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A new climate resilience training curriculum has been rolled out across six Pacific Island Countries following a two-year development process led by PIRT's Climate Working Group in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC). The curriculum equips community conservation practitioners with the knowledge and tools to assess climate risks to their local ecosystems, design adaptive management responses, and integrate climate scenarios into protected area management plans.

The training programme was piloted in Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati, reaching 187 community-based conservation practitioners in its first year. Each country cohort completed an eight-day residential training followed by a six-month mentored field application, during which participants developed site-specific climate adaptation plans for community-managed conservation areas they were responsible for.

Early results are encouraging. End-of-programme assessments showed an average 73 percent increase in participants' understanding of climate-biodiversity interactions and a 68 percent increase in their confidence to design adaptive management interventions. More significantly, 142 of the 187 participants had begun implementing at least one concrete adaptation measure in their conservation sites within three months of completing the programme.

The Climate Working Group is now seeking funding to expand the programme to the remaining 16 PICTs, with a target of reaching 500 additional practitioners by the end of 2027. PIRT member organisations in countries not yet covered by the programme are encouraged to contact the Working Group secretariat to express interest in hosting a national training cohort. A condensed version of the curriculum is also being developed for delivery at PIC11 as a pre-conference workshop on 6 September 2026.

About this workshop

A 3-day field workshop in Port Vila, Vanuatu, focused on hands-on coral survey methods and community engagement. Participants will spend time in the water at Hideaway Island and Mele Bay practising standardised LMMA monitoring protocols.

Suitable for marine science students, NGO staff, and community fishery officers. All equipment provided.

Programme

• Day 1 — Classroom briefing + reef ID training
• Day 2 — Field survey at Hideaway Island
• Day 3 — Community workshop with local LMMA reps

About

A half-day hybrid roundtable bringing together Pacific finance ministry officials, multilateral fund representatives (GCF, AF, LDF), and PIRT member organisations. Focus on streamlining proposal pipelines and unlocking concessional finance for biodiversity-climate co-benefits.

About

An in-person summit of under-30 environmental leaders from across the region. Skills-building workshops, peer-mentoring, and a public showcase of youth-led conservation projects.

About

An invite-only workshop on the day before PIC11 opens. Member organisation reps and working-group coordinators align on the conference programme outcomes.

About

The official opening of PIC11 includes a Kanak welcome ceremony at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, the keynote by Dr Sina Tagaloa, and the unveiling of the 2030 Pacific Conservation Pledge.

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Role at PIRT

Fiji National Trust is a founding member (FNT) of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation. Fiji National Trust contributes regional expertise and networks to PIRT working groups, partner programmes and the Pacific BioScapes initiative — supporting the four-year Pacific Islands Framework for Nature Conservation across all 22 Pacific Island countries and territories.

About the organisation

Fiji National Trust operates across the Pacific from a base in Fiji, contributing to nature conservation through capacity-building, technical assistance, partnerships with member states and civil society, knowledge management, and direct programme delivery on the ground. As a PIRT member, Fiji National Trust aligns its regional priorities with the Roundtable framework agreement and reports against pan-Pacific biodiversity targets.

Active programmes that intersect with PIRT

• Pacific BioScapes — EU-funded action managed by SPREP; Fiji National Trust contributes regional or thematic expertise across the workstreams.
• NBSAP coordination — supports member countries' updates of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• GBF Target 3 (30×30) — area-based conservation work, including marine protected areas, indigenous-led conservation areas and trans-boundary corridors.
• Conference 2026 — co-delivers the 11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in Noumea.

Working group involvement

• Nature-based Solutions Working Group (NbSWG) — active member.
• Pacific Area-based Conservation Network (PACoN) — active member.
• Pacific Species Working Group (SWG) — active member.

View all PIRT working groups →

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Dr Sina Tagaloa is a marine ecologist with 15 years of research on Pacific reef systems. She leads the University of the South Pacific's Coral Reef Lab in Suva, where her team has mapped reef health across 38 sites in 6 Pacific island countries.

She is the lead author of the 2024 Pacific Coral Status Report and serves on the IPCC Working Group II as a Lead Author for the chapter on small island states. Her work has been recognised with the 2022 SPREP Award for Marine Science Excellence.

