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The rational for this Policy Brief is to make clear the vital benefits of integrating
biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management by taking the Ecosystemsbased
Adaptation approach along with the Green Economy Initiative to achieve
equitable multiple ‘win-win’ objectives to ensure the continued well-being of human
society in the future.

Available online

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 20 p.

Climate change poses an unprecedented level of threat to life on the planet. In addition, predictions about the scale and speed of impact are continually being revised upwards, so that what was already a serious situation continues to look even more threatening. The facts are well known. Atmospheric greenhouse gases are creating warmer temperatures, ice melt, sea-level rise and an unpredictable climate, with a range of extremely serious and hard-to-predict consequences. Recent research shows an increasingly bleak picture.

A BIORAP is a biological inventory programme
undertaken in marine and terrestrial environments, and
is designed to rapidly assess the biodiversity of highly
diverse areas. Options to manage threats and protect
biodiversity of national or international significance are
recommended to governing communities.

3 copies and also available online

Call Number: VF 7427 ,[EL]

Physical Description: 12p. : ill. (col.) ; 29cm.

The Biological Rapid Assessment Programme (BIORAP) is a biological survey based on a concept developed by Conservation International and designed to use scientific information to catalyse conservation action. BIORAP methods are designed to rapidly assess the biodiversity of highly diverse areas and to train local scientists in biodiversity survey techniques.The BIORAP can be considered a spatial and temporal ‘snapshot’ of Vava’u’s full range of biodiversity.

Situated between Fiji to the west and Samoa to the northeast, the Kingdom of Tonga (referred
to as Tonga) is comprised of 171 scattered islands of which less than 50 are inhabited. The islands are
mainly composed of limestone formed from uplifted coral. Current critical environmental concerns have
arisen due to deforestation; damage to coral reefs and the introduction and spread of invasive alien
species. Anthropogenic pressure has resulted in extensive modification of all ecosystems on the

The malau or Polynesian megapode was only found on Niuafo'ou until a second population was estanlished relatively recently on Fonualei Island in the vava'u Group.

Available online

Call Number: [EL],591.529 REP

ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0692-6,978-982-03-0692-3

Physical Description: 38 p. 29 cm

Tonga is one of the many islands that are endowed with unique resources and derives much of its economic, environmental and social well-being directly or indirectly from its environment.
Tonga harbours numerous special ecosystems: from the peak of Mt, Talau in Vava’u, to the serenity of Vai Lahi in Niuafo’ou; the vulnerability of the Ha’apai Group to ‘Eua’s National
Forest and to the Fanga’uta Lagoon in Tongatapu. Beyond the aesthetic beauty of the ecosystems to tourists and visitors; they provide immense support to the communities whose

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical depressions cause average annual direct losses of US$284 million in the Pacific. With a combined population of fewer than 10 million people, annual losses are the highest in the world on a per-capita basis. Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall are closely linked to climate change, suggesting that Pacific Island nations face increasing risk of disasters such as flooding and landslides. Proactive management through infrastructure development, social solutions, and/or ecosystem-based adaptation can mitigate these risks.

This report examines the role of the ecosystem services in reducing the vulnerability of the people of the Pacific Islands to climate change. Specifically, it describes the decision-making frameworks and the current state of knowledge of specific ecosystem-service/development relationships that are relevant to EbA.

Marine invasive species have received much less attention than terrestrial species worldwide. In the Pacific, the marine environment provides us with a significant part of our diet and income. Marine Managed Areas focus on protecting these important resources for livelihood purposes, biodiversity and ecosystem function, tourism and many other benefits. Although invasive species management is more difficult in the marine environment, it is not something we can neglect, and the efforts we put in need to increase. This guide seeks to provide some options for this management.

The small economies and populations of the Pacific islands have very limited financial
capacity, yet are stewards for an immense area of ocean and its associated global
ecosystem services

Available online
Also available in hard copy.

Call Number: [EL],333.7 PAC

Physical Description: 5 Pages,40 p.

Tonga’s marine ecosystems are worth at least TOP 47 million per year, exceeding the country’s total export value. We are strongly committed to sustaining these values to build an equitable and prosperous blue economy.

Available online

Call Number: [EL],363.94 MAR

ISBN/ISSN: 978 82 7701 174 5

Physical Description: 84 p

Conservation can best be achieved when conservation values are part of the mainstream
of society, when they “become part of everyone’s decisions” including government, private
enterprise and the community as a whole. This was recognized by the more than 320
participants from Pacific island governments, Pacific and international organizations and
community groups when they met in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in July 2002 for the 7th
Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas

Kept in vertical file collection|Available electronically

Mangrove ecosystems are under pressure due to anthropogenic stressors and sea level rise. The resilience of mangroves will depend on the rate of accretion of sediments compared to the rate of sea level rise and their capability to colonise higher elevation areas or buffer zones. This will also be affected by the measures to protect the existing mangroves against anthropogenic pressures.

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 91 p.

This report outlines key human-mangrove relationships in Moata'a, an urban village settlement in Apia, Samoa with the aim to provide an understanding of the relationship between the Moata'a community and their mangrove environment that will inform future development, conservation and climate adaptation activities in the area.

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 76 p.

This paper blends conservation science with legal and policy analysis to assess the primary threats to global shark populations and explores innovative approaches to conservation building upon the philosophy of Earth law, including the Rights pf Nature legal framework.

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 18 p.

During the period 1958-1964, the authors undertook soil and vegetation studies in the northern Marshall Islands as part of the University of Washington Radiation Biology Laboratory surveillance team. This team was responsible for monitoring levels of radiation in various components of the island environment and any effects on plant and animal life. The authors of this report were charged with the soils and vegetation components but assisted with collections in the aquatic ecosystems and some food plant materials.

Phosphatic limestones and associated soils occur on eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu, central Pacific. Deposits range from gram-size to >500,000 tons. Carbonate hydroxyapatite, dahllite, forms crustose cement about calcareous bioclasts which it sometimes replaces. Precise genetic relationship of rock to soil is unclear. Consolidated rock occurs as hardpan within phosphatic soil profiles, with unconsolidated phosphatic layers above and below. Phosphatization has occurred either as a continuous or episodic process within the vadose zone for at least 4000 years.

Jonathan Sauer (1961) remarked, in his Coastal Plant Geography of Mauritius, that the chance to study the coastal vegetation there was like being "admitted to a field worker's paradise"
and stressed that "most tropical coasts are beautiful and exciting, particularly to people concerned with natural processes . . .." The same can certainly be said for the tropical coasts of the often Edenized islands of the Pacific Ocean. Their "beauty and excitement" is considerably enhanced,

Coral atolls are natural laboratories within which to examine ecological processes (Sachet, 1967; Lee, 1984). They are often isolated, in some cases little disturbed, and have a geologically recent history of terrestrial plant colonisation. Reef islands around the rim of most atolls are Holocene in age. They are composed of biogenic skeletal sediments and have developed since reef growth caught up with sea level which stabilized after post-glacial sea-level rise. Plant colonisation of most of these islands must have occurred over a period of no more than 6000 years.