Developed by NGIS Australia and the CRCSI, Coastal Risk Vanuatu website is a tool that empowers coastal people and communities to take proactive steps to act on sea level rise.
Coastal Risk Vanuatu was launched in December 2016, and builds on the work of the Pacific Island Coastal Inundation Capacity Building project and the Vanuatu Globe – previous research conducted by NGIS Australia and CRCSI in 2014. This project, funded by the Australian Government, provided hands-on knowledge about mapping the coastline. It provided coastal mapping and risk assessment capacity building and training to over 190 people in four Pacific nations.
Coastal Risk Vanuatu tool is an open interactive sea level rise platform, based on the Vanuatu digital elevation model. It incorporates social media photos and Pacific Community UAV imagery captured during the first response recovery post Cyclone Pam in 2015; demonstrating the value of imagery during disaster recovery.
Given the previous work in the Pacific Islands and the strong ties developed in the region, it is fitting that knowledge and expertise is extended to vulnerable coastal communities, governments and NGO’s. Through this easy-to-use sea level rise visualisation tool Vanuatu will have access to the best information for their coastal adaptation planning.
Insight into the impact of rising sea level will aide Government and local agencies with knowledge of sea level rise and guide stakeholders through better policy decisions, and NGO’s and emergency services will be better prepared for worse-case scenarios during coastal storms and flooding.
With growing interest in the Pacific Region to be “climate ready”, further localised coastal risk websites will be developed in the coming months.
