Definitions and technical terms:

Climate change : Definition of the IPCC : Climate change refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically decades or longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use.

Definition of climate change by the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Article 1): a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes.

El Niño/ La Niña (IPCC definition): El Niño, in its original sense, is a warm water current which periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, disrupting the local fishery. This oceanic event is associated with a fluctuation of the intertropical surface pressure pattern and circulation in the Indian and Pacific oceans, called the Southern Oscillation. This coupled atmosphere-ocean phenomenon is collectively known as El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. During an El Niño event, the prevailing trade winds weaken and the equatorial countercurrent strengthens, causing warm surface waters in the Indonesian area to flow eastward to overlie the cold waters of the Peru current. This event has great impact on the wind, sea surface temperature and precipitation patterns in the tropical Pacific. It has climatic effects throughout the Pacific region and in many other parts of the world. The opposite of an El Niño event is called La Niña.

Tide gauge: device used to measure the sea level at a given location.

Organizations:

UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (IPCC definition) The Convention was adopted on 9 May 1992 in New York and signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro by more than 150 countries and the European Community. Its ultimate objective is the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

IDDRI: Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (Institute of Sustainable Development and International relations). Created in 2001, its mission is to inform and promote thinking on sustainable development.

IPCC: International Panel on Climate Change. Intergovernmental body created in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its mission is to “provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts”.

SPREP: Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. Intergovernmental organization established in 1982 and which comprise 21 members. Its mission is to protect the Pacific islands environment and ensure sustainable development.