Locally-sourced: How Kiribati is boosting food security and communities' climate resilience | February 2023

With most islands just 1 to 3 meters above sea level, and with an average width of only a few hundred metres, Kiribati is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Damaging storm surges, more extreme weather, changing rainfall patterns, and warming oceans all pose a serious and increasing threat to the low-lying island nation.  

In 2016, the Government launched a project dedicated to enhancing food security in the context of accelerating global climate change. Supported by the Global Environment Facility-Least Developed Countries Fund and UN Development Programme, nine stakeholders from across the government of Kiribati have worked closely with communities on three pilot islands – Maiana, Abemama and Nonouti. The goals of the project, led by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development, have been to ensure sustainable management of lands and coastal fisheries, enhance food production and diversification, and improve the adaptive capacity and livelihoods of island communities.  

Pilot island communities are already seeing positive changes as a result of the project, with enhanced food supply on land and from the sea.