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).
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).
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).
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.
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.
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation completed field research for one of the largest coral reef studies in history: the Global Reef Expedition. The Expedition travelled around the globe surveying some of the most remote reefs on the planet, conducting research to assess coral reef ecosystem health and resiliency.
The Global Reef Expedition visited many countries in the Pacific Ocean to assess the health and resiliency of their coral reef ecosystems. See links below for more information, reports and maps.
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).
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.
This study by WorldFish assesses the local impacts of logging on food security, fisheries and well-being in Malaita.
Comprehensive assessment of the risks and impacts of seabed mining on marine ecosystems by Fauna and Flora International.
The geospatial industry is a growing industry all over the world and here in the Pacific, there exists a hub (magazine) for women to collaborate, support, STEM and promote the profession to girls in school.
FUGRO has sponsored the printing of this magazine to enable the distribution of “Pacific Women in Geospatial” to the girls and women in remote areas that have limited access to the internet.
In April 2003, he National Marine Fisheries Service(NMFS,also known as NOAA Fisheries) transferred the responsibility for man aging the marine resources infederal waters surrounding the US Pacific Islands from NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Region based in california to the newly defined pacific islands region based in Hawaii.The Pacific Islands Region was established with the explicit intent of employing regional expertise to provide improved customer service and stewardship of living marine resources within the expansive geographic region of the western pacific.
In April 2003, he National Marine Fisheries Service(NMFS,also known as NOAA Fisheries) transferred the responsibility for man aging the marine resources infederal waters surrounding the US Pacific Islands from NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Region based in california to the newly defined pacific islands region based in Hawaii.The Pacific Islands Region was established with the explicit intent of employing regional expertise to provide improved customer service and stewardship of living marine resources within the expansive geographic region of the western pacific.
This American Samoa Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) was developed by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and represents the first step in an incremental and collaborative approach to implement ecosystem approaches to fishery management in American Samoa.
Whilst the number of people globally being killed from both disasters and conflicts has generally been falling over the past twenty years, the number of people actually affected by disasters has steadily been rising1.
The very productive lagoon fisheries of Tarawa atoll changed greatly in recent decades as human development and intensive harvesting increased. Tarawa typifies the increasingly common condition of resource depletion and marine community structure change with expanding human activities and population growth. Fisheries-dependent reports have documented the change in fisher landings for nearly two decades. A comparison of fisheries-independent data collected during 1992-93 with data collected in 1977 allowed for documentation of large changes in important finfish resources in Tarawa Lagoon.
The report was commissioned at the end of May 2008 with delivery of the final product by end June 2008. As such, it has been
researched and written over a very compressed timeline. Considerable shortcomings and inconsistencies in data
needed to be tackled in this period, and so a rapid desk assessment approach was used with limited opportunity for peer review and feedback.
There is now a consensus that there is a discernible human influence on global climate. The form these global changes will take in the Pacific is far less certain, but the most significant and more immediate consequences are likely to be related to changes in rainfall regimes and soil moisture budgets, prevailing winds (both speed and direction) and in regional and local sea levels and patterns of wave action.
This paper aims to provide an overview of the existing policy framework, activities and coordinating arrangements in the area of UN inter-agency information exchange concerning environmental capacity building. It has been prepared for the Environmental Management Group (EMG) by an independent consultant who is familiar with UN information exchange networks concerning environmental capacity building that are operating within the United Nations.
This paper is concerned with integrating adaptation to climate change with local development in the context of a climate change mitigation project for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. It is argued that integration will enhance locally appropriate and sustainable outcomes necessary for effective forest conservation in the context of rural Vanuatu.