The outer islands of Chuuk, including the atolls of the Mortlocks, have a limited number of natural resources, upon which people?s livelihoods are sustained. The marine and terrestrial environments provide a source of food, water and materials that people of the outer islands have used for hundreds of years to sustain themselves with. Our social and cultural systems provide communities with a strong source of resilience that has traditionally sustained us through disaster events such as typhoons, storms and high sea and swell events.
However, climate change and the associated impacts including sea-level rise, strong winds, increasing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are real and pose a significant threat to our livelihoods. We are already seeing annual times of drought and with sea level rise, our islands are either eroding into the sea, or becoming submerged. Our low-lying island cannot protect our taro patches from saltwater inundation, and this is affecting the salinity of our freshwater lens as well as straining our water security. According to an Australian publication entitled, ?Climate Change Threats to Food and Water Security on Pacific Atolls?, climate change is expected to pose significant threats to the small, low-lying islands of the Pacific in the future coming. Atolls are particularly at risk. Sea-level rise, more powerful wave activity and higher flood risk is likely to pose a threat to those atoll community?s food and water security. Water security will be greatly affected. The Chuuk State JSAP contains climate prediction models that predict mild drought will occur:
o approximately eight to nine times every 20 years in 2030
? moderate drought will occur:
o once to twice every 20 years in 2030
o once every 20 years in 2090 for all emissions scenarios
? severe droughts will occur:
o approximately once every 20 years across all time periods and scenarios
(see Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2013 for details).

The Mortlock Islands are vulnerable to periods of low rainfall with past drought events providing examples of such challenges. Climate change, and potential alterations to rainfall patterns therefore pose a moderate risk to water resources through enhanced or prolonged drought. We must protect our communities? water security in light of these changes in the climate that we are already seeing.

Our project aligns with the Chuuk State Strategic GCF project in the FSM Country Program:
Project 1: Chuuk State Resilient Critical Infrastructure Program ? which includes water security and increasing capacity to promote resilience to climate change through expanded water catchment infrastructure in the outer islands