Adapting to El Niño: JP RWEE strengthens climate resilience across the Pacific Islands

Across the Pacific Islands, rural communities are facing increasingly challenging conditions linked to El Niño, with drought and water shortages putting agricultural production, livestock and food security under pressure. For the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE), this changing context has reinforced the importance of adapting support to local conditions while protecting the gains already made.

Preparing for drought in Tonga

In Tonga, climate-smart agriculture training delivered through JP RWEE has helped communities prepare for changing conditions. Practices such as plastic mat mulching, selective drip irrigation and intercropping legumes with cash crops have supported more resilient and productive farming.

The unusually cold conditions experienced between June and August 2026 were also beneficial for vegetable production, with farmers producing vegetables of exceptional size and quality. This allowed participating farmers to generate income and build reserves ahead of more challenging El Niño conditions.

As drought conditions intensify, however, effective water management is becoming increasingly important. The experience highlights how agricultural practices introduced through JP RWEE can help communities strengthen their preparedness for climate shocks, including events that were not necessarily anticipated when the programme was designed.

Putting water first in Kiribati

In Kiribati, where some communities already experience drought conditions for around six months of the year, El Niño has required a more significant shift in activities.

Rather than continuing with activities such as seedling production, which would be difficult to sustain without sufficient water, attention has temporarily shifted towards securing water for communities. This includes the procurement of six desalination plants, water tanks, and reticulation systems for household connections.

The adjustment reflects JP RWEE implementing partners’ country-specific approach: responding to immediate needs based on local ecology, available water resources, and the severity of climate impacts.

Protecting earlier gains in Fiji

In Fiji, support is similarly focusing on helping farmers manage water supplies as El Niño  threatens crops and livestock. Based on participants’ needs, current activities include the procurement of water pumps to draw water from highland rivers, storage tanks positioned on hilltops and connection lines to enable gravity-fed drip irrigation to farm fields.

The system is intended to provide water for both agricultural production and livestock, helping protect gains made earlier in the programme from being lost because of worsening climate conditions.

Strengthening food security in Solomon Islands

In the Solomon Islands, JP RWEE participants have combined climate-smart agricultural practices with livestock management to bolster household and community food security. Implementation and monitoring missions by the JP RWEE Project Management Unit throughout the fourth quarter of 2026 will assess whether interventions remain fit for purpose and identify any adjustments needed to support beneficiaries’ well-being.

Across the Pacific, these experiences show the importance of flexible and locally adapted approaches to rural women’s economic empowerment. As climate conditions change, JP RWEE partners are adjusting activities to respond to immediate needs while helping communities  safeguard livelihoods, agricultural production and food security.