To help strengthen American Samoa’s critical infrastructure by building a resilient workforce, the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) and American Samoa Community College were awarded $1.7 million. It is one of nine selected projects as part of a larger $60 million initiative by the Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to develop a 21st century workforce capable of addressing the challenges posed by sea-level rise and other climate change-created hazards.
Through collaboration with the American Samoa Power Authority, the program will provide training and certifications focused on creating climate-ready positions in the authority, enhancing the territory’s capacity to manage and adapt to climate-related threats. American Samoa heavily relies on the American Samoa Power Authority for essential services such as electric power, trash pickup and drinking water.
“It is exciting to help ensure American Samoa is able to leverage their local expertise with support from Inflation Reduction Act funding to help realize our goal of a resilient American Samoa,” said Kelley Anderson Tagarino, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant’s extension faculty based in American Samoa who is leading the project. “I am sincerely honored to work with such a wonderful team on this important project.”
Climate frontline community
American Samoa is a true climate frontline community, with one of the highest rates of relative sea-level rise in the world. A significant portion of its villages and infrastructure are located along thin strips of coastal land.
The Inflation Reduction Act is a historic, federal government investment that advances NOAA’s Climate-Ready Coasts Initiative to help American communities prepare, adapt and build resilience to weather and climate events. As part of the President Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, the investments will benefit underserved communities across focus areas of climate change, training and workforce development, energy efficiency, clean water, wastewater infrastructure development and more.
For more information, see Hawaiʻi Sea Grant’s website.
–By Cindy Knapman
