One of the leading experts on climate change in the Pacific, Eileen Shea, of the East West Centre in Hawaii, has told a workshop in American Samoa that there's now a lot of information on the impact of El Nino weather patterns.
She says El Nino - which is a warming of the ocean bringing accompanying atmospheric conditions, such as less rainfall and changes to tropical cyclones - is now much better understood.
Eileen Shea says this means the region can prepare itself for the next time an El Nino is forecast.
"That we will want to take it seriously and we will want to think about conserving water. Thinking about changing the kinds of plants we grow to drought resistant plants."
