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The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (IPCC AR4) Working Group II (2007) identifies small island states as being among the most vulnerable countries of the world to the adverse impacts of climate change. Hay, el al.y (2003) in discussing the Pacific's observed climate noted that compared to earlier historical records during the twentieth century, the southern Pacific had experienced a significantly drier and warmer climate (by 15 percent and 0.8°C, respectively).

The Earth currently finds itself in the midst of what some have termed the "Anthropocene Era" - a period during which human activities have become a dominate force affecting not only the
planet's landscape, but also its atmosphere. Since the dawn of the industrial evolution of the mid-18th century, humans have contributed to substantial increases in the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has increased by 36%, methane by 17%, and nitrous oxide by 151%. These changes in the global atmosphere are directly linked to over

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.

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.

To formally launch the second phase of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme, a regional inception workshop for the Pacific was held at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Apia, Samoa from 11th to 15th June 2018. The aim of the inception workshop was to ensure that all 15 countries in the Pacific ACP Group of States were engaged for the second phase of BIOPAMA. The working title of the workshop was ‘Regional Workshop on Improving Information and Capacity for More Effective Protected Area Management and Governance in the Pacific’.

Offshore Environment Tuna, Sharks and other targeted species Cook Islands

Forest resources country reports for Cook Islands

This data set is a digital soil survey and generally is the most detailed level of soil geographic data developed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey.
The dataset is included the Digital Atlas of Micronesia, module Pohnpei, by Island Research & Education Initiative (iREi), in collaboration with Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI) University of Guam and partial funding from United States Geological Survey (USGS), under WRRI 104-B Program, project # 2016GU302B.

This dataset the extent of coral reefs around Pohnpei. The data layer shown here is a subset of Pohnpei base layer. The original data, so-called Digital Line Graphs (DLSs), were created by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the 1:25,000-scale topographic maps (2001). The shoreline was modified by by University of Guam (UOG) (2017) based on 2016 Worldview-3 satellite imagery from Digital Globe. The dataset was slightly shifted and also updated (mainly around Kolonia and its vicinity).

This dataset shows the areas of biological significance (ABS) on Pohnpei. The original dataset was created by The Nature Conservancy. A subset to show only Pohnpei was created by the Island Research & Education Initiative (iREi). These data are intended to capture those areas that represent the wide range of biodiversity features in the marine and terrestial areas of FSM. They are used to guide conservation planning and projects in FSM, and ultimately to help establish conservation areas. Polygons capturing expert knowledge from FSM Blueprint project.

Draft 3 (13/6/8) Independent State of Papua New Guinea 2008 A bill for the "Papua New Guinea Institute of Biodiversity Act 2008"

Research papers on rural development and poverty in PNG as part of the Asia-Pacific Viewpoint Journal Volume 46.

The objectives of this Act are–
(a) to protect the environment and conserve biological diversity; and
(b) to ensure that proper weight is given to both the long-term and short-term
social, economic, environmental and equity considerations in deciding all
matters relating to access to, use and management of the country’s unique
biological resources; and
(c) to protect and sustain the potential of biological and physical resources
against threats posed by bio-piracy and other related illegal activities to

13 paged paper which argues that poverty in PNG is significantly located in the most isolated and environmentally disadvantaged parts of rural PNG, where development has not occurred to any extent and where a number of severe constraints make it unlikely to occur.

To date, few quantitative assessments of the marine resources of Palau have been conducted. For the off-shore tuna fishery, reasonable data time-series are available for the foreign access tuna fishery, but data for domestically based tuna operations are incomplete. For the near-shore fishery, reef resources are exploited by subsistence, commercial and recreational fishermen. Very few data are available that document trends in production for most reef-resident and reef-associated fisheries resources in Palau, except for the trochus fishery.

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