This is a region-wide activity covering all the island
territories of the region except Australia and New Zealand.
Since most of the pollutants found in the South Pacific are
land-derived, this will provide the data necessary for
determining what pollutants are likely to be found in any given
locality. Atmospheric transport of pollutants may be important
in certain parts of the world, but recent studies have shown
that the South Pacific atmosphere (apart from certain
industrial areas) is the cleanest so far studied (Riley et al.,
Latent sea-level rise is defined here as the sea-level rise ultimately likely to occur due to emissions of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, i.e. if all anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases were to cease at a particular time, various global systems would continue to change in response to
the gases remaining in the atmosphere until equilibrium was reached. Those systems include the atmosphere: the cryosphere, comprising snowfields,tundra soils, glaciers and ice-caps: the biosphere,including both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems:
Environment The Solomon Islands is part to various treaties and conventions related to environmental protection, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. A communication to UNFCCC, including greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change, is expected to be submitted during 2004.
Available online|This report is based on data gathered by a PIREP team consisting of John Korinihone, Morgan Wairiu, John Vos and Peter Johnston
Call Number: 333.79415953 JOH (EL)
Tonga has a small open economy with squash, coconuts and vanilla the main export crops that make up two thirds of total exports. A high proportion of food is imported, mainly from New Zealand. Remittances are important to the economy, as is tourism. Private sector development is emphasized in its Strategic Development Plan and there is a reasonably sound basic infrastructure and well-developed social services. Fisheries and tourism are considered as having the most potential for further economic growth.
At present, there is no regional target set for the share of environmental expenditure as a share of GDP.
Measuring the amount that a government allocates to the environment is
challenging due to overlapping sector plans or integration of environmental
management into a larger ministry without a corresponding public budget
report that specifies ‘environmental’ spending.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 120 p. 29 cm.
Inshore fish populations are complex, exist in variable
and rapidly changing ecosystems, and are harvested
and impacted by a broad range of users, making their
management complex.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
Measuring the amount that a government allocates to the environment is challenging due to overlapping sector plans or integration of environmental management into a larger ministry without a corresponding public budget report that specifies ‘environmental’ spending. Some countries separate the management of fisheries and marine resources from that of other environmental and climate change response actions.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
Fishing is a complex topic with many species and ecosystem components as well as social, cultural, political, and economic components. Here, we focus on the defined indicator regarding tuna, considering the biomass of these pelagic fish as well as the ecosystems that support these fish. For information about coastal and nearshore fisheries, please see Regional Indicator: Coastal fish biomass.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
The purpose in producing the SOCO is not just to understand the current status of conservation in the region but to establish a process for periodic reviews of the status of biodiversity and implementation of conservation measures in the Pacific islands region.
The Pacific Islands region that is served by SPREP covers 32 million km2 and is in
the middle of the largest continuous marine habitat on the planet, the Pacific Ocean.
This region is home to a diverse range of large marine animals, including cetaceans,
sirenians and marine turtles. Over half of the world’s known species of cetaceans are
found in the region. The area also supports the world’s largest remaining populations
of dugongs, and green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles.
Available online
Pacific islands are hotspots of unique biodiversity. Our ancestral traditions are linked
to nature. However, these traditions, the natural environment, and biodiversity are
threatened by changing global and regional environmental pressures, ecological
degradation, growing human populations, changing demands of our societies, and the
impacts of climate change and sea level rise.
Call Number: [EL],333.720961 STA
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0905-7,978-982-04-0906-4
Physical Description: 156 p. 29 cm.
The status of the region’s forests was deemed Fair to Good, with the majority of Pacific islands still having relatively high for est cover, higher than the global average. The area of unlogged primary forest varies across the region, with large areas in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and countries like Cook Islands and Kiribati having no primary forest left
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
Simplifying coral reef ecosystems to a single number for a country, or for a region, runs counter to our knowledge of the complexity and variability that characterise healthy reefs in a healthy ocean scape.
There are active drinking water or freshwater monitoring progra mmes in 11 of 14 Pacific countries and 6 of 7 territories. The primary challenge is the regularity and frequency of sampling, the capacity to process samples accurately in country, and the official response process to the findings. There is no regional data collation for this proposed indicator , to date. Escherichia coli occurs naturally in human and animal intestines and therefore can be used as a proxy for untreated sewage contamination or other pollution.
Call Number: [EL]
Here, we focus on the production of electricity from renewable sources. As such, we focus on a statistic distinct from SDG 7.2.1 “Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption”. Data for this Pacific regional indicator are relevant for SDG 7.b.1 “Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries (in watts per capita)”.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 5 p.
Agriculture is a foundational industry in Pacific island economi es and central to the independence of island communities. Together, agriculture, forestry and fishing provide from 3% to over 25% of the GDP of Pacific island countries, with a regional average of 17% (World Bank 2020), and agriculture accounts for a large share of employment (ADB 2015).
Pacific data are limited, but existing data show high
proportions of plastic in the waste stream (Table 29.1),
as marine litter, and as microplastics present throughout Pacific marine ecosystems, including in the guts of fish and their prey (SPREP 2016, Markic et al. 2018). In a 2011 study, plastics formed 12% of the waste stream in Honiara (SPREP 2017).
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 6 p.
Enterococci are used as an indicator for the microbiological quality of marine waters from the standpoint of human health. The same bacterial group is also commonly used as an indicator for safe consumption of shellfish. The safety thresholds differ by the type of use, such as swimming or consumption of seafood from the marine area.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
Pacific island countries and territories are well placed
to lead in the protection of nature, with customary land tenure and vast expanses of ocean within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Establishing protected areas has been used as a key mechanism for countries to conserve their biodiversity around the world and in the Pacific island countries and territories
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 14 p.
Long timescales, uncertainties, and the multi-faceted nature of climate change adaptation makes monitoring progress in this field inherently challenging; there is no simple way to determine how well prepared we are for current and future climate change impacts. This contrasts with climate change mitigation, for which greenhouse gas emissions can be considered a universal indicator, and there are clear guidelines for preparing and analysing greenhouse gas inventories.