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This report provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of cetacean diversity, habitat and threats in the Pacifi c Islands Region.

Coral reef, deep ocean and terrestrial surveys were conducted during 25 days of field work in the Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati, with additional surveys of marine mammals during the 9 days of passage to and from Fiji. This study builds on an earlier survey conducted in 2000. Islands visited in 2002 included Nikumaroro, Manra, Kanton, Enderbury, Orona, Birnie and Phoenix, leaving out McKean which was surveyed in 2000. This report summarizes the results of the expedition, with detailed results being prepared for individual components for separate publication.

Global change poses enormous challenges to those responsible for managing the world's forests. There is perhaps no other ecosystem that is so closely linked to, and affected by, human induced changes to climate - being regarded simultaneously as a victim, a villain and a potential saviour. Concentrations of carbon dioxide methane and other greenhouse gases are rising at an accelerating rate in the atmosphere, largely as a result of emissions from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

As an outcome of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the 1994 Barbados Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States not only recognized common environmental challenges facing SIDS, but also highlighted the meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic issues in many of these countries. The Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA), the principal output of the Conference, identified 14 issues and/or focal areas as urgent priorities.

This report presents the integrated case study for Fiji carried out under an OECD project on Development and Climate Change. The report is structured around a three-tier framework. First, recent climate trends and climate change scenarios for Fiji are assessed, and key sectoral impacts are identified and ranked along multiple indicators to establish priorities for adaptation. Second, donor portfolios are analyzed to examine the proportion of donor activities affected by climate risks.

The management of waste materials is a world wide problem. In the small island developing states of the Pacific (Pacific SIDS), waste management is becoming an acute problem as urban population increases, the economies of these countries develop, and the quantities of waste materials requiring management increases. The problems are particularly evident on small atoll islands where there is little land available for landfill waste disposal and such activities are impacting on potable groundwater resources.

Kept in vertical file collection|Electronic copy available

Between 4 February and 8 March 2005, the Cook Islands experienced five damaging cyclones within a period of five weeks, four of which were assigned a severity rating of Category 51 and caused damage to homes and essential public infrastructure. The Government and its agencies provided early warning information dissemination, evacuation and emergency relief to the affected population with the support of international and regional relief agencies.

Some underwater photographs of live sea cucumbers are reproduced with kind permission from the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and the WorldFish Center. Photographs of dried beche-de-mer are by Eric Aubry and Jipé LeBars, Noumea, New Caledonia.

Avaialable electronically|2 copies kept at vertical file collection

Call Number: VF 7005 [EL]

Physical Description: 52 p. 25 cm

The natural environment of Pacific Island countries has supported, maintained and improved the social and economic wellbeing of its people and cultures since the arrival of the first inhabitants. The importance of the region’s biodiversity cannot be understated; it is present in every facet of the island way of life. Natural resources provide food, shelter, medicine and are used extensively in traditions. In the past, utilization of these resources was allowed under traditional and community management.

The Cook Islands, a self-governing country in the central South Pacific consists of fifteen islands, all islands between 8°S and 23°S and 156°W and 167°W. It is geographically divided into two groups a Northern Group comprising Penrhyn, Rakahanga, Manihiki,Suwarrow, Nassau and Pukapuka. All are atolls except Nassau. The Southern Group comprises Palmerston, Rarotonga,Mangaia, Mauke and Atiu as high islands; Aitutaki a part atoll with a volcanic peak and a large lagoon: Mitiaro an elevated coral island and Manuae and Palmerston atolls. Tukutea is a small island near Atiu.

This document presents a national plan for the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Republic of the Fiji Islands. Fiji was the second country in the
world to ratify the Stockholm Convention, having done so on 20 June 2001. The Convention entered into force on 17 May, 2004.

Available online

Call Number: 363.7287 NAT [EL]

Physical Description: v, 61 p. ; 29 cm

Local trees in the Northern Mariana Islands are some of our most precious resources. For centuries our people have relied on native trees and plants for food, medicine, building materials, and countless other uses. Trees also provide much-needed shade, help control soil erosion and serve as watershed areas which store our life-giving water. Birds, fruit bats and other animals also depend on plants for food and habitat needs. Today, much

Climate variability is the variation around the average climate, including seasonal variations as well as large-scale variations in atmospheric and ocean circulation such as the EI Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Climate change operates over decades or longer. Changes in climate occur as a result of internal variability within the climate system and external
factors (natural and anthropogenic). Although climate is always changing, over the past 10,000 years it has been both relatively stable and warm.

Call Number: [EL]

The shallow coastal zone of Fiji is comprised of three major, interrelated habitat types: marine algae and seagrass: large areas of mangroves; and extensive coral reefs. The marine resources include approximately 1000 coral reefs with representatives of all major reef types (Vuki et al„ 2000). Although marine biodiversity is lower than the 'coral triangle' of Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and northeastern Australia. Fiji does support approximately 200 species of coral (Veron. 2000).

The maintenance and enhancement of arboreal biodiversity, especially forest and tree genetic resources, is vital for sustainable development in the Pacific Islands. For Pacific peoples, their forest and tree genetic resources are not just a matter of scientific, economic (in monetary terms), recreational or ecological value. They are a capital inheritance that, until recent times, was passed on, relatively intact or in some cases enhanced, by past generations to current generations.

The Marshall Islands are critically dependent on the health of their coral reefs: every rock and sand grain on the islands are the remains of coral reef organisms. Only actively growing coral reefs can protect the islands against ocean waves and global sea level rise, and provide fish to feed the people. These crucial services are rapidly deteriorating because global warming is

Solomon Islands consists of many islands extending over 1,400 kilometers of ocean in the western equatorial Pacific
between 5 and 13 degrees south and 155 and 158 degrees east. It has an estimated total land area of 29,000 square
kilometers, a 12 mile territorial sea and approximately 1.3 million square kilometers of ocean within its 200 mile

Solomon Islanders rely heavily on marine resources and have one of the highest per capita rates of seafood consumption in the world. In 1982, the national average annual consumption of fish per person was estimated to be 25.7 kg, ranging from <10 kg in rural Guadalcanal and San Cristobal, to 54 kg in the Western Province (Cook, 1988). Another survey conducted in Honiara in 1992, found that 31 per cent of households consumed fresh fish each day and that 82.4 per cent of meals containing animal protein were based on fish.

The 290 km long Mariana Islands Archipelago encompasses 14 islands of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the U.S. Territory of Guam, and numerous offshore banks.

The Republic of the Fiji Islands (Fiji) has generally returned to normalcy after a period of political unrest and uncertainty. Instability over a period of nearly two decades, highlighted by the military coups that occurred in 1987 and again in 2000, has brought into focus the urgent need to achieve peace and security, in order to restore private sector confidence, and to accelerate various proposed public sector reforms needed to promote sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. In 2001, the Government pledged to build a better Fiji.