One of the recommendations emerging from the COP-8 (Decision XIII/8 [6]) promoted a series of regional and/or sub-regional workshops on capacity building for NBSAPs. These will
be held with the aim to discuss national experiences in implementing NBSAPs, the integration of biodiversity concerns into relevant sectors, obstacles, and ways and means
for overcoming these obstacles. It was recommended that these workshops be held (subject to the availability of funding) prior to COP-9, to provide an opportunity to directly support
What is the nature of vulnerability and resilience to climate change at the community scale in Pacific island countries (PICs)? What approaches to climate change adaptation
Report No. 1 presents preliminary results from fieldwork conducted with the Mangaliliu Lelepa Island community in mid 2008. This case study forms one of three assessments of community-based vulnerability and resilience to climate stress in rural Vanuatu undertaken as part of a PhD in Geography.
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Physical Description: 28 p.
Climate change impacts will affect social and ecological systems in complex and broad-ranging ways as technological, economic, social and ecological changes take place across regions, groups and sectors. Many of these impacts, such as impacts on ecological systems, have cascading effects on social, economic and health outcomes. In order to respond to climate change, more vigorous actions are required to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and to adapt to unavoidable consequences that are increasing vulnerability around the world.
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A Workshop on Regional Action to Combat Invasive Alien Species on Islands to Preserve Biodiversity and Adapt to Climate Change highlighted successes, deepened connections within regions and facilitated the exchange of experiences across regions.While discussions outlined significant obstacles to invasive alien species management2 on islands, they also showcased how targeted successes have led to major gains for conservation and development.Collaboration across developmental and environmental sectors and sustained support are critical to success in this field.Exciting new initiatives are dev
The vulnerability issue is relevant for drawing up a panorama of the weaknesses and the strengths of a
territory in face of natural hazards, at the crossroads of various determinants (spatial configuration,
societal cohesion, environmental sensitivity, economic diversification, territorial coherence and level
of development). In parallel, we argue that because of the numerous and partly irreducible climatic and
anthropogenic uncertainties, it remains very speculative to try to directly measure the level of
Vulnerable ecosystems- Sea?level rise
Increasing temperatures
Changes in rainfall
Ocean acidification
Coral reefs
Increased storm activity
Overall in Melanesia the central mountains of New
Guinea and the coral reefs and ocean life in the
outer islands of Papua New Guinea most impacted.
In the wider Pacific inundation is a major threat.
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Physical Description: 22 p.
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.
On 20 November 2006 the Biological Diversity Advisory Committee (BDAC), whose role it was to advise the then Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Heritage, held a one day workshop in Canberra on climate change and invasive species impacts on biodiversity. Eight talks were given, followed by a session of free discussion. Most attendees were experts from government departments, universities, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and cooperative research centres (CRCs).
Island conservation programs have been spectacularly successful over the past five decades, yet they generally do not account for impacts of climate change. Here, we argue that the full spectrum of climate change, especially Island conservation programs have been spectacularly successful over the past five decades, yet they generally do not account for impacts of climate change. Here, we argue that the full spectrum of climate change, especially sea-level rise and loss of suitable climatic conditions, should be rapidly integrated into island biodiversity research and management.
Climate change is expected to cause extinctions when native plants and animals are prevented from migrating out of their hotter or drier habitats to more suitable climates. But for many species a more
Scientists have advocated for local interventions, such as creating marine protected areas and implementing fishery restrictions, as ways to mitigate local stressors to limit the effects of climate change on reef-building corals
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Physical Description: 30 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.
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.
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Physical Description: 20 p.
The combined pressures of climate change and development will not only aggravate existing challenges to the conservation of biodiversity in the Pacific, but also introduce new difficulties. There are a wide range of historical, current and planned studies that examine specific aspects of the relationship between climate change, conservation and development in the Pacific.
Marine protected areas (MBA) provide place-based management of marine ecosystem through various degrees and types of protective actions. Habitats such as coral reefs are especially susceptible to degradation resulting from climate change, as evidenced by mass bleaching events over the past two decades. Marine ecosystems are being altered by direct effecrs of climate change including ocean warming, ocean acidification rising sea level, changing circulation patterns, increasing severity of storms, and changing freshwater influxes.
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Coral reef ecosystems are seriously threatened by changing conditions in the ocean. Although many factors are implicated, climate change has emerged as a dominant and rapidly growing threat.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 10 p.
The foregoing quotations, those presented to or sanctioned by governments and inter- governmental agencies on the one hand, and those contained in magazines and newspapers (as well as in the local press and on radio) on the other hand, provide one of the contexts for the present study. The effects of such reports on island governments, officials, elders and not the least island residents themselves was, as several Tokelauans told us, one of uncertainty, bewilderment and genuine fear about the future for their families, lands and livelihood. This
The ten countries participating in the Pacific Islands
Climate Change Assistance Programme (PICCAP)
Cook Islands. Federated States of Micronesia. Fiji.
Kiribati. Marshall Islands. Nauru. Samoa. Solomon
Islands. Tuvalu. Vanuatu recognise the importance of
greenhouse gas mitigation and are committed to meeting
their obligations under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
3 copies|Also online
Call Number: 551.523 ELL (EL),CLI,363.738 7 GRE,PAC 551.523 ELL