Water

Global warming and rising sea levels continue to threaten low-lying island nations. Unless international negotiations turn into actions, the vulnerable populations will have to leave their island homes. To avoid this migration, land reclamation is proposed as one option for the island inhabitants.

A new initiative by the European Union and the Pacific Community's (SPC) Micro Projects Programme is mapping new sources of underground water on Fiji's main island, Viti Levu. This initiative can help communities tackle the challenge of access to drinking water, which derives from increasing demand and the impact of extreme weather events.

Experience in strengthening water management through campaigns and actions in Windhoek over the past five decades offers important lessons for neighbouring Cape Town.

In response to the 2010 heat wave that killed 1,300 people, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation launched the first version of the pioneering Heat Action Plan in 2013. The idea of planning for extreme heat has since then been followed by 17 other Indian cities. The number of heat-related deaths have been substantially reduced since the implementation of the plan.

The 2017 Heat Action Plan is a comprehensive early warning system and preparedness plan for extreme heat events in Ahmedabad. The Plan presents immediate and longer-term actions to increase preparedness, information-sharing, and response coordination to

A new programme launched at FAO addresses challenges related to food security, nutrition and the impacts of climate change facing the world's Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Connected to vulnerability to rising ocean levels, the challenges are addressed together with issues such as climate change and land degradation.

In the Near East and North Africa region, the per capita renewable water availability is only 10 percent of the world average. Climate change puts further pressure on water availability in the near future. Farmers and rural households should be at the centre of strategies to address water scarcity, to secure access to drinking water and agricultural use.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development LA SAFE programme is working with coastal residents in Louisiana to find out how they want to adapt to climate change and sea level rise. Louisiana is losing more than 10,000 acres of wetlands each year and some 120,000 people live in the most vulnerable shrinking lowlands.