Traditional way of life in the pacific islands in the expression of each and everybody's identity. The link between people and their natural habitat, living and unliving things is key to someone's social status, relationship to other member of its community and existence in the world. The session shall look at the importance of traditional knowledge and its relation to the environment as a way to protect existing biodiversity and thus ensuring that the cultural heritage of Pacific Island population i preserved.
This is a short video on the Key Biodiversity Areas around the world and also in the Pacific.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 2 minutes and 5 seconds
Oceania’s humpback whales are of global conservation concern having recently been re‐
classified from “Threatened” to “Endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN). Although humpback whales in many parts of the world are showing
encouraging signs of recovery from past exploitation, the small breeding populations in the
South Pacific Islands region remain vulnerable to extinction.
Online only|References from 38-43
Call Number: [EL]
Researchers have listed fifteen areas of concern, emphasizing the need to tackle these issues. Examples include the mining of lithium form the deep sea, exploitation of species found in deep waters and the unforeseen effects of wildfires across different ecosystems.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 4 p.
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.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 22 p.
The purpose of the action is to improve transportation and reduce maintenance cost by upgrading
causeway between Foa and Lifuka Islands, to become more resilient and less vulnerable to impacts
of high energy waves. Built in the period 1978-1979, the raised coral structure has served the people
of Foa and Lifuka well despite increasing maintenance cost. The replacement structure is similar to
the existing one but with rock armoring to reduce the energy of waves impacting on the structure
Global biodiversity loss is disproportionately rapid on islands, where invasive species are a major driver of extinctions. To inform conservation planning aimed at preventing extinctions, we identify the distribution and biogeographic patterns of highly threatened terrestrial vertebrates (classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature) and invasive vertebrates on ~465,000 islands worldwide by conducting a comprehensive literature review and interviews with more than 500 experts.
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.
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.
The Key Biodiversity Areas and Important Bird Areas (KBA's
& IBA's) approach is a simple, effective means of
implementing the protected areas elements of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). KBAs and IBAs are places of
international importance for the conservation of biological diversity through protected areas and other governance mechanisms.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 38 p
The United Nations List of Protected Areas periodically reviews the global
protected area estate and highlights progress achieved by countries in expanding their national protected area networks
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-92-807-3717-2
Physical Description: 72 p
Who are we? UN Environments specialist biodiversity assessment centre, based in Cambridge, UK
Available online|Powerpoint presentation
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 16 p
BIOPAMA inception meeting in Samoa, June 2018
Available online|Powerpoint presentation
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 11 p
A data and information management tool for Pacific island protected areas
Available online|Powerpoint presentation
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 16 p
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
Invasive alien plants and animals are known for their disruption of ecosystems and threat to biodiversity. This book highlights their major impact on human health. This includes not only direct effects through contact with the species via bites, wounds and disease, but also indirect effects caused by changes induced in ecosystems by invasive species, such as more water hyacinth increasing mosquito levels and thereby the potential for malaria.
Resilience underpins the sustainability of both ecological and social systems. Extensive loss of reef corals following recent mass bleaching events have challenged the notion that support of system resilience is a viable reef management strategy.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 11 p
Short website news article about rat eradication on Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean and how bird populations increase without rat predation increasing nutrients from bird guano into the coral reefs; cites letter article in Springer Nature - Seabirds enhance coral reef productivity and functioning inthe absence of invasive rats, Nichaolas A.J. Graham, Shaun K. Wilson, Peter Carr, Andrew S. Hoey, Simon Jennings, M. Aaron MacNeil https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0202-3
The mitigation hierarchy (MH) is a step-by-step tool used to limit the negative impacts of development projects. It can be used for many disciplines; this guidance note focuses on its use to manage risks and impacts to biodiversity. Very similar approaches can be used for ecosystem services and even social impacts.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 5 p