The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a sovereign Small Island State in the tropical central North Pacific Ocean. RMI is a nation of more than thirty low-lying atolls and islands, most of which are inhabited, dispersed across an EEZ over 2 million square kilometers. Multiple hazards such as coastal flooding, wave overwash, and drought threaten freshwater and food security of the communities. In the atolls, vegetation consists of agroforest, coconut plantation, and coastal species. Because islands/ islets are small and low-lying, all vegetation is vulnerable to the hazards. Current drought hazard products provide generalities regarding conditions on a broad geographic scale, but do not consider exposure of valuable vegetation to stressful conditions, nor how the products are used by Marshallese and regional stakeholders.
Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Risky World Program, the USGS National Land Imaging Program, and the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center, this project integrated multiple sources of Earth observations to demonstrate exposure and communicate environmental status and risk to decision makers in RMI, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. The use of remote sensing expanded existing observer-based reporting, increased spatial detail, and improved user understanding by enhancing the assessment of risk exposure through co-production with the partners. The hazard and exposure communication tools and analytic methodologies developed in this study are ready to operationalize for the RMI. Additionally, they are modular and could be expanded throughout the tropical Pacific.
