The Cook Islands, like some of its neighboring small island
developing states in the Pacific, has been endeavoring to build
greater climate resilience. Since 2003, the government, in
partnership with the Red Cross and other organizations, has
undertaken vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning in
several communities. Building on these initiatives, the
government partnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and
the World Wide Fund for Nature to undertake a pilot adaptation
activity that could be replicated across the country’s inhabited
islands. The basic idea was to field-test a participatory
approach that integrates local knowledge and engages vulnerable
communities in the formulation of adaptation plans that will be
operable and most relevant to their circumstances. Integral to
this idea was the development of practical tools, along with
information and education, to ensure that the communities will
have the necessary capacity to analyze climate risk and decide
on adaptation strategies. The comm