This paper focuses on pilot activities being carried out under the Integrated Coastal Watershed Management component of the Pacific International Waters Project (IWP). The paper discusses a two-pronged approach being taken to address the root causes of identified threats to the international waters of 14 Pacific Island countries. National and local level activities are focusing on coastal fisheries, waste management and freshwater protection.
The objective of the FSM International Waters Project is to promote sustainable coastal fisheries via a system of marine protected areas established and maintained through a
The field visit to Tegua in the Torba Province. Vanuahi was undertaken to carry out a post relocation survey. The relocation was earned out under the Capacity Building for the Development of Adaptation Measures in Pacific Islands Countries (CBDAMPIC) project as an adaptation measure to the vulnerability that
the people of Tegua are facing due to salt-water inundation.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 12 Pages
The main purpose of SEM-Pasifika is to improve site management of the coastal and marine areas in the Pacific region. It should guide interested communities in the region (including communities who have used existing methods and new communities without experiences in socio-economic assessment), management and project staff, researchers, and other practitioners, to understand important steps involved in a socioeconomic assessment and to be able to conduct the monitoring.
In the Pacific, land and sea are life; livelihoods and the natural environment are inseparable. Culture, tradition and livelihoods, are underpinned by the incredible biodiversity of the nearly 3,000 islands and atolls of the Pacific. However, high birth rates, unsustainable use of natural resources, increasing dependency on the cash economy, labour migration, and the deterioration of traditional social systems, are changing traditional lifestyles.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 36 p.
Few studies1 have been published on school-based environmental education (EE) in the Pacific islands, and there is little available information on effective initiatives in schools. The key purpose of this study is to review and assess the extent to which EE is being carried out in Pacific Island schools to support ongoing dialogue about environment and sustainable development education at the national, regional and international levels.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 74
Pacific Island governments, along with other world leaders and civil society, have pledged their commitment to take action to change and promote sustainable development. Along with this
commitment is the recognition that a sustainable future is dependent upon a considerable shift in attitudes, value, lifestyles and behaviour.
Education and training are critical components of SPREP's mandate and vision for sustainable development in the Pacific. This is clearly identified in SPREP's Strategic Programmes and
Action Plan endorsed by Pacific leaders in 2004.
One of the greatest challanges we face in protecting our islands biodiversity is how to balance the needs of the people that use it, and the future of the environment. There are many reasons why the Pacific islands way of life is endangered, it is
necessary to address these threats, all of them. Understand ing their causes will help to stop them, if it is possible or to change or adapt our way of life. It is necessary to focus on long term sustainability strategies, but in the mean time develop and carry out short term projects to address the immediate needs of our islands.
The Ninth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region and Related Protocols (Noumea Convention), was held from 4-5 September 2008 in Palikir, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.
3 copies|Available online
Call Number: 363.7099 SEC [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0386-4
Physical Description: 40 p. 29 cm
The fourth Conference of the Parties to the Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and the Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (Waigani Convention) was held on 5 September 2008 in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.
4 copies|Available online
Call Number: 344.04622 SEC [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0387-1
Physical Description: 52 p. ; 29 cm
Whale-watching has recently developed into an important industry within the South Pacific islands region (Economists @ Large & Associates. 2008a). In particular, the presence of humpback whales at high latitudes during the winter months has become of great interest over the last 10 years (Schaffar and Garrigue. 2007). In the Kingdom of Tonga, whale-watching activities began in 1994 and focus on a small population of humpback whales utilising the waters around Vava'u as their
In 1981, the Isabel provincial government first recognized the importance of the Arnavon Islands as a nesting ground for Hawksbill turtles, and designated the islands as a Wildlife
Sanctuary. At that time, however, the government did not adequately recognize the local communities' rights and the project failed. In 1989, the South Pacific Regional Environment
Programme (SPREP) collaborated with the Solomon Islands government and the Ministry of Natural Resources (now the Ministry of Forestry, Environment and Conservation or MFEC) to
By the late 1990s Kiribati was in a waste crisis. The primary problem was on South Tarawa, the capital, and home of approximately one half of the country's people. There were no
engineered landfills, and litter was extremely common and thick, in all built up areas and surrounding beaches. Piles of waste often remained uncollected in the streets for weeks.
Programmes were instituted by the Ministry of Environment, the ADB, and SPREP to turn the situation around. By 2002, a programme called SAPHE1 was underway, building two landfills,
Tonga's main island and home of 50% of the population, Tongatapn, faced a significant waste disposal crisis. An AusAID- funded project has shown how an integrated approach can maximize the opportunities to improving the entire system. While the project is still only 50% complete, preliminary indications show it to be a model of methodology for these types of major system up-grades.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 3 Pages
Disposal by incineration instead has some major disadvantages. The air pollution risks are usually not as high (as they are on continents), thanks to the large expanses of surrounding
ocean. Yet the high costs and challenging technological safety demands of incineration tend to make it an inappropriate disposal solution. Improvements in gasification systems and
energy recovery could alter this balance over the next few decades. However, the prospect of turning the mountains of plastic residues into an energy source are likely to remain a fantasy in the foreseeable future.
A team of consultants conducted a review of Pacific Regional Meteorological Services as commissioned by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in November 2009. This was in response to a directive from Pacific Islands Forum Leaders. Over the period November 2009-April 2010, the team reviewed relevant documentation, consulted with SPREP member countries and other organisations, and considered feedback on a draft report before presenting its final report and recommendations.
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Call Number: [EL]
Another possible scenario could take place from the InterOil Napa Napa Refinery in Papua New Guinea, which has the highest volume of crude and other persistent oils being transported via ships throughout the Pacific region. Potential oil drill sites as well as potential vessel slip docks such as those
in Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu could also result in oil leaks and marine pollution.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 Pages