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Situated between Fiji to the west and Samoa to the northeast, the Kingdom of Tonga (referred
to as Tonga) is comprised of 171 scattered islands of which less than 50 are inhabited. The islands are
mainly composed of limestone formed from uplifted coral. Current critical environmental concerns have
arisen due to deforestation; damage to coral reefs and the introduction and spread of invasive alien
species. Anthropogenic pressure has resulted in extensive modification of all ecosystems on the

The malau or Polynesian megapode was only found on Niuafo'ou until a second population was estanlished relatively recently on Fonualei Island in the vava'u Group.

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Call Number: [EL],591.529 REP

ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0692-6,978-982-03-0692-3

Physical Description: 38 p. 29 cm

Tonga is one of the many islands that are endowed with unique resources and derives much of its economic, environmental and social well-being directly or indirectly from its environment.
Tonga harbours numerous special ecosystems: from the peak of Mt, Talau in Vava’u, to the serenity of Vai Lahi in Niuafo’ou; the vulnerability of the Ha’apai Group to ‘Eua’s National
Forest and to the Fanga’uta Lagoon in Tongatapu. Beyond the aesthetic beauty of the ecosystems to tourists and visitors; they provide immense support to the communities whose

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, cyclones, and tropical depressions cause average annual direct losses of US$284 million in the Pacific. With a combined population of fewer than 10 million people, annual losses are the highest in the world on a per-capita basis. Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall are closely linked to climate change, suggesting that Pacific Island nations face increasing risk of disasters such as flooding and landslides. Proactive management through infrastructure development, social solutions, and/or ecosystem-based adaptation can mitigate these risks.

This report examines the role of the ecosystem services in reducing the vulnerability of the people of the Pacific Islands to climate change. Specifically, it describes the decision-making frameworks and the current state of knowledge of specific ecosystem-service/development relationships that are relevant to EbA.

Marine invasive species have received much less attention than terrestrial species worldwide. In the Pacific, the marine environment provides us with a significant part of our diet and income. Marine Managed Areas focus on protecting these important resources for livelihood purposes, biodiversity and ecosystem function, tourism and many other benefits. Although invasive species management is more difficult in the marine environment, it is not something we can neglect, and the efforts we put in need to increase. This guide seeks to provide some options for this management.

Tonga’s marine ecosystems are worth at least TOP 47 million per year, exceeding the country’s 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

This paper blends conservation science with legal and policy analysis to assess the primary threats to global shark populations and explores innovative approaches to conservation building upon the philosophy of Earth law, including the Rights pf Nature legal framework.

Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 18 p.

Fruit bats of the genus Pteropus are considered to be strong fliers (Kingdon, 1974; Nowak and Paradiso, 1983), with some species commuting distances of 10-50 km between day roosts and feeding areas (Breadon, 1932; Ferrar, 1934; Hall, 1983; Lim,
1966; McWilliam, 1985-1986; Ratcliffe, 1932; Taylor, 1934; Walton and Trowbridge, 1983). Longer seasonal movements of > 100 km are known for several species of Australian Pteropus, which change roosting sites in response to shifting patterns in the

The vertebrate fauna of Rotuma consists of over 425
fish species, no amphibians, 11 terrestrial reptiles, 15
land birds and two native mammals. The zoogeographic
affinity of the Rotuman fish fauna is with the Pacific
plate fauna; in contrast, the affinity of the reptile fauna
is with the Fijian fauna. A species list of Rotuman
occurrence is provided for each of the four vertebrate
groups as well as brief descriptions of the marine and
terrestrial habitats.

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Call Number: [EL]

Masayoshi Okabe visited the Palau and Yap Islands to study the local medicinal plants and diseases treated through their use. He made reports of his findings (1941a, 1943a) in Japanese. In this paper the authors present for the first time in the English language a published record of Okabe's findings.

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Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 26 p.

Several large regions of the world are plagued by
conservation problems shaped around a particular inherent
set of geographical, biological and human conditions which
have been operational for varying periods of time. Typical
of situations facing Latin America are the progress of
economic development in Amazonia with its attendant loss of
rainforest biodiversity, and the Central American
"hamburger connection" involving conversion of forests to
grazing land to support the export of cheap beef to the

The Gilbert Islands are a north-south chain of low coral islands, lying across the equator at about 172°-177° E longitude. The atolls, from north to south are Little Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang, Tarawa, Maiana, Kuria, Aranuka, Abemama, Nonouti, Tabiteuea, Onotoa, Beru, Nikunau, Tamana, and Arorai. They are densely populated, and were under British Colonial Government until 1979, when they were granted independence, and now are the principal archipelago in the new republic of Kiribati.

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Call Number: [EL]

The island was first mentioned by Roggeveen in 1722
(JOURDAIN 1970), but visits became regular only during the
XlXth century. An evangelist, of the "London Missionary
Society" settled down in 1829 (NEWBURY 1986), which supposes
that exchanges with the outside were regular at that time.
This probably explains the presence of bird specimens
collected outside the Scientific Expeditions (e.g. description of Ptilinopus purpuratus chalcurus in 1859 by GRAY).

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Call Number: [EL]

Island ecosystems have proven to be particularly sensitive to
human disturbances (Bourne 1975; Byrne 1980; Jarvis 1979). This was first noted by Charles Darwin in the explanation of his theory of natural selection (Byrne 1980). Since then, qualities of insular species have been examined by various authors in an attempt to understand the basis for island vulnerability.

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Call Number: [EL],VF 2783

Physical Description: 34 p.

The Tokelau Islands consist of three atolls (Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo) approximately 500 km north of Western Samoa. Their numerous islets are formed mainly of coral sand and rubble with no standing freshwater. Sixty-one plant species have been recorded, 13 of these being introduced and 10 being adventives. There are three vegetation zones, the beach, the beach-crest, and the interior coconut/fern zone with the physiognomy of a humid tropical forest. Marine invertebrates have not been studied.

Species-numbers relationships in the McKean Island assemblage
of reef-building corals were investigated to discover how they changed along environmental gradients of the reef. For the purposes of the study, two gradients were identified — a complex depth gradient and a wave exposure gradient.

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Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 42 p.

At the time of the POBSP visit, cats (Felis domestica), dogs

During participation in part of the Fairbridge Expedition
to New Guinea, February to May, 1969, I had opportunity to visit 17 islands and cays east of the New Guinea mainland for sufficient time to assemble reasonably complete collections oi their terrestrial reptilian fauna. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of that survey. Fairbridge (1971 ) has previously published a brief report on the expedition and. a more detailed one is in preparation.

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Call Number: [EL]

Physical Description: 41 p.

The Gilbert Islands are a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Crown Colony of Great Britain. They lie in the Pacific Ocean directly southeast of the Ilarshall Islands and are located between the parallels of g045' S. and 3'30' N. latitude, and the meridians of 1720301 E. and 177 15' E. longitude. All of the islands in this groui3 are low islands related to atolls. They are inhabited by Micronesian and Melanesian people who are greatly dependent on materials from the sea for food.

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Call Number: [EL]