direct internet link to data related to bird species of the Cook Islands on the BirdLife International portal
The Pacific Islands is widely known as being highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. In addition to long-term impacts such as sea level rise, current impacts such as tropical cyclones wreak havoc and the housing sector is often most severely affected. There is therefore a critical need for assessing the resilience of housing in the region. In response to that need, an evaluation tool for assessing housing resilience was developed.
Cook Islands Protected Areas (PA) data from the World Database (WDPA). This dataset includes both tables and spatial data.
2020 National Vision “To enjoy the highest quality of life consistent with the aspirations of our people, and in harmony with our culture and environment”
The 2018 State of Environment (SOE) Report for Cook Islands updates the 1993 SOE report, and uses the Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact and Response (DPSIR) model of reporting.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, editable map & spatial database of the whole world. This dataset is an extract of OpenStreetMap data for Cook Islands in a GIS-friendly format.
The OSM data has been split into separate layers based on themes (buildings, roads, points of interest, etc), and it comes bundled with a QGIS project and styles, to help you get started with using the data in your maps. This OSM product will be updated weekly.
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas, updated on a monthly basis, and is one of the key global biodiversity data sets being widely used by scientists, businesses, governments, International secretariats and others to inform planning, policy decisions and management.
The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3 (ASTGTM) provides a global digital elevation model (DEM) of land areas on Earth at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meter horizontal posting at the equator).
The development of the ASTER GDEM data products is a collaborative effort between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). The ASTER GDEM data products are created by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo.
SENTINEL-2 is a wide-swath, high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging mission, supporting Copernicus Land Monitoring studies, including the monitoring of vegetation, soil and water cover, as well as observation of inland waterways and coastal areas.
The SENTINEL-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) samples 13 spectral bands: four bands at 10 metres, six bands at 20 metres and three bands at 60 metres spatial resolution.
As environmental problems continue to increase at an ever more rapid rate, exacerbated by the major threat of global climate change, the need for widespread remedial action is becoming ever more pressing. Scientific consensus on both the root causes of these problems and the measures required to tackle them is growing, while mass media and public interest has reached fever pitch.
Invasive species are the primary cause of extinction on islands (IUCN Red List 2020, SPREP 2016, SOCO 2017). Invasive species have been formally identified as a threat for 1,531 species in the Pacific islands region to date (IUCN Red List, 2020). Pacific leaders have established two core regional indicators for invasive species management. Efforts for invasive management are ongoing in almost all Pacific island countries and territories.
Pacific islands are hotspots of unique biodiversity. Our ancestral traditions are linked
to nature. However, these traditions, the natural environment, and biodiversity are
threatened by changing global and regional environmental pressures, ecological
degradation, growing human populations, changing demands of our societies, and the
impacts of climate change and sea level rise.
Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-982-04-0905-7,978-982-04-0906-4
Physical Description: 156 p. 29 cm.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have gained wide acceptance among coastal planners,
managers, researchers, and scientists as an effective tool that can be utilized to protect
threatened marine and coastal ecosystems. MPAs allow depleted breeding stocks of
important food fish and invertebrate species to regenerate and become re-established,
providing a foundation for sustainable fisheries. Typically, the MPA model comprises a core
no-take conservation area, within which harvest of fish and other consumable resources is
Here, we focus on the production of electricity from renewable sources. As such, we focus on a statistic distinct from SDG 7.2.1 “Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption”. Data for this Pacific regional indicator are relevant for SDG 7.b.1 “Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries (in watts per capita)”.
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 5 p.
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.
There are active drinking water or freshwater monitoring progra mmes in 11 of 14 Pacific countries and 6 of 7 territories. The primary challenge is the regularity and frequency of sampling, the capacity to process samples accurately in country, and the official response process to the findings. There is no regional data collation for this proposed indicator , to date. Escherichia coli occurs naturally in human and animal intestines and therefore can be used as a proxy for untreated sewage contamination or other pollution.
Call Number: [EL]
One of the recommendations emerging from the COP-8 (Decision XIII/8 [6]) promoted a series of regional and/or sub-regional workshops on capacity building for NBSAPs. These will
be held with the aim to discuss national experiences in implementing NBSAPs, the integration of biodiversity concerns into relevant sectors, obstacles, and ways and means
for overcoming these obstacles. It was recommended that these workshops be held (subject to the availability of funding) prior to COP-9, to provide an opportunity to directly support
Natural capital our ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources underpins economies, societies and individual well-being. The values of its myriad benefits are, however, often overlooked or poorly understood. They are rarely taken fully into account through economic signals in markets, or in day to day decisions by business and citizens, nor indeed reflected adequately in the accounts of society.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-3-98-13410-0-3
Physical Description: 47 p.
To introduce this collection of studies, a logical first question to ask is why produce a “lessons learned” publication?
Agriculture is a foundational industry in Pacific island economi es and central to the independence of island communities. Together, agriculture, forestry and fishing provide from 3% to over 25% of the GDP of Pacific island countries, with a regional average of 17% (World Bank 2020), and agriculture accounts for a large share of employment (ADB 2015).