Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool that is used to assess and manage individual development projects, with an aim of maximising positive benefits and minimising negative impacts for local communities and their environment. When used effectively, EIA can help to support the achievement of green growth targets, climate change resilience, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This paper attempts to present a “quick snapshot” of the status of biodiversity in the Pacific Islands and the prospects and challenges for the mainstreaming of its conservation and sustainable use by Pacific Island peoples during the 21st century
This report summarises the projected changes in ocean chemistry for the Pacific island region (from 130°E to 130°W and 25°N to 25°S) at regional and sub-regional scales, assessing the vulnerability of Pacific coastal and oceanic habitats and fisheries to ocean acidification using an established framework, and discussing the implications for the Pacific island communities dependent on fisheries and aquaculture for food security and livelihood
This volume is the third of a four-volume report entitled 'Cities, Seas and Storms: Managing Change in the Pacific Island Economies' produced by the World Bank. The key outcome of the report is intended to be an improved understanding of the need for management interventions. The report also argues for a greater collaboration between traditional, national and regional organizations in ocean management, able to maximize their comparative strengths while minimizing the inefficiencies in their interaction.
This Special Issue of the Journal of South Pacific Law aims to provide insight into the role of international law in addressing the short-term and long-term challenges posed by climate change to Pacific Island States and their populations. It focuses on the two international legal frameworks that were designed to protect the Earth’s climate system and the human person: international climate change law on the one hand, and international human rights law on the other.
A Pacific information brief from the Pacific Invasives Partnership (a working group of the Roundtable for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands)
This paper stresses out that human resources development in the marine sector is a priority. The University of the South Pacific is a key player in tertiary training and education, and it is the purpose of this document to outline the role that USP, specifically its Marine Studies Programme (MSP) is playing in building capacity in the marine sector of the region.
This booklet is a vehicle for sharing knowledge between the islands of the Pacific Community about the basic fishery management measures that have been used in different places for regulating particularly important or potentially vulnerable species.
This report is primarily directed to analyzing the legal aspects of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. It sketches the impacts of climate change in the Pacific Island countries, recognizing that climate change directly impacts ecosystems, which provide for the needs of people as well as for the maintenance of the natural environment.
The article draws on semi-structured interviews and an analysis of social media sites to examine the use of social media in Pacific climate change campaigns.
This article summarize the current state of sea cucumber fishery management in several countries as of March 2013, and progressive action being taken, with SPC collaboration, to establish formal fishery management frameworks.
The status of species is based on evaluations made by a regional network of experts, who were trained to carry out biodiversity assessments according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
A selection of islands was chosen for the study, representative of the two main island forms: (i) atolls and limestone islands dependent on rainwater and groundwater – nauru, Majuro Atoll (in Republic of the Marshall islands) and Fongafale islet (Tuvalu); and (ii) volcanic islands with river systems – including Rarotonga (cook islands), Viti levu (Fiji), new Guinea (Papua new Guinea) and Upolu (Samoa).
Assessing the vulnerability of the mangrove, seagrass and intertidal flat habitats in the tropical Pacific that support coastal fisheries.
This book addresses the economic component of ESD (ecological sustainable development) in the Pacific. It is primarily concerned with the role that conventional economic issues plays in the viability of natural resource and environmental projects in the Pacific. As the success of projects also depends on relevant scientific knowledge and appropriateness of an activity, it is assumed in this book that this knowledge and know-how is already available.
This report incorporates material from different disciplines and covers a diversity of approaches to data collection and project reporting drawn from the literature. Whilst the compendium of projects and case studies does not claim to provide an exhaustive list of ongoing activities related to climate change and Indigenous Peoples, it does contain a representative and illustrative survey of current effects and adaptive responses.
SPREP has now partnered with the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) to produce these EIA guidelines for
coastal tourism development, which is defined as any physical tourism development that occurs in the area from the
upland forest out to the reef edge. Based on this definition, entire islands may be in the coastal zone, especially if they
are small low-lying islands and atolls.
The paper argues that the mainstreaming of the conservation of the unique terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity of the Pacific Islands, including the traditional knowledge and uses that Pacific Island peoples have for this biodiversity, is by far the most important precondition for ecologically, economically and culturally sustainable development in the small-island states and territories of the Pacific Ocean