The impacts of climate change on food security were among topics discussed at a recent climate change workshop hosted by the American Samoa Community College, Community and Natural Resources Division.
The workshop was titled, “Sharing Climate Change Knowledge, Supporting Our Communities,” and was held June 20-21.
Over the past year, a series of Extension Climate Forums have been convened in Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Each forum was designed and organized collaboratively with the support of local cooperative extension staff and local government and environmental agencies in each location.
“The purpose of the Extension Climate Forums held in Hawaii and in the other U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands, including American Samoa, was to bring together local and regional experts from the agricultural, natural resource management, and climate and weather sectors to engage in a critical dialog around climate change and its potential impacts on agricultural and food security on the islands,” said Dr. Patricia Fifita, Postdoctoral Research Fellow for UHM-CTAHR in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM).
She explained that a central goal of this project has been to build a partnership between the ASCC-ACNR Extension Services and the UHM Cooperative Extension Services to increase climate knowledge and access to climate-related information relevant to the agricultural sector, in an effort to identify strategies for strengthening local food production systems in the face of climate change.
Director of ACNR Aufa’i Apulu Ropeti Areta said, “The impacts of climate change continue to threaten food security, healthy living environments and local livelihoods in American Samoa in significant ways and we need to be prepared to address these challenges.
“By increasing climate knowledge and access to local climate and weather data, tools and information, especially among agricultural extension personnel and producers, American Samoa will be in a better position to plan for and identify ways to strengthen local agricultural systems and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.”
The ASCC-ACNR and UHM-CTAHR would like to thank the following for their support: the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), USDA SW Climate Hub, USDA-NIFA Extension Initiative, Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC), ASCC President Rosevonne Makaiwi-Pato, DMWR, CRAG, EPA, NPAS, NWS, NOAA, and local farmers.
