The Vanuatu Environment Unit is undertaking a capacity building add-on to the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Planning Project. One priority within this work has been to assess capacity to conduct research, assessment and monitoring of biological resources and their ecosystems to which they are part of. An inventory of recent and current research, assessment and monitoring programmes have just recently been done by the project. A report is currently in preparation following this stock take.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
The Vanuatu Coral Reef Monitoring Network Project (VCRMN) is a regional network funded under the Canada South Pacific Ocean Development (CSPOD) programme coordinated by the University
of the South Pacific's Institute of Marine Studies at the School of Marine studies Programme (MSP) in Suva Fiji. Under the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the Pacific Node is divided into
Vanuatu is an archipelago of 80 volcanic islands in the Western Pacific ocean with a population of 192,000, the majority of which are Melanesian. Approximately 79% of the population live in the rural areas, and depending on subsistence lifestyle of gardening, fishing and animal keeping. The islands are geologically young with narrow fringing reefs that support a limited marine and fisheries resources. These marine resources are important source of protein and a source of income from local sale of products such as fish, crabs, shellfish and lobsters. Trochus shell (T.
The Republic of Vanuatu is an archipelago of some 83 islands in the southwest Pacific with a population of 221,000 predominantly Melanesian people with over 110 different cultural-linguistic groups. It remains a UN LDC with a per-capita GDP of US $1500 that lias been increasing 5-7% per annum over the last 3
Much of the marine related traditional knowledge held by fishers in Vanuatu relates to increasing catches while managing resources of cultural, social and subsistence value. Traditional beliefs and practices associated with fisheries and their management follow natural cycles of resource abundance, accessibility, and respect for customary rules enshrined in oral traditions. Many management related rules that control fishers' behaviours are associated with the fabrication and deployment of traditional fishing gear.
In 1993 a study of coastal villages in Vanuatu revealed that within the previous three years there had been a rapid increase in marine resource management (MRM) activities. The initial impetus for these events was the Vanuatu Fisheries Department's promotion of a voluntary, village-based trochus management programme. Initially the programme involved only a few fishing villages out of a total of several hundred.
The Vanuatu Government, through the Vanuatu Environment Unit in collaboration with relevant departments, has implemented this UNEP/GEF funded project on National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) Project, which started in Vanuatu in December 2004. The main objective of the NCSA project is to enhance the capacity of Vanuatu in addressing global environment management issues, particular in the thematic areas of Biodiversity, Climate Change and Land Degradation, each being addressed within its respective international convention.
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This report provides an overview of priority environmental concerns (PEC) in the 3 IWP focal areas of sustainable coastal fisheries and marine protected areas, protection of freshwater resources and community based waste reduction.
The corals reefs of Australia and Papua New Guinea cover 19% of the world's total reef area and contain levels of biological diversity approaching the 'hot spots' of the Philippines and Indonesia;
Human pressures on these reefs are lower than in other parts of the world (particularly SE Asia). The reefs of eastern Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), have a long history of research and monitoring and world leading management;
Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tuvalu report monitoring data for this report, with data from a broad range of observers (scientists, students, dive guides and communities); Nauru has not conducted recent monitoring;
Status of coral reefs in the Polynesia Mana node is predominantly healthy. There are 6733 km2 of reefs scattered over 347 islands. Most (90%) are healthy, 5% have been destroyed or are at a critical stage and 5% are under threat;Reefs have been degraded around populated areas of Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Tahiti and Moorea (French Polynesia) and South Tarawa (Kiribati);Coral reefs support the livelihoods of Polynesian populations through subsistence fishing in all countries and through tourism and black pearl industries in French
Coral reefs in Micronesia and American Samoa appear to be amongst the most resilient in the world, despite numerous on-going threats; There has been considerable recovery of reefs in western Micronesia (especially Palau) that were devastated during the massive coral bleaching in 1998; The more remote islands support thriving communities of large reef fishes due to
Several urban areas and popular tourist destinations have suffered from pollution from the land, significant fishing pressure, recreational overuse, and alien species. Despite these pressures, many coral reefs in Hawai'i remain in fair to good condition, especially remote reefs; Most MPAs have proven to be highly effective in conserving biodiversity and fisheries
resources. MPA size, habitat quality, and level of protection are the most important success factors, but several MPAs are too small to have significant effects outside their boundaries;
The objective of the Stockholm Convention is to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The convention currently covers the following twelve chemicals: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor,
In a unique move Tokelau requested all regional and international organizations that it is affiliated to either through full membership, associate or by accessing through regional international projects, to visit and consult Tokelau as a "body corporate" or all at once. The intention is to assist a small tiny country in managing all the possible assistance available from these organizations so that the actual assistance itself could be much more effective in their delivery and avoid duplication.
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Call Number: [EL]
The Fisheries Department is the sole agency responsible for the control (regulation), development and management of the fisheries resources within Vanuatu. However, consideration of the impacts from developments on the environment is the responsibility of the Environment Unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources. There is a possible overlap of responsibilities between the two agencies in certain areas like assessment work and conservation of species.
Available online|Fisheres Dept. version include graphics (2007; 117 mb). Subsequently published without graphics as IWP report
Following the introduction by the delegation of the United States of it's list of considerations for ocean fertilization the Working Group agreed to model the assessment framework on ocean fertilization after the "Risk Assessment and Management Framework for C02 Sequestration in Sub-seabed Geological Structures (CS-SSGS), adopted in 2006.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 31 p.