The Helping Islands Adapt workshop was held in Auckland, New Zealand between the 11th and 16th of April 2010 to support regional action against invasive species on islands, in order to preserve biodiversity and adapt to climate change. It arose from decisions under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) relating to invasive alien species and island biodiversity.
This paper focuses on the environmental challenges of sustainable development issues with particular attention to natural resource management, environment and climate change in the food and agriculture sector (including crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry).
This project has developed sub-regional bioregionalisations for the western-south Pacific Ocean, through expert workshops and novel statistical analysis of physical and biological data. This combines approaches CSIRO developed in Australia, used in the Bay of Bengal (in collaboration with BOBLME) with similar approaches that have been used throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans to derive a single combined bioregionalisation.
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 WDPA is a joint project between UN Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Minerals are non-renewable resources (at least within human timeframes) but mining them is now apparently a sustainable enterprise, not a one-way street of exploitation. ISA provides an international and transparent forum to regulate and manage all mineral resources related activities and ensure protection of the marine environment in the “Area”, the deep seabed and subsoil beyond national jurisdiction, for the benefit of all humanity.
GEBCO's aim is to provide the most authoritative publicly-available bathymetry of the world's oceans. It operates under the joint auspices of the International Hydrographic Organization(IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (of UNESCO).
GEBCO produces and makes available a range of bathymetric data sets and products. This includes a global bathymetric grid; gazetteer of undersea feature names, a Web Map Service and printable maps of ocean bathymetry.
This dataset shows the global distribution of seamounts and knolls identified using global bathymetric data at 30 arc-sec resolution. A total of 33,452 seamounts and 138,412 knolls were identified, representing the largest global set of identified seamounts and knolls to date. Seamount habitat was found to constitute approximately 4.7% of the ocean floor, whilst knolls covered 16.3%.
The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University (U.K.), solo Earth Observation (soloEO; Japan), Wetlands International the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The InterRidge Vents Database is a global database of submarine hydrothermal vent fields. The InterRidge Vents Database is supported by the InterRidge program for international cooperation in ridge-crest studies (www.interridge.org).
This guide introduces environmental indicators and provides an overview of SPREP’S core indicators for Pacific island countries. In 2012, the SPREP members approved the development of a set of standardised indicators for use by member countries at the SPREP meeting. Through the Inform project, SPREP programmes then developed a set of 34 indicators that was endorsed by members at the 2018 SPREP meeting. This document explains the development and use of environmental indicators in Part 1 and provides a summary of each of the 34 ‘core’ indicators in Part 2.
The Strandings of Oceania database is a collaborative project between SPREP, WildMe and the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium to record stranding and beachcast data for whales, dolphins and dugongs throughout the Pacific. We use a platform called Flukebook. An account is needed to view or use data within Flukebook but the data is available for download here. You can submit data direct into Flukebook (preferably while logged in) or send a completed data form to SPREP for upload. Guidance on using the database is available :
This Pacific Islands Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas2021-2025 is the principal regional strategy document for environmental conservation in the Pacific. Its purpose is to guide broad strategic guidance for nature conservation planning, prioritisation, and implementation in our region. It reflects the urgent need for transformative action in response to the multiple accelerating threats, both established and emerging, that are faced by nature and people in the Pacific.
"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"
Map showing the EEZ of the Pacific
Summary table of the status of Pacific Island countries in relation to International and Regional conventions.
Highlighting some of the Key Results of the Inform Project
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.