The Pacific region has benefited from a number of regional and national programmes to both assess the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and develop programmes to adapt to climate change. Such programmes are critical considering that the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1/ states that the Pacific region has already experienced temperature increases of as much as 1°C since 1910.
Climate change is a major threat to global biodiversity. From the tropics to the Poles, the worlds ecosystems are all under pressure. A study published in the scientific journal Nature posited that 15 to 37% of terrestrial animal and plant species could be at risk of extinction because of human-induced impacts on climate (Thomas et al., 2004). Scattered across the four corners of the Earth, European Union overseas entities, are home to a biological diversity that is as rich as it is vulnerable.
Tongas marine ecosystems are worth at least TOP 47 million per year, exceeding the countrys total export value. We are strongly committed to sustaining these values to build an equitable and prosperous blue economy.
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Call Number: [EL],363.94 MAR
ISBN/ISSN: 978 82 7701 174 5
Physical Description: 84 p
The Regional Seas programme of UNEP commenced in 1974 and since that time
considerable advances have been made in the development of regional action plans and
conventions for the protection of the marine and coastal areas of some eleven regions world-
wide. Following these developments UNEP has encouraged inter-regional co-operation in
addressing various issues of environmental concern through the organisation of international
meetings and inter-regional symposia. This volume contains the record of one such symposium,
The main topographical features of Samoa are rugged mountains of volcanic origin, surrounded by flat and rolling coastal plains. All the islands of Samoa were formed by volcanic activity. Savai'i is regarded as still volcanically active with its most recent eruption producing lava flows between 1905 and 1911. A large percentage of Samoan soils are porous, shallow and clay in texture.
Also available online|A PICCAP-GEF funded project
Call Number: 551.6 UNI [EL],302.2 GOV,VF 2682,INT-CON
Physical Description: xi, 50 p. ; 29 cm
The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply
the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
A contribution to the global invasive species programme
Call Number: 628.16 CLA [EL],SPE
ISBN/ISSN: 2-8317-0548-7
Physical Description: xvi, 138 p. ; 29 cm
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the World Meteorological
Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
2 copies
Call Number: 551.632 PAC
Physical Description: various pagings
Many societies have rules rooted in legal tradition that require the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources. The obligation of stewardship is a feature of
westernised legal systems. In nations following the common law tradition, the doctrine of waste requires owners of land to use it sustainably. Elsewhere, customary law systems
demand strict rules governing the allocation and use of resources. There is, therefore, an existing legal culture into which our generation's obligations towards the world's
resources can be set.
The objective of this study is to provide decision makers in the European Commission and other partner countries with sufficient information to identify European Commission cooperation activities with specific environmental objectives and to establish environmental safeguards for other activities.
5 copies
Call Number: 333.7'9595 MOU,[EL]
Physical Description: 74 pages; 29 cm
The New Guinea mainland and surrounding islands possess an extra-ordinarily rich flora and a great diversity of vegetation types that parallel the diverse physiography of the lands and the resulting climates that prevail. A high proportion (some three-quarters) of the land area has a forest cover,
The human drama of climate change will largely be played out in Asia, where over 60 per cent of the world's population, around four billion people, live. Over half of those live near the coast, making them directly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Disruption to the region's water cycle caused by climate change also threatens the security and productivity of the food systems upon which they depend. In acknowledgement, both of the key meetings in 2007 and 2008 to secure a global climate agreement will be in Asia.
Available electronically
This report serves as to create an overview of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) progress and activities in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The overview is to form part of a submission by the GWP (Global Water Partnership) Secretariat at the forthcoming;
"(i) donor meeting to mobilise and seek support for IWRM in February, 2004, and the
(ii) CSD conference in New York, March, 2004".
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 37 p.
The World's oceans play a crucial role for life on the planet.
Healthy seas and the services they provide are key to the future
development of mankind. Our seas are highly dynamic, structured and complex systems. The seafloor consists of vast shelves
and plains with huge mountains, canyons and trenches which
dwarf similar structures on land. Ocean currents transport water
masses many times larger than all rivers on Earth combined.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-82-7701-048-9
GOOS is being implemented in the Pacific islands region by PacificGOOS, which was formed in Suva in 1998. In August 2000, in Apia, Samoa, PacificGOOS held a regional workshop on the development of a coastal Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) for the Pacific region. This workshop aimed to raise the level of awareness about PacificGOOS and its value for sustainable
The GOOS Capacity Building Workshop for the Pacific was identified in the GOOS 1998 Plan and it was approved by the IOC Assembly in 1997 and the SOPAC Annual Session in 1997. The IOC and SOPAC were co-sponsors of the workshop and its preparation was co-ordinated by Jan Stel (Chair), William Erb (IOC) and Alf Simpson, Russell Howorth and Andrew Butcher of SOPAC.
Williamson and Sabath (1982) have demonstrated a significant relationship between modern population size and environment by examining atoll area and rainfall in the Marshall Islands. The present work seeks to extend that argument into prehistory by examining the relationship of ancient habitation sites and size of aroid pit agricultural systems to atoll land area and rainfall regime along the 1,500-3,500 mm precipitation gradient in the Marshall Islands.
Henderson island, a World Heritage Site in the Pitcairn group, south-central Pacific Ocean, has often been thought to have a pristine vegetation. Our archaeological investigations and field observations in 1991-1992, supported by recent observations in
1997, suggest the occurrence of former areas of Polynesian cultivation near to the North and East Beaches, and indicate that about 17 non-native vascular plant taxa have occurred.
Microbenthos and macrobenthos were quantitatively studied at 62 stations distributed regularly over the Uvea Atoll lagoon (850 km2). Sampling was performed using both SCUBA and a 0.1 m2 Smith Mclntyre grab. Mean estimates of ATP, chlorophyll a and phaeopigments were 297.3ng/cm2, 77.01 mg/m2 and 35.28 mg/m2
respectively. The mean macrobenthic biomass was 4.14 gAFDW/m2 of which the macrophytobenthos accounts for 39%. The benthic biomass decreased from the coast to the deepest parts of the lagoon. Macrophytes were most abundant in the coastal area
The study of dispersal processes of small mammals, and especially of rodents, has a wide range of applications and until recent years there were few publications discussing the
colonisation of 'oceanic' islands by small mammals (cf. Crowell, 1986; Diamond, 1987; Hanski, 1986;Heany, 1986; Lomolino, 1986).
The islands of French Polynesia are scattered throughout a considerable oceanic area located on the eastern boundary of the Indo-Pacific Province. This area stretches from 134°28' W (Temoe Island) to 154°40' W longitude (Stilly Island), and from 7°50' S (Motu one Island) to 27°36' S latitude (Rapa Island). Out of the 118 islands constituting French Polynesia, 35 are high volcanic islands and 83 are low-relief islands or atolls. Altogether, the territory of French Polynesia represents an area of 4000 km2 of dry land, 12,000 km2 of lagoonal water and a huge