Kiribati

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds regional projects assisting communities in accessing financing, building institutional capacity, and adapting to climate change. The Climate Ready project (2016-2022) supports climate finance and management capacity by working with government partners and stakeholders to draft and implement policies to achieve adaption goals; access larger amounts of financing from international adaption funds; and improve the skills and systems within each country to better manage and monitor adaption projects. With the Pacific Community (SPC), the Institutional Strengthening in Pacific Island Countries to Adapt to Climate Change project (ISACC, 2015-2022) is expanding government capacity to manage their climate finances more successfully and supporting the scale up of successful multi-sectoral projects to improve climate resilience. In addition to USAID climate programs, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) funds several grants and interagency agreements that provide support for early warning systems and national adaptation planning in Kiribati as part of Pacific Island regional programs.

U.S. trade with Kiribati is limited. Kiribati is a party to the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which provides access for U.S. fishing vessels to fish in waters under the jurisdiction of Pacific Island parties in exchange for a license fee paid by U.S. industry. Under a separate Economic Assistance Agreement associated with the Treaty, the United States government currently provides $21 million per year to the Pacific Island parties. Pre-pandemic, the majority of U.S. tourists to Kiribati visited Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Line Islands.