection of local case studies about climate change and variability-related issues, actions, and key messages obtained from the dialogs in narrative form. This approach conveys information in a way that is easy for decision-makers and stakeholders to understand and apply.

Taken together, the updated Pacific Islands Climate Storybook conveys an approach that is easy for decision-makers to understand and apply, and can serve as a model for governments and other organizations that seek to engage communities in adapting to a changing climate. With support provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Pacific RISA, the project was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) working closely with the Pacific Island Meteorological Services and numerous other partner organizations across the Pacific and beyond.

Featured image credit: Drought on Ailuk Atoll (Republic of the Marshall Islands). UN Development Programme.

“We need to be informed of the environmental shifts occurring in Palau as a result of increased global warming. These shifts have and will continue to influence our livelihoods,” said Mr. Erbai Xavier Matsutaro, Palau’s National Climate Change Coordinator. “Therefore, making informed decisions from the best available science is vital and the catalyst for appropriate planning and effective resilience building. This report provides a glimpse of key issues that we need to be aware of and what they mean for Palau. Moreover, it serves as a guide with suggestions to enhance our resilience to climate change.”

Key Messages

Climate Change in Palau lays out the changes Palau is already experiencing, and what lies ahead. The key messages for decision-makers include:

• Air temperatures have risen in Palau, and hotter days and nights affect human health. Heatwaves can exacerbate a range of pre-existing health issues, and hot weather poses a particular threat to children and elderly people.
• Oceans are warming, causing the conditions for coral bleaching events to become more common and severe. If current trends in rising ocean temperatures continue, Palau is likely to experience widespread coral bleaching in the next two decades. Coral reefs provide habitat for fish, coastal protection from storms, and bring tens of millions of dollars annually into the local economy.
• Sea level rise threatens low-lying coastal infrastructure, including schools and transportation, as well as ecosystems and cultural sites.
• Stronger typhoons are expected globally and around Palau. More intense tropical cyclones that pack higher wind speeds and more rainfall mean a greater potential for loss of life and damage from these storms.

“This report is a wake-up call for all of us. We see what the future looks like and we need to take action to mitigate and build our resilience. The cost of inaction is too high,” said Dr. Yimnang Golbuu, Chief Executive Officer of the Palau International Coral Reef Center.

The Pacific RISA team has primary oversight of the 2020-2021 PIRCA. The PIRCA is funded and supported by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s RISA Program, the East-West Center’s Research Program, the US Department of the Interior’s Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center, and the US Global Change Research Program. In conjunction with other regional assessment efforts, the PIRCA provides guidance for decision-makers seeking to better understand how climate variability and change impact the Pacific Islands region and its peoples.

• Download and explore the Palau PIRCA report