Kiwa Initiative unveils four new climate resilience projects—expanding community fisheries management, inclusive agroecology, water security—and a new open data platform for forests and mangroves.
Suva, Fiji—The Kiwa Initiative used its 12th Steering Committee Meeting in Suva to announce four new projects aimed at strengthening climate resilience across the Pacific, including three regional efforts led by WaterAid Australia, ActionAid Australia, and cChange.
The announcement lands at a pivotal moment for the programme. which is managed by Agence Française de Développement and funded by partners including the European Union. France. New Zealand. Australia. and others.. With the new approvals. Kiwa is now supporting more than 45 projects across 17 Pacific Island Countries and Territories—an expansion that signals how quickly nature-based solutions are moving from pilot ideas into wider. long-term adaptation strategies.
The focus is practical: using ecosystems—coasts, watersheds, mangroves, reefs, forests—to reduce risk while protecting livelihoods.. At the steering meeting. European Union representatives framed the new investments as support not only for environmental recovery. but also for the everyday futures of Pacific communities already grappling with climate impacts.
One of the new regional projects is Kiwa cFISH, led by Multiplier/cChange.. It addresses a familiar pressure point across Pacific island societies: coastal fisheries that communities depend on are increasingly strained by climate change. population growth. and unsustainable practices.. Rather than leaning on interventions that are limited to specific sites. the project scales community-based fisheries management using a National Information Strategy model that has already been piloted.
A key idea behind cFISH is that sustainable fisheries management is as much about governance and knowledge as it is about marine ecosystems.. The project is designed to strengthen institutions at national and sub-national levels so they can sustain community-based fisheries management over time.. Training. information campaigns. and grassroots networking are positioned as tools to help women and youth—particularly in remote or marginalized communities—advocate for and implement locally defined management measures.. The project’s targets include improving participation in local management steps in parts of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. and demonstrating improved outcomes in regulated fishing zones in French Polynesia.
Another new regional effort, Pacific CIRCLE, is led by ActionAid Australia with support from partners including GNDR.. This project concentrates on inclusion as a resilience strategy.. Fiji. Kiribati. Tonga. and Vanuatu are described as among the most climate-vulnerable nations in the region. facing sea level rise. intensifying disasters. and disruptions to agriculture and fishing-based livelihoods.. Pacific CIRCLE aims to ensure women. young people. and people with disabilities are not treated as beneficiaries at the margins. but as leaders at the centre of ecosystem protection and restoration.
Over the planned 42-month period, the project targets more than 8,000 direct beneficiaries through training and community-led initiatives.. It links agroecology with coastal restoration. supports seed banks. nurseries. demonstration plots. and community kitchens. and builds the capacity of women’s collectives and community groups to advocate for gender and disability-inclusive climate policies.. The project also emphasizes cultural fit. aligning nature-based solutions with indigenous and customary governance systems so that interventions remain community-owned rather than externally imposed.
Water security and food systems take a different yet connected role in the third regional project: Kiwa PRESERVE. led by WaterAid Australia.. Across Papua New Guinea. Samoa. and Timor-Leste. the programme is designed around an integrated problem view—climate change disrupts the water cycle. which then affects agricultural yields. which then feeds into livelihoods. especially when ecosystems are degraded.. Kiwa PRESERVE aims to respond through locally led nature-based solutions that protect watersheds and strengthen community capacity for managing natural resources.
The project’s toolset spans community resilience planning and governance. watershed protection through community by-laws. reforestation of degraded slopes and riparian zones. protection of water sources. and the adoption of practices that reduce erosion and dependence on slash-and-burn agriculture.. It also includes interventions such as bio-infiltration basins and places explicit weight on inclusive governance so that women. youth. and people with disabilities can act as decision-makers—not only participate in activities.
While three new projects expand regional community and ecosystem work. the fourth focuses on improving how restoration is coordinated and measured.. Kiwa REPLANT’NC. led by the Environmental Observatory of New Caledonia (OEIL). responds to a challenge many restoration programmes face: fragmented data.. New Caledonia is described as a biodiversity hotspot under threat from forest loss. invasive species. and fire risk. yet multiple revegetation efforts have struggled to translate into stronger collective impact because information is scattered and difficult to compare.
REPLANT’NC is designed to build a centralized, open-source digital platform that compiles and maps revegetation activities across the territory.. By connecting institutional actors. NGOs. local communities. and indigenous groups through a shared data model and interoperable tools. the project aims to support collaboration and guide strategic decisions.. Its short timeline—running from March 2026 to March 2027—also suggests a leaner operational approach: improve data access first. then make it easier to plan restoration with ecological connectivity in mind between fragmented forests and mangroves.
There is also a wider “learning loop” running alongside the project launches.. As donors and partners travel to Ra Province for a field visit to the Kiwa RESTORE project—an effort supported since 2025—the steering meeting schedule includes a technical workshop on Monitoring. Evaluation and Learning (MEL).. The goal is to strengthen how results are tracked across the portfolio. so adaptation strategies can be adjusted as communities and ecosystems respond in real time.
For Pacific island communities, these announcements land on a grounded reality: climate resilience is rarely a single-issue problem.. Fisheries depend on healthy coastlines and governance.. Farming depends on reliable water and soil stability.. Mangroves and forests help buffer shocks, but their restoration succeeds only when communities, data systems, and local institutions align.. Kiwa’s mix of approaches—community leadership. inclusive planning. integrated water and food strategies. and better restoration data—reflects a growing understanding that nature-based solutions are not just environmental projects.. They are resilience systems meant to hold under pressure.
Misryoum