PICCC in Action - Working Across Landscapes and Seascapes in the Pacific

The Pacific Islands region supports diverse landscapes and seascapes characterized by unique biological and cultural resources found nowhere else on earth. As climate change increasingly threatens this biocultural heritage, the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC) focuses on developing an array of products and actions to advance large-scale conservation within a framework of climate change adaptation. As the Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) for the Pacific, our emphasis on biocultural resources reflects the intimate ties of beliefs, traditions, and subsistence between island communities and myriad components of their environments.

Linking with local and regional partners across the Pacific is central to our strategic investment in conservation at island-appropriate scales. These partners help identify priority management-driven science needs that the PICCC addresses through research grants or technical teams drawn from our LCC members. The resulting assessments, tools, and techniques advance conservation and climate adaptation across our geography.

The PICCC has developed science products that clarify looming climate impacts to land and sea, tools that support the development of adaptation plans and actions, and communications strategies that inform and engage resource managers at all levels, from local communities to international organizations. Select PICCC project highlights include:

• Global, web-based projections of future stresses on coral reefs bring climate model results into focus for a critical resource, allowing both island-scale planning and regional prioritization.
• Cutting-edge modeling allows coastal managers to plan adaptation strategies for shoreline resources threatened by changes in wind and wave patterns coupled with rising sea levels.
• Community management of island resources thrives by co-development of adaptation planning informed by scientific and traditional knowledge.
• Detailed analyses of native plant and forest bird vulnerabilities to climate change guide effective conservation at archipelagic scales.

For more information about the PICCC visit http://piccc.net/ or call +1-808-687-6175

For more information about the LCC Network visit http://lccnetwork.org/