Samoa's first national report: United Nations Convention to Combating Desertification (UNCCD)

Abstract

Samoa is a small island nation in the South Pacific (comprising the twenty two island nations that make up the members of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Samoa is located between latitudes 14o 10' and 13o2’ South and longitudes 171o20' and 172'50’ West. The capital city of Apia is approximately 4,500 kilometres northeast of Sydney. Australia. 4,235 kilometres south-west of Hawaii, and 2,500 kilometres northeast of Auckland New Zealand (GWS 1966). The total land area of 2,935 square kilometers consists mainly of the two larger islands Savaii and Upolu with land areas of 1,825 square kilometers and 1,100 square kilometers respectively. Two other inhabited smaller islands Manono and Apolima and several smaller uninhabited islands make up the remaining land area. Samoa has an exclusive Economic Zone of approximately 130,000 square kilometers (SPC 1982), and a total reef and lagoonal area (where water is less than 5 metre deep) of 23.100ha (Johannes 1982). Settlement is concentrated almost entirely along the coast in a series of villages.