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.

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.

Climate stressors on coral reefs include sustained high sea surface temperature (SST) leading to coral bleaching, more intense, damaging storms, sea level rise and sedimentation impacts, and the potential to alter ocean currents and increase ocean acidification. Climate stressors on coral reefs in Hawai’i are exacerbated by coastal pollution (runoff, spills, etc), fishing, impacts from tourism and vessel traffic. This combination of stressors also makes them more vulnerable to coral disease, loss of genetic diversity, and decreases their resilience to future impacts.

One of the most visible impacts of climate change on Hawai’i’s coral reefs has been coral bleaching. The most recent widespread coral bleaching event in Hawai’i occurred during the 2019 El Niño, a year of record heat for Hawai’i and during the arrival of a massive ocean heatwave called “the Blob.” As climate change continues, scientists project that these heatwave events and warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) may result in more frequent and more intense El Niño events. Reducing man-made impacts on coral reefs before, during, and after these events gives them a better chance at recovering from climate-induced stressors like coral bleaching. Coral restoration activities can include introducing regulations or promoting education to reduce pressures from recreational and commercial vessels, eliminating point source pollution and minimizing runoff, hands-on coral restoration and research, and keeping our beaches and oceans clean.

Pacific RISA Project Assistant Krista Jaspers recently participated in a reef cleanup with Captain Max Boat Tours, a snorkel tour company out of Kewalo Basin Harbor in Honolulu. The boat took volunteer freedivers to Turtle Canyons, named for the Hawaiian green sea turtles often found feeding and resting on the finger reefs below the surface. Directly offshore in Waikiki, this dive site sees dozens of tour boats and hundreds of tourists everyday – items collected in the clean up included plastic drink cups, snorkel masks, clothing items that were smothering entire coral heads, fishing gear, and even a fake flower lei (see featured image). Some of these items are blown off or fall from tour boats, and many more come from the thousands of tourists that pack the beaches everyday. Other popular dive sites are littered with discarded fishing gear that pose entanglement hazards for marine mammals like the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and the Hawaiian green and hawksbill turtles.

What can you do? Although Pacific RISA does not currently offer volunteer opportunities, there are many local non-profit organizations in Hawai’i that do!

Beach/Underwater Clean-ups:
Sustainable Coastlines: https://www.sustainablecoastlineshawaii.org/
Surfrider O’ahu: https://hawaii.surfrider.org/
808 Clean-ups (native plant restoration and clean-ups):https://808cleanups.org/
Ocean Defenders Alliance: https://www.oceandefenders.org/what-we-do/hawaii.html

Coral Restoration:
The Coral Conservancy: http://thecoralconservancy.org/
Kuleana Coral: https://www.kuleanacoral.com/
Malama Maunalua: https://www.malamamaunalua.org/

Other:
Paepae o He’eia: https://paepaeoheeia.org/volunteer/
Hawai’i Wildlife Fund: https://www.wildhawaii.org/get-involved/volunteer/
HMAR: https://h-mar.org/get-involved/

Learn more about the world’s coral reefs and get real-time analysis of climatic conditions:

NOAA Coral Reef Watch: Utilizes remote sensing, modeled and in situ data to observe, predict, and report to its users on the coral reef environment worldwide. CRW provides the only global early-warning system of coral reef ecosystem physical environmental changes.
Allen Coral Atlas: Worldwide coral reef atlas to assist stakeholders ranging from local communities to regional and national governments to reach their coral reef conservation goals.

“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