Strongem Waka lo Community fo Kaikai (SWoCK): Resilience in Agriculture and Food Security in the Solomon Islands
Project overview
Solomon Islands agriculture, human settlements, water and sanitation, and human health are priority vulnerable sectors requiring urgent support to enhance resilience against the predicted impacts of climate change. In response to these pressures and in an effort to manage the vulnerable ecosystems, a project called Strongem Waka lo Community fo Kaikai (SWoCK) aims to help communities in Solomon Islands manage the climate change-driven pressures on local food production.
The SWoCK project is funded through the Adaptation Fund, implemented with support from UNDP and executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology of the Solomon Islands.
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Expected outcomes
Project details
Levels of intervention
Community
Source of funds
Adaptation Fund
Key implementers
National governments
Funding amounts
$5,553,500 (amount requested and approved 2011-03-18)
N/A
Project partners
SWoCK Project
Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Government of Solomon Islands
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Adaptation Fund
Introduction
Solomon Islands agriculture, human settlements, water and sanitation, and human health are priority vulnerable sectors requiring urgent support to enhance resilience against the predicted impacts of climate change. In response to these pressures and in an effort to manage the vulnerable ecosystems, a project called Strongem Waka lo Community fo Kaikai (SWoCK) aims to help communities in Solomon Islands manage the climate change-driven pressures on local food production.
The SWoCK project is funded through the Adaptation Fund, implemented with support from UNDP and executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology of the Solomon Islands.
Project details
The Solomon Islands have already felt the effects of climatic extreme events. When Cyclone Namu which stuck in 1986, it destroyed the rice industry, increasing poverty and slowing a number of development indicators. Over 130 people were killed, 90,000 lost their homes (one third of the population at that time) and property and infrastructure damages cost more than USD 25 million. In 2003 the category five cyclone Zoe, with maximum wind speeds of 285 km/hour, hit the small outer island of Tikopia in what is the most intense such event ever recorded in the Pacific. These types of events are now increasingly becoming the norm, and hint at the costs likely to be imposed by climate change. Without the adoption of sufficient measures to support the Solomon Islands adapt to a range of contingencies, the scale of damages will be larger, and the toll of opportunities foregone will be longer-lasting.
Past assessments of a number of vulnerable areas in the country reveal how agricultural practices, including associated business activities, are being placed under increasing pressure from rising populations and emerging climate change hazards and risks. The informal agriculture smallholder sector has always been the foundation of food security in Solomon Islands. With a heavy reliance on ecosystem services such as soil conditions, water resources and forests this system has provided food and shelter for most of the nations population and has been the main safety net during difficult times.
The motivation for this project is to support communities to better manage and adapt to climate change pressures in the context of food security through community based adaptation. An institutional and policy setting must also be developed and/or strengthened to support communities with risk management in the context of climate change uncertainties. This project therefore seeks to increase the resilience of community-based food production systems in the agriculture sector in against hazards and risks related to climate variability and climate change.
In order to achieve this objective, the project will promote and pilot community-based adaptation activities enhancing food security and livelihood resilience. It will strengthen institutions’ abilities to integrate climate risks into agriculture and food security. Finally, it will promote the generation and diffusion of relevant knowledge at the community, national, and regional levels.
Signature programmes:
Thematic areas:
Climate-related hazards addressed:
Level of intervention:
Key collaborators:
Primary beneficiaries:
Farmers; Pastoralists; Community Organizations
Implementing agencies and partnering organizations:
SWoCK Project
Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Government of Solomon Islands
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Adaptation Fund
Project status:
Completed
Location:
Rural
Funding source:
Financing amount:
$5,553,500 (amount requested and approved 2011-03-18)
Co-financing total:
N/A
Key results and outputs
Component 1: Community Based Adaptation initiatives implemented in at least 18 Communities across at least 3 regions
Develop and implement community-level integrated land-use plans to support traditional crops and livestock (Output 1.1). At community level, introduce resilient farming and aquaculture techniques and systems (Output 1.2), plant nurseries (Output 1.3), food banks (Output 1.4), and capacity for processing and storage of root and tree crops (Output 1.5). Train government and NGO field staff to use climate information in support of land-use decision-making (Output 1.6).
Component 2: Institutional strengthening to support climate resilient policy frameworks for the agriculture sector
Integrate climate/disaster risks into agriculture and livestock sector policies and instruments (Output 2.1). Strengthen capacity of Solomon Islands Meteorological Services to produce information services tailored to agriculture and land resources management (Output 2.2), and support other agencies’ efforts to integrate climate risks into land use planning (Output 2.3).
Component 3: Climate Change Adaptation specific knowledge production, sharing and dissemination
Generate and distribute lessons learned and best practices (Output 3.1), as well as training materials for field staff and students (Output 3.2).
Reports and publications
Project Brief / Fact Sheet
News article
Knowledge Products
Brochures, Posters, Communications Products
Document
PIFs
Multimedia
SWoCK Project: Automatic Weather Stations
Agriculture in Solomon Islands is extensively a rain-fed agriculture system. With the current increasing rate of erratic weather pattern experienced throughout the country, the impacts on agriculture and food security have greatly affected farmers. Accurate climate and weather information could help respond to these challenges by allowing rural areas to plan ahead.
SWoCK Project: Improved germplasm and bulking
Increase crop diversification and bulking of climate resilient varieties of crops help farmers build resilience towards climate change.
This video shows how UNDP-SWoCK project enhanced the resilience of rural farmers through increase crop diversification and distribution of improved climate resilient crop varieties.
About SWoCK
SWoCK Project: Women and Climate Change Adaptation
In rural communities of Solomon Islands, it traditionally women’s role to do most of the gardening activities and household chores, including the preparation of food for the family's consumption.
SWoCK Project: Integrated Community Based Land Use Planning
Rural communities are confronted with many forces of change. Climate change is nevertheless escalating the pace and severity natural change. In response, communities must learn to plan how they wish their communities to grow and develop in the future.
Monitoring and evaluation
Project monitoring and evaluation will be conducted in accordance with established UNDP procedures by the project team with the support of UNDP Staff. The Logical Framework for the project will provide performance and impact outcome level indicators along with their corresponding means of verification. These will form the basis on which the project's Monitoring and Evaluation system will be built.
In addition, a Chief Technical Advisor with expertise on climate change adaptation and agriculture development will be engaged to provide technical monitoring of the project. This will involve assessing as well as providing technical advice on the V&A work and design of adaptation options.
Provincial level Climate Change Steering Committee will be established to begin the process of integrating and coordinating climate change work and also to monitor progress of the AF project. The Provincial Climate Change Steering Committee shall report to the Provincial Executive and its TOR and membership will be finalized during the inception workshop.
Contacts
UNDP piloted community-based adaptation activities to enhance food security and livelihood resilience in three communities in the Solomon Islands.