For the Ninth Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas December 2013, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) commissioned an assessment of the status of biodiversity and conservation in Oceania.
This dataset holds all the reports that assesses the overall state of conservation in;
* Guam
* French Polynesia
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Tokelau
* Wallis and Futuna
* Pitcairn Islands
A list of international and regional multilateral environmental agreements in which each of the Pacific Island country is a party/signatory of. This is useful for SPREP activities and planning
The PIER database is focused on plant species that are known to have been introduced to the Pacific region including the Pacific Rim. It provides listings and descriptions of plant species that threaten ecosystems and also listed many other invasive and potentially invasive plant species present in and around the Pacific region
The Marine Species Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) outlines a regional strategy for the cooperative conservation and management of dugongs, marine turtles, whales and dolphins. This strategy will enable Pacific Islanders to take a primary role in achieving the following vision:
"A healthy Pacific Ocean with sustainable populations of whales, dolphins, marine turtles, dugongs and other species, and meets the aspirations of Pacific Island peoples and protects their natural and cultural heritage"
Under the PacWaste Project - this dataset has raw data from a waste audit survey by Tonkin & Taylor for Cook Islands
"Comparison of the average hard coral cover between the three five-year periods comprising the last 15 years (2005-09, 2010-14, 2015-19, Tab. 9.3) indicated that there was a high degree of confidence (93%) in the long-term decline, despite the uncertainty in individual yearly estimates. Further, the vast majority (90%) of this decline occurred between 2010-14 and 2015-19, suggesting that the rate of decline in hard coral cover has accelerated during the last five years"
There are 14 terrestrial PAs, which total at least 1407.2 hectares (five PAs are uncalculated), or about six per cent of the Cook Islands’ total 240 km2 land mass. Terrestrial PA are concentrated in a few locations. Three of the 15 islands in Cook Islands are wildlife reserves (Suwarrow, Takutea and Manuae), almost 40% of the terrestrial PAs are represented by four motu on Pukapuka, and three of Rarotonga’s four PAs make up 36% of total terrestrial PAs.
A direct internet link to easily access the visualization of ocean acidification conditions and data synthesis products being collected around the world on the GOA-ON Data Explorer portal.
InforMEA provides easy access to information on Multilateral Environmental Agreements. It is an initiative facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme and supported by the European Union. It seeks to develop Inter-operable information systems for the benefit of the (MEA) Parties and the environment community at large.
This dataset provides direct links to:
1. "Pacific Islands" - related data on the InforMEA portal. For country-specific information, please type *name of country* on the InforMEA portal search tool.
2. Free online courses
Dataset with Pacific related resources and direct internet link to the Birdlife Online data portal. 'Birdlife' is a global partnership of conservation organizations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats, and global biodiversity. Its priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide.
The NOAA Coral Reef Watch program uses satellite data to provide current reef environmental conditions to quickly identify areas at risk for coral bleaching. Bleaching is the process by which corals lose the symbiotic algae that give them their distinctive colors. If a coral is severely bleached, disease and death become likely. Coral Reef Watch also offers a modeled Outlook that predicts the likelihood of coral bleaching heat stress on a week-by-week basis, up to four months in the future (the typical length of a bleaching season).
Direct internet link to the Pacific Climate Change portal
Video and instructions on how to use pivot tables in Excel for data analysis.
Regional data on marine pollution.
FAO Agriculture and Fair Trade in Pacific Island Countries. This desk study has been prepared by Winnie Fay Bell and comments were kindly provided by the Pacific Regional Organic Task Force in May 2009
Various training and reference materials from the ACPMEA and Inform Joint Regional Meeting held at SPREP 17-21 September 2018.
A direct internet link to and resources pertaining the Blue Habitat website which has been established as a portal for information on the global distribution of marine ‘blue’ habitats. Knowledge on the distribution of blue habitats is an important input into ocean management, marine spatial planning and biodiversity conservation.
Dataset regarding 'Seamounts' - peaks that rise over 1,000 m above the seafloor. Seamount chains occur in all three major ocean basins, with the Pacific having the most number and most extensive seamount chains.