A team of climate change experts from the U.S. Agency for International Development are heading to Fiji to help design regional adaptation plans for the South Pacific.

John Wilson, director of the office of technical services for USAID's Middle East bureaus, said the team is working on ways to address water and food security as well as other needs brought about by rising global temperatures. The work is part of two grants totaling about $3 million to work with government leaders, donors and others on ways to develop clean energy and help protect the area from climate change-related disasters.

"Climate change is an urgent problem for the region," Wilson said. He noted that changes to precipitation levels are still unclear, but said, "We know that water resources are going to be compromised.

"Because of their small size and limited human and economic resources, and because they lie in an area prone to natural disasters, they have significant challenges that they face."

Pacific island nations are among the countries most threatened by climate change. Many, particularly the atoll states Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives, fear they could become submerged over the next century by a combination of sea-level rise and coastal erosion.

There are serious concerns about saltwater intrusion into the islands' water sources. Some experts fear the devastation of valuable coral reef systems that have become integral to tourism and fishing economies and that offer natural protection against storm surges.

Last year, USAID opened a Pacific office in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to -- among other things -- administer $21 million in grants supporting climate change adaptation.

The announcement of the new office came as Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides led what the agency described as the largest and highest-level U.S. delegation ever to participate in a Pacific Islands Forum as proof of the United States' commitment to the region.

Wilson said the climate change delegation in Fiji will continue on to the Philippines to conduct consultations, and hopes to finish a regional plan in about a month.