Pacific decision-makers require reliable data to make well-informed choices. To plan and implement climate adaptation and mitigation activities, regional leaders are taking advantage of the Pacific Regional Nationally Determined Contributions Hub (NDC Hub) and the Pacific Community assembled knowledge, and analytic capability. Born at COP23, the NDC Hub aims to support Pacific Island Countries in reviewing, enhancing, and implementing their climate commitments.
Data and information are key enablers in achieving the Paris agreement, which sets out a global framework to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase. Digitizing, accessing, managing and, most importantly, using climate-related data, information and knowledge are vital in the race to hold warming to 1.5 degrees C.
The Pacific region has faced a long-standing challenge of sporadic data and information. The region also has few institutionalised systems of effectively managing this to support systematic informed decision making. Through the implementation of the NDC Hub, supported by the Pacific community (SPC), The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the Global Green Growth Institute and the German Corporation for International Cooperation, Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) have been able to document a large amount of data and statistics from surveys, inquiries, and reports, as well as to rely on effective project dashboards.
Over the last few years, the NDC Hub has been supporting PICs to make data and statistics at the heart of effective planning. For example, in Nauru the NDC Hub tasked SPC to review the Nauru Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NWSMP). One of the critical recommendations of the review was to base planning projections on more recent 2019 census data rather than census data from 2011. The disparity in data can lead to a critical miscalculation in the design and hence investments in water services infrastructure.
The review also highlighted shortcomings in non-revenue water loss and recommended to increase from 20% to 30% of demand, based on similar-sized distribution systems in the Pacific. It further validated that the current demand of 110L/per day used in the NWSMP was reasonable for residential consumption and could be used to map future water demand and design future water supply infrastructure.
The NDC Hub is also committed to fostering a data-informed and analytical culture. Through the implementation of a Project Management Tool (PMT), hosted by SPC, more synergies are promoted across data ecosystems. The PMT provides a practical overview of the NDC Hub’s work in 14 PICs and serves as an information repository of relevant information relating to adaptation and mitigation projects.
This unique tool serves both the technical teams and the countries’ focal points to provide critical data on project status, thematic areas, and governments to partner implementation. This critical data enhances the synergies between PICs and partners to deliver 37 activities within four years.
In Oceania, promoting data governance is a multi-dimensional challenge, which requires efforts that are mutually reinforcing. Reliable information – statistics and indicators– is indispensable for the formulation of sound economic policies and recommendations.