At PIC11 she will deliver the opening keynote on "Safeguarding Pacific Biodiversity" — drawing on five years of community-based reef monitoring in partnership with the LMMA Network.

Hon. Mereana Ratu serves as Minister for Environment in the Government of Fiji, with portfolio responsibility for biodiversity, climate adaptation, and protected areas. She brings 10 years of policy experience including 4 years as a senior negotiator at UNFCCC COPs.

Under her leadership, Fiji adopted its 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and expanded marine protected areas to 30% of EEZ — the most ambitious commitment in the Pacific region.

At PIC11 she joins the panel on Climate Finance for Small Island States, sharing lessons from Fiji's engagement with the Green Climate Fund and the Loss and Damage Fund.

Joe Vakatale is the Indigenous Knowledge Lead at the Fiji LMMA Network, where he coordinates community-based reef monitoring across more than 80 Fijian villages. A traditional fisher himself, he combines TEK with marine science to inform local management plans.

He has co-authored 12 peer-reviewed papers on community conservation and trained 200+ village monitors in standardised reef survey methods. In 2023 he received the PIELA Community Action award.

At PIC11 he will lead the workshop on "Indigenous-led conservation: case studies" with peers from Tonga, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands.

Aisha Tukuoa is a Youth Climate Ambassador with the Pacific Youth Council and founder of the Tonga Youth Conservation Network. At 24, she has already led successful campaigns for plastic-bag bans and reef-safe sunscreen regulations in Tonga.

She represents Pacific youth on the Commonwealth Youth Climate Action Group and has spoken at the UN Ocean Conference (2024) and COP28. Her work focuses on mobilising under-30 voices in environmental policy.

At PIC11 she will keynote the youth track and chair "Youth voices: leadership pathways", a session for emerging leaders from across the region.

Dr Henri Marau is a Climate Finance Specialist at the Pacific Community (SPC), where he advises Pacific island governments on accessing concessional finance for adaptation. He holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from the Australian National University.

His recent work includes the SPC Climate Finance Pacific Guide (2025), used by all 22 member countries, and a successful $80M Green Climate Fund proposal for the Solomon Islands.

At PIC11 he will lead the workshop on Climate Finance, walking participants through the GCF, Adaptation Fund, and Loss and Damage Fund proposal pipelines.

The Pacific Reef Monitoring Grant supports community organisations and NGOs to establish or strengthen systematic coral reef monitoring using the PIRT standardised protocol. Priority is given to sites identified as climate refugia and to undermonitored nations with fewer than three existing permanent monitoring stations. The grant covers equipment, training, data management, and coordinator salary for up to two years.

Eligible applicants must be registered organisations operating in at least one Pacific Island Country or Territory, and must demonstrate access to trained monitors or a credible plan to train monitors within the first three months of the grant period. All data generated must be submitted to the Pacific Biodiversity Information Facility under an open-access licence.

Grants range from USD 50,000 to USD 250,000 over 12 to 24 months. A small-grant track (under USD 75,000, maximum 12 months) is available for organisations submitting for the first time. PIRT member organisations receive technical assistance with application preparation through the Grants Intelligence Service.

The Indigenous-led Conservation Microgrant programme provides small, flexible grants to indigenous communities and indigenous-led organisations undertaking conservation activities guided by traditional ecological knowledge. The programme recognises that the smallest grants often generate the most community-relevant outcomes, and is designed to minimise reporting burden while maintaining robust accountability through story-based learning and community verification.

Eligible activities include ecosystem monitoring using traditional methods, habitat restoration guided by customary land management practices, documentation of traditional ecological knowledge, environmental education grounded in indigenous perspectives, and stewardship of customary protected areas. Applicants must demonstrate community governance of the proposed project and indigenous leadership of all key roles.

Grants range from USD 5,000 to USD 20,000 over 6 to 18 months. Applications are assessed by a panel of which the majority are indigenous knowledge holders from Pacific Island communities. PIRT indigenous knowledge working group members are available to provide mentorship to first-time applicants through the application process.