International treaties and national policies seek to enhance global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. While it is important to continue to strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation alone is not enough and will not be felt before the second half of the century. Global warming is already underway and adaptation strategies are now a matter of urgency, especially for the most vulnerable poor countries, which are even now being disproportionately affected.
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Call Number: [EL]
1. A defining feature of the Pacific is the Western Pacific Warm Pool ecosystem. The limited land base of the area is distributed among 200 high islands and 2,500 low islands and atolls. All
participating islands lie in the tropical zone and experience sea surface temperatures that rarely fall below 20 degrees Celsius. In general, the islands increase in size from east to west such that over 83% of the region's land mass is situated in Papua New Guinea, and most of the rest is in the other Melanesian countries and territories.
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This report presents an overview of the global assessment landscape and highlight elements of best practice with respect to the future undertaking of major assessments. It includes an analysis of existing and ongoing sub-regional and regional assessments from a multi-thematic perspective.
This Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for
International Waters of the Pacific Islands Region was
initiated and developed by the thirteen Pacific
island states participating in the work of the Global
Environment Facility (GEF). It represents a
pioneering effort by our group of small island
developing states (SIDS) to integrate our national
and regional sustainable development priorities
with shared global environmental concerns for
protecting International Waters.
The last remaining Kingdom in the South Pacific, Tonga has a total land
area of 674 square kilometers spread over a sea area of approximately
259,360 square kilometers. There are 3 major island groups with a total of
171 islands, 37 of them occupied. Thre
Kept in the Vertical File|See also French version VF 1302
Call Number: VF 1301 [EL]
Physical Description: 13 p. ; 29 cm.
All islands in the TTPI have a tropical marine climate charac-
terized by uniform air pressure, temperature and humidity.
Average monthly temperatures range from 79° to 83°F. Usually
there is a greater range in daily temperatures (approximately
10°} than in seasonal average temperatures. Relative humidity
is usually above 75%, but ranges from 55 to 100%. Seasonal
changes in wind direction and strength and in precipitation
are the main variables in climate features. Most of the TT lies
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
"The impacts of the 1997-1998 El Nino are
fresh in our minds, and the latest reports from
the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) confirm tvhat all of you
already know changes in climate matter to
individuals, communities, businesses and
governments who call islands home. Your
valuable natural resources, traditional ways of
life, critical economic sectors, community support
infrastructure, atid, to a great extent, your
future, depend on developing an effective
Ecotourism demonstrates the potential for direct economic gain inherent in the non-extractive use
of the natural environment based on its aesthetic and educational value. It requires for the natural
environment to be intact and relatively pristine in state. Properly managed, ecotourism and nature
conservation will complement and reinforce each other. But there are challenges in translating the
ideal of ecotourism into an economically and ecologically viable venture for operators and owners
of local sites and resources.
Electronically available
The sustainability of conservation area projects presently supported by the South Pacific
Biodiversity Conservation Programme is a major concern as the programme winds down
to its termination in December 2001. The development and implementation of transition
strategies is currently preoccupying the Programme. This initiative seeks to ensure a
smooth transition for each project to the post-SPBCP era. The challenge is to determine
the most effective ways of using remaining SPBCP resources to ensure viable and
sustainable conservation area projects.
The tropical seas are liberally sprinkled with coral islands.
Many of them are associated with continents and large continental islands, in relatively shallow water, rising from continental shelves. Many, also, are in deep water - atolls, barrier reef islets round high islands, almost atolls', tops of drowned karsts, and a few moderately elevated atolls. These last are among the most fascinating of all, scientifically.
An article taken from the Atoll Research Bulletin No.272|Kept at Greg's collection|Available online
Call Number: VF 1564 [EL}
Economic benefits to the communities of Liku and Hakupu from the Huvalu Conservation Area have been limited to date, with only a few individual operators deriving an income directly from the natural resources existing within the forest. Those who are utilizing the CA are generally only deriving a modest income ($1,500 - $2,000p.a.) The initial P.P.D. placed an expectation on forecast growth in the tourist sector to provide income
The area of concern for this Regional Wetlands Action Plan (RWAP) is the Pacific islands region, extending from Palau and the Northern Mariana Islands in the north-west to French
Polynesia and Pitcaim in the south-east, encompassing 22 Pacific island countries and territories including large countries such as Papua New Guinea (PNG). It equates to the region of operation
of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
3 copies|SLIC other copy kept in VF 3098|Available electronically
Call Number: 333.918 REG (EL),VF 3098
The environment and economic health of marine and coastal waters are linked to individual people, community, regional, national and international levels. The interdependence of the island economy and their environment are very well known.
Photocopy kept in vertical file collection
Call Number: VF 2643 [EL]
Physical Description: [9 p.] ; 29 cm
The botany of four small, relatively undisturbed tuff cone islands off the east coast of Upolu, Western Samoa, is examined. During a series of visits to the islands, the vegetation was studied in nine sample plots, and a checklist of the 260 species comprising the flora was compiled. Six types of native vegetation are recognized, one of which (Diospyros coastal forest) appears to be unique to tuff cone islands. Casual observations were made on the avifauna and turtle
species, and the ecological significance of the islands is discussed.
Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) is accepted world-wide as a comprehensive, multi sectoral integrated approach to the planning and management of coastal areas. ICM is particularly suited to the island member countries of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPR£P) because of then size, the
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:
Honiara is the Solomon Islands largest municipal centre and has a population estimated at over 40,000 people. Urban migration is
increasing and the population of Honiara is growing at about 10%
per year. With the growing population pressures, there are
concerns about the water, sanitation and waste systems in the
capital.
Available online
Call Number: 363.72859593 SOL [EL]
Physical Description: 67 p. ; 29 cm
There is a high level of uncertainty with the specific estimation of pollutant loads. A large body of work has
been completed that provided qualitative and quantitative data; however, the noting of data gaps and inherent uncertainties of the methods used have qualified much of the quantitative data. Much of the data are based on rapid assessment methods that utilise generic loading rates, assumed waste flow composition, typical production methods, local production rates. Unfortunately, production rate data are inconsistently available and are difficult to verify.
Recognising the problems of information management and the use of data as a resource many countries of the SPC region have expressed the desire for some form of integrated network to handle information and data relating to the resources and
environment of the Region. Accordingly SPREP commissioned this review of the current situaiton with regard to handling, storage and evaluation of such data in the countries of the region.
Call Number: 333.7 [EL]