A list of international and regional multilateral environmental agreements in which each of the Pacific Island country is a party/signatory of. This is useful for SPREP activities and planning
Chapter 1 of Title 18 of the Code of the Federated States of Micronesia, as amended by Public Law No. 19-172 on April 28, 2017, states that the Territorial Sea is a line, every point of which is 12 M seaward of the nearest point of the baseline. Waters landward of the baseline, including the lagoons of atolls or islands, are internal waters.
"Comparison of the average hard coral cover between the three five-year periods comprising the last 15 years (2005-09, 2010-14, 2015-19, Tab. 9.3) indicated that there was a high degree of confidence (93%) in the long-term decline, despite the uncertainty in individual yearly estimates. Further, the vast majority (90%) of this decline occurred between 2010-14 and 2015-19, suggesting that the rate of decline in hard coral cover has accelerated during the last five years"
"Comparison of the average hard coral cover between the three five-year periods comprising the last 15 years (2005-09, 2010-14, 2015-19, Tab. 9.3) indicated that there was a high degree of confidence (93%) in the long-term decline, despite the uncertainty in individual yearly estimates. Further, the vast majority (90%) of this decline occurred between 2010-14 and 2015-19, suggesting that the rate of decline in hard coral cover has accelerated during the last five years"
Circular 21/150
Inform Plus proposed 5 pillars
- Component 1: Environmental Governance
- Component 2: Monitoring and field data collection for environmental standards and standardised environmental indicators
- Component 3: Data management utilising the Pacific Island Network Portal (PEP). Production of information products for decision makers based on existing data sets.
- Component 4: Enhance and expand GIS use for data collection, analysis and presentation to inform decision makers
In the 30th SPREP meeting held in September this year, the meeting supported the scaling up of environment data management in the Pacific and directed the Secretariat to initiate a process for developing a full-sized project proposal to support the scaling up environmental data management work in the region.
Later in October, the Inform Project participating countries collectively agree on the need to scale up and extend the Inform Project services beyond 2022.
In the 30th SPREP meeting held in September this year, the meeting supported the scaling up of environment data management in the Pacific and directed the Secretariat to initiate a process for developing a full-sized project proposal to support the scaling up environmental data management work in the region.
Later in October, the Inform Project participating countries collectively agree on the need to scale up and extend the Inform Project services beyond 2022.
Coral reefs in every region of the world are threatened by climate change, no matter how remote or well protected. Identifying and protecting climate refugia is a popular recommendation for coral reef management. Climate refugia are locations that maintain suitable environmental conditions for a resident species even when surrounding areas become inhospitable.
In the Pacific Islands region, fish and invertebrates (specifically shellfish) fulfill important ecological roles in coastal and oceanic habitats, and many species are targeted by fisheries, making vital contributions to food security, livelihoods, government revenue and cultural heritage. This report discusses how climate change is expected to have profound effects on the status and distribution of coastal and oceanic habitats, the fish and invertebrates they support and, as a result, the productivity of fisheries and aquaculture
The amended Code of the Federated States of Micronesia states in section 104 that the exclusive economic zone is contiguous to the territorial sea. The inner boundary of the exclusive economic zone of each island or atoll is the seaward boundary of the territorial sea, and the outer boundary is a line, every point of which is two hundred nautical miles seaward of the nearest point on the baseline.
The Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 2011 repeals the Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 1983. It states that the territorial sea of Kiribati comprises those waters having, as their inner limits, the baseline of Kiribati and, as their outer limits, a line measured seaward from that baseline, every point of which is at a distance of twelve (12) nautical miles from the nearest point of the baseline.
The Database of Island Invasive Species Eradications (DIISE) attempts to compile all historical and current invasive vertebrate eradication projects on islands. The vast majority of the dataset is focused on invasive mammals. Data gathered from each project includes island location and characteristics, details about the eradication including focal species, methods and outcome, plus links and or contact details for learning more about the project.
Comprehensive assessment of the risks and impacts of seabed mining on marine ecosystems by Fauna and Flora International.
This project has developed sub-regional bioregionalisations for the western-south Pacific Ocean, through expert workshops and novel statistical analysis of physical and biological data. This combines approaches CSIRO developed in Australia, used in the Bay of Bengal (in collaboration with BOBLME) with similar approaches that have been used throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans to derive a single combined bioregionalisation.
The Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 2011 repeals and replaces the Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 1983 and defines the baseline of the territorial sea, the 12 nautical mile territorial sea and the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/KIR_2011_Ac…
The Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 2011 repeals and replaces the Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 1983 and defines the baseline of the territorial sea, the 12 nautical mile territorial sea and the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/KIR_2011_Ac…
The Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 2011 states that "Baseline" means the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf is measured. It contains the geographic coordinates that defines the baseline for the Line Group. The points are defined by geographic coordinates are determined by reference
to the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84).
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas, updated on a monthly basis, and is one of the key global biodiversity data sets being widely used by scientists, businesses, governments, International secretariats and others to inform planning, policy decisions and management. The WDPA is a joint project between UN Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Territorial Sea Baseline of Cook Islands was derived from two high resolution satellite imageries called Geo-eye and WorldView -2 in 2011 and 2012. These imageries are referenced to the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 1984) datum. The baselines were defined and completed by Cook Islands technical team in collaboration with SPC in 2005.