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This report focuses on marine/coastal inundation and sea level and how they are affected by climate change.
The region of interest is the Pacific Islands, with a focus on Commonwealth countries (Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu).

Forum Leaders embrace Pacific regionalism as:

*The expression of a common sense of identity and purpose, leading progressively to the sharing of institutions, resources, and markets, with the purpose of complementing national efforts, overcoming common constraints, and enhancing sustainable and inclusive development within Pacific countries and territories and for the Pacific region as a whole*

Principal objectives are;

The Mapping Ocean Wealth data viewer is a live online resource for sharing understanding of the value of marine and coastal ecosystems to people. It includes global maps, regionally-specific studies, reference data, and a number of “apps” providing key data analytics. Maps and apps can be opened according to key themes or geographies. The navigator the left of the maps enables you to add or remove any additional map layers as you explore. Information keys explain how the maps were made and provide additional links. Further information and resources can be found on Oceanwealth.org

The Convention for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (1986) is also known as the SPREP Convention or Noumea Convention. The Convention has two Protocols that also entered into force in 1990. This Convention is the major multilateral umbrella agreement in the Pacific Region for the protection of natural resources and the environment.

A recently published paper, titled “Coastal proximity of populations in 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories” details the methodology used to undertake the analysis and presents the findings. **Purpose** * This analysis aims to estimate populations settled in coastal areas in 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTS) using the data currently available. In addition to the coastal population estimates, the study compares the results obtained from the use of national population datasets (census) with those derived from the use of global population grids.

This publication presents information on coastal and offshore fisheries in the region. The information is broken down into resource categories, the major types of fishing, the important species, the status of those resources, and the fisheries management that occurs.

This guide helps communities understand the pressures people may place on beaches and suggests how natural processes or ecosystem based approaches can be used can encourage sand to come back and stay put.

Minerals are non-renewable resources (at least within human timeframes) but mining them is now apparently a sustainable enterprise, not a one-way street of exploitation. ISA provides an international and transparent forum to regulate and manage all mineral resources related activities and ensure protection of the marine environment in the “Area”, the deep seabed and subsoil beyond national jurisdiction, for the benefit of all humanity.

GEBCO's aim is to provide the most authoritative publicly-available bathymetry of the world's oceans. It operates under the joint auspices of the International Hydrographic Organization(IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (of UNESCO).

GEBCO produces and makes available a range of bathymetric data sets and products. This includes a global bathymetric grid; gazetteer of undersea feature names, a Web Map Service and printable maps of ocean bathymetry.

Current State of Knowledge of Cetacean Threats, Diversity and Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region

Summary table of the status of Pacific Island countries in relation to International and Regional conventions.

This dataset shows the global distribution of seamounts and knolls identified using global bathymetric data at 30 arc-sec resolution. A total of 33,452 seamounts and 138,412 knolls were identified, representing the largest global set of identified seamounts and knolls to date. Seamount habitat was found to constitute approximately 4.7% of the ocean floor, whilst knolls covered 16.3%.

The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University (U.K.), solo Earth Observation (soloEO; Japan), Wetlands International the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Reefs at Risk Revisited is a high-resolution update of the original global analysis, Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs. Reefs at Risk Revisited uses a global map of coral reefs at 500-m resolution, which is 64 times more detailed than the 4-km resolution map used in the 1998 analysis, and benefits from improvements in many global data sets used to evaluate threats to reefs (most threat data are at 1 km resolution, which is 16 times more detailed than those used in the 1998 analysis).

The InterRidge Vents Database is a global database of submarine hydrothermal vent fields. The InterRidge Vents Database is supported by the InterRidge program for international cooperation in ridge-crest studies (www.interridge.org).

Green Turtle Nesting Sites and Sea Turtle Legislation throughout Oceania

This dataset shows the global distribution of cold-water corals. Occurrence records are given for 86 Families under the subclass Octocorallia (octocorals; also known as Alcyonaria) and four Orders (in Class Anthozoa): Scleractinia (reef-forming corals), Antipatharia (black corals), Zoanthidae (encrusting or button polyps), and Pennatulacea (sea pens). Occurrence records are also available for the order sub-Order Filifera (lace corals) in Class Hydrozoa.

This dataset shows the global distribution of coral reefs in tropical and subtropical regions. It is the most comprehensive global dataset of warm-water coral reefs to date, acting as a foundation baseline map for future, more detailed, work. This dataset was compiled from a number of sources by UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the WorldFish Centre, in collaboration with WRI (World Resources Institute) and TNC (The Nature Conservancy).

This dataset shows the modelled global patterns of above-ground biomass of mangrove forests. The dataset was developed by the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, with support from The Nature Conservancy. The work is based on a review of 95 field studies on carbon storage and fluxes in mangroves world-wide. A climate-based model for potential mangrove above-ground biomass was developed, with almost four times the explanatory power of the only previous published model.

This is a MaxEnt model map of the global distribution of the seagrass biome. Species occurrence records were extracted from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) Ocean Data Viewer and Ocean biogeographic information system (OBIS). This map shows the suitable habitats for the seagrass distribution at global scale.