Acclimate Project Concludes, IOC Member States Adopt Regional Adaptation Strategy

The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) has reported on the conclusion of Acclimate, a four-year project dedicated to climate change adaptation. The culmination of the project’s work, a regional strategy for climate change adaption, was adopted by the IOC’s 28th Council of Ministers on 17 January 2013, in the Seychelles.
Among the achievements of the Acclimate project, IOC highlights: improvement of the knowledge of the regional climate and its impacts; the strengthening of the capacity of the meteorological services of the IOC’s member States (Comoros, Madagascar, Reunion (France), Mauritius and Seychelles); the launch of various awareness raising and training initiatives, such as a website, photo competitions and exhibitions, conferences and round-table events, training courses, and the co-financing of mobility grants to enable students from the region to follow a Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing and Natural Hazards.
The regional adaptation strategy was technically validated in July 2012 and adopted in January 2013. It is designed to guide the actions of IOC cooperation in this field until 2020 and focuses on the following four sectors: food security, water, health and the environment. Other sectors will be treated in a second phase, including: natural disasters, infrastructure, transport, energy, and tourism.
The IOC has also been mandated to conclude the signature of a partnership agreement with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA, a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the EU).

[Acclimate website]
[IOC website]
[Regional Adaptation Strategy]

Source: IISD