ABSTRACT
The previous chapter suggested that for all that has been said about the vulnerability of the Pacific Islands to climate change, responses to the problem from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) have been inadequate. For most of the past 20 years much the same can be said about the responses of other funding institutions. Until recently the multilateral development agencies and metropolitan countries that take an interest in the region have done little to assist with the task of adaptation, and mostly it is has been enabling type activities that have been supported. Many of the large NGOs that campaign on climate change by highlighting the particular vulnerability of Pacific Island countries (PICs) (see Chapter 8) have also done little in the way of applied responses in the region, although there have been two notable exceptions discussed later in this chapter. In more recent years, however, there has been a considerable increase in the number of projects being implemented in the region, largely because funding agencies are belatedly starting to respond to the oft-repeated calls from PICs for assistance for adaptation.
