Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

The Regional Tuna Programme (RTP) addresses two primary climate threats in the Pacific: the loss of coral reef fish as a protein source and the eastward shift of tuna biomass away from national exclusive economic zones (EEZs). The programme will deploy 333 anchored Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) to help coastal communities catch tuna, improve the distribution of industrial tuna bycatch to urban areas, and develop an Advanced Warning System (AWS) to provide high-resolution forecasts of tuna redistribution. This AWS is intended to serve as an economic planning tool to help tuna-dependent nations negotiate the retention of fishing license revenues. The project targets 790,000 direct beneficiaries and 2.5 million indirect beneficiaries across 14 participating countries.

• Climate change is projected to reduce the production of coastal fisheries in the Pacific Island region by 10-73% by 2050 under RCP8.5 and 7-65% under RCP4.5 due to ocean warming and acidification.
• Ocean warming is causing tuna biomass to redistribute eastward and poleward, which is projected to reduce the average annual combined tuna catch from the EEZs of tuna-dependent Pacific Island countries in equatorial waters by 20% (range 10%-30%) by 2050 under RCP 8.5.
• Nine tuna-dependent Pacific Island countries obtain an average of 32% (ranging from 4% to 70%) of their total non-aid government revenue from tuna-fishing access fees.
• Under RCP8.5, the redistribution of tuna to the high seas is projected to reduce total fishing access fees for nine tuna-dependent countries by an average of approximately 90 million USD per year by 2050.
• By 2035, population growth and climate-driven reef degradation will create a demand for an additional 75,000 tonnes of fish per year to maintain the nutritional security of coastal and urban communities.
• The programme will deploy 333 anchored FADs to provide additional tuna meals for 560,000 people in coastal communities, with an expected delivery of 9 to 18 million fish meals per year.
• Improvements to the supply and distribution of bycatch from industrial transshipping operations are expected to provide approximately 13 million additional fish meals per year for 290,000 people in urban and peri-urban communities.
• The Advanced Warning System (AWS) will improve the spatial resolution of tuna distribution models from 2 x 2 degrees to 1 x 1 degree to reduce uncertainty in economic planning.
• The programme's total financing is 156.8 million USD, consisting of 107.4 million USD requested from the GCF as a grant and 49.3 million USD in co-financing.
• The programme targets 790,000 direct beneficiaries and 2.5 million indirect beneficiaries, the latter primarily consisting of populations living within 1 km of the coast who will benefit from improved meteorological and disaster forecasts.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2025). Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp259.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. 2025. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp259.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu |date=12 March 2025 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp259.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2025adapting, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Adapting tuna-dependent Pacific Island communities and economies to climate change Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp259.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }