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Investigate Options

A Coral Bleaching Story With an Unknown Ending

Coral reefs at risk

Just offshore from many Pacific Islands, coral reefs comprise some of the most biologically rich and economically valuable areas on our planet. Reef ecosystems support an array of striped, spotted, and camouflaged fish; soft-bellied and armored invertebrates; and hundreds of other life forms. Reefs also provide valuable ecosystem services that support island economies.

Recognizing and Responding to Drought on Pacific Islands

An unfulfilled promise of rain

The soil was cracking, the leaves were turning brown, and the groundwater was becoming saltier. Drought had come to the northern atolls of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in January 2013.

“You see that rain out there?” asked meteorologist Chip Guard, looking up at the horizon. “It’s falling from the sky but not hitting the ground. We call that virga. You know where we see virga? In deserts.”

In the Dark of Monday Morning: Waves Inundate a Pacific Island Community

An evacuation notice in the middle of the night

As large waves washed over the seawalls of Majuro in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, March 3, 2014, police banged on residents’ doors, telling them that their properties were flooding and that they needed to evacuate.

“I was in bed at home, as most people were, because it was 3 a.m.,” recalls Angela Saunders, who was awakened by a phone call from a colleague alerting her to the high swells.

Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA)

Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) is a collaborative effort to assess climate change indicators, impacts, and adaptive capacity of the Hawaiian archipelago and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI). PIRCA engages federal, state, and local government agencies, non-government organizations, academia, businesses, and community groups to inform and prioritize their activities in the face of a changing climate.

Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use in Hawaii: A Policy Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

Hawai‘i is expected to experience sea level rise of one foot by 2050 and three feet by the end of the century—sea level rise of this magnitude poses significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. This toolkit aims to help people identify and explain key land-use policy tools that state and local government agencies can use in support of sea level rise adaptation in Hawai‘i. 

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