On January 6, 2004, the full force of Cyclone Heta, a category 5 cyclone, hit the island of Niue. In addition to the loss of life and property, serious damage was done to the forests and
other ecosystems of the island, particularly on the north and west sides. If not blown over, most trees and other large vegetation were stripped of leaves and branches and subjected to
This report briefly summarises the opening ceremony for the new Lateu settlement in the Torba Province, Vanuatu. It is part of the Capacity Building for the Development of Adaptation in
Pacific Island Countries project (CBDAMPIC) funded by the CIDA and executed in the Pacific region by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Proceedings
The World's oceans play a crucial role for life on the planet.
Healthy seas and the services they provide are key to the future
development of mankind. Our seas are highly dynamic, structured and complex systems. The seafloor consists of vast shelves
and plains with huge mountains, canyons and trenches which
dwarf similar structures on land. Ocean currents transport water
masses many times larger than all rivers on Earth combined.
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Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-82-7701-048-9
GOOS is being implemented in the Pacific islands region by PacificGOOS, which was formed in Suva in 1998. In August 2000, in Apia, Samoa, PacificGOOS held a regional workshop on the development of a coastal Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) for the Pacific region. This workshop aimed to raise the level of awareness about PacificGOOS and its value for sustainable
As parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gather in Bali, Indonesia to initiate a fresh effort to develop a global strategy to address climate change, the case for basing that strategy on early, deep cuts in emissions is being aggressively touted. To reinforce that case, the argument is being made that if such a strategy is not
adopted, developing countries like China and India will be those most adversely affected.
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Physical Description: 32 p.
Development and climate change project: concept paper on scope and criteria for case study selection
This document outlines the analytical framework for an OECD project on Development and Climate Change. A three-tier framework is also described for the project case studies that will provide a country-level overview of principal climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, followed by an in-depth analysis at a sectoral or regional/local level on how climate responses could be mainstreamed into particular development policies and projects.
As our understanding of the scale of environmental challenges
deepens, so we are also forced to contemplate the inadequacy of
the current responses to these challenges. By and large, these
responses retreat from engaging the values that underpin our decisions as citizens, voters and consumers: mainstream approaches to tackling environmental threats do not question the dominance of today's individualistic and materialistic values.
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Physical Description: 42 p.
Climate change is real and Asia is already experiencing its adverse impacts. Projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that such impacts will become even more intense in the future. While the contribution of developing countries in Asia to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is increasing rapidly, per capita emissions are still low and developmental challenges remain significant.
Guam, the southernmost island of the Mariana Islands, is likely to encounter a significant typhoon every seven years. During the last thirty years two typhoons have passed directly over GuamKaren (11 November 1962) and Pamela (21 May 1976). Pamela had maximum winds of 120 kt (145 estimated), minimum sea level pressure of 930 mb, a speed of movement at 7 kt, a diameter of 20 nautical miles, and 33 inches of rainfall during the typhoon passage.
Coral reef monitoring lias been an on-going activity in Samoa since 1997. In 1998. a pilot Village Level Coral Reef Monitoring Project (VLCRMP) was initiated in collaboration between The Fisheries Division, the Division of Environment & Conservation and the International Ocean Institute Pacific Islands. The pilot project provided monitoring equipment and assisted in training the trainers that, in nuns trained 46 villagers from six villages selected from around the country ( Mulipola 2001 ).
Since 2001, the villagers in Vanuaso Tikina, Gau Island, Fiji, have collaborated with the University of the South Pacific to manage their environmental resources to prepare them for difficult and challenging times ahead. This review essay seeks to publicize this island community-based experience by illustrating a range of resource management initiatives,
and some of the challenges of their implementation. The experience is instructive to the rest of Fiji and other island and coastal societies where similar initiatives can be tried or
further promoted.
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WITH UNRULY hair; a cheerful glint in his eye and a mischievous grin. Samoan-born Vili lese is passionate about conservation. Right now, he's undertaking ground-breaking research in Tuvalu's waters to help build a sustainable future for Tuvalu's community of almost 12,000 a community who rely heavily on fishing and
farming to survive.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 6 Pages
This report has been prepared at the request of the Government of Nauru to provide advice and instruction for the establishment of a National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS) in this country.
A National Meteorological and Hydrological Service is to be established in Nauru to provide scientific and technical advice to the government and people of Nauru. Nauru is the only independent country or self-governing territory within the membership of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) not to have an established NMHS.
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Tuvalu is comprised of nine small islands, six of them being atoll islands (with lagoons) namely Nanumea, Nui, Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Funafuti, and Nukulaelae. The remaining three,
Nanumanga, Niutao and Niulakita are raised limestone reef islands. None of the islands are more than three metres above sea level, with the biggest island, Vaitupu, having a land area of just over 1000 acres. The total land area is approximately twenty-six square kilometres with a sea area of 900,000 square kilometres. During the pre-independence period, 1938 - 1978,
Vanuatu is among countries in the Pacific region that are most vulnerable to the risks of climate change, climate variability and sea level rise. With the livelihood of its people and economy interwoven, shaped and driven by climate sensitive
sectors, the effects of climate and sea level change are already very real and pose a tangible threat to the future socio-economic wellbeing of the country.
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Call Number: [EL],551.6 COM
Physical Description: 44 p.
Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have committed themselves to considering the special needs and concerns of developing countries resulting from the adverse effects of climate change in the area of insurance. The needs of small island states have been are highlighted for attention, due to their unique geographic features and exposure, and thus unique vulnerability.1
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Physical Description: 49 p.
In failing to tackle climate change with urgency, rich countries
are effectively violating the human rights of millions of the
world's poorest people. Continued excessive greenhouse-gas
emissions primarily from industrialised nations are - with
scientific certainty - creating floods, droughts, hurricanes, sea- level rise, and seasonal unpredictability. The result is failed harvests, disappearing islands, destroyed homes, water
scarcity, and deepening health crises, which are undermining
As early as 1990 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that the greatest single impact of climate change might be on human migrationwith millions of people displaced by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding and agricultural disruption.3 Since then, successive reports have argued that environmental degradation, and in particular climate change, is poised to become a major driver of population displacementa crisis in the making.
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Physical Description: 64 p.
Specifically the Community Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment was conducted to make it possible for the people of Aitutaki to tell the CBDAMPIC project team what climate related
The main purpose of this paper is to help policy makers,
particularly those in developing countries, think about the national policy instruments needed to contribute to the
fight against climate change, how such needs can be articulated in order to seek internal and external financial resources and how these needs may be reflected in negotiations of a future climate change agreement. This paper is an input to a series of workshops which the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will organize in developing countries with the aim of improv-