This guide was written for governments, community groups and NGOs to address coastal protection issues through ecosystem based adaptation interventions. The work was developed as a partnership between SPREP and the University of Tasmania with funding from Australian Aid and the participation of the governments of Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga.
Thisstudy provided the repeatable analysis framework to estimate the coastal population by utilizing the best available global and national datasets in Pacific (poor data environment).
The Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (1986), along with its two additional Protocols, entered into force in 1990. The Convention is a comprehensive umbrella agreement for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment of the South Pacific Region, and represents the legal framework of the Action Plan for managing the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific adopted in 1982 on behalf of the South Pacific Conference on Human Environment.
Spalding, MD; Brumbaugh RD; and Landis, E (2016). Atlas of Ocean Wealth. The Nature Conservancy. Arlington, VA.
© 2016 The Nature Conservancy, All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 978-0-9977069-1-8
Pacific Vision is for a region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity, so that all Pacific people can lead free, healthy, and productive lives.
This publication ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment – Guidelines for Pacific Island Countries and
Territories’ has been prepared to provide guidance on the application of SEA as a tool to support
environmental planning, policy and informed decision making. It provides background on the use and
benefits of SEA as well as providing tips and guiding steps on the process, including case studies, toolkits
and checklists for conducting an SEA in the Appendices.
The research agreement signed on 19th December 2005 by the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III) and Nantes University, the Pharmacochemical laboratories of Natural Substances and Pharmacophores Redox (UMR 1165) and the Centre of Maritime and Ocean Law (EA 1165, CDMO) led to the international research program Coral Reef Initiatives for the Pacific (CRISP).
In this report, a set of recommendations is provided for each indicator to support the next best steps for management action that will advance progress towards the target outcome and support Pacific people and biodiversity.
**This pdf combines all 31 indicators in one document**
DEFINITION - % of national budget allocated to Environment Ministry or equivalent
PURPOSE - Determine trends in prioritisation of environmental funding within government
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend; sufficient and sustainable financing to implement environmental programmes
DEFINITION - % of MEA reporting requirements met on time
PURPOSE - Determine if MEAs are being reported on
DESIRED OUTCOME - 100% of MEA reporting requirements met on time or positive trend. PICTs successfully meet reporting obligations under MEAs in a timely manner, ideally using the State of Environment Reporting as the basis for responding to these reporting requirements
DEFINITION - Level of extractive terrestrial wildlife use by humans
PURPOSE- Increase the safety to species, ecosystems, and people from the sustainable use of terrestrial wildlife
DESIRED OUTCOME - Monitored and sustainable use of wildlife with stable populations; zero use of protected species
DEFINITION - Percentage native forest cover of total land area
PURPOSE- Indicates the suite of environmental values associated with forests (e.g. biodiversity, carbon sequestration, subsistence hunting)
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in tree cover, or reduced rate of tree cover loss
DEFINITION - E. coli levels in water samples
PURPOSE - E. coli are indicators of faecal contamination in freshwater bodies and are associated with a range of possible human diseases. High levels of E. coli can be associated with cloudy water and decreased dissolved oxygen
DESIRED OUTCOME - E. coli threshold at or below globally accepted standards for drinking and bathing water, which is none detectable per 100 mL for both E. coli and total coliforms for drinking water; standards vary for bathing and swimming water
DEFINITION - % of total arable land that is under cultivation
PURPOSE - Tracks the area of arable land that is developed for agriculture
DESIRE OUTCOME - Stable trend in area under cultivation. A decreasing area under cultivation might affect food security and an increasing trend under area under cultivation implies some conversion of natural vegetation to agriculture
DEFINITION - % cover of wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass
PURPOSE - Wetlands, mangroves and seagrass provide ecosystem services not provided by other ecosystems (such as nurseries for economically important fish species, natural flood mitigation and water filter systems). They also support plants and animals not found in other ecosystems.
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in area of wetlands and mangroves
DEFINITION - % of live coral cover in coastal and marine environments
PURPOSE - Indicator of overall health of reef ecosystems. These ecosystems provide important services for humans
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in live coral cover
DEFINITION - Enterococci levels in water samples
PURPOSE - Enterococci are bacteria found in the intestines of animals and humans and indicate the presence of faecal pollution in coastal waters
DESIRED OUTCOME - Enterococci levels are within the safe threshold for marine recreation at all monitored sites. Current United States EPA thresholds are