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The earth works like a greenhouse. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and other naturally occurring greenhouse gases (GHGs), as well as human-made industrial gases trap heat from escaping into space. This keeps the earth’s temperature within a life-sustaining range. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth would be much colder—an average temperature of –19° Celsius (C). Human reliance on fossil fuels for energy has increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Biogenic emissions of GHG from land use have magnified the greenhouse effect. Deforestation and poor land use, which have reduced the absorptive capacity of plants, forests, and soils for CO2, have made things worse.

Farmers cultivate steep hillside plantations of taro and bananas. Fishing communities pull tuna and marlin from the blue depths of the Pacific Ocean. Households tend mile after mile of neatly trimmed roadside gardens. Samoa’s beautiful natural environment also offers a striking setting for a rich and complex culture. Communities headed by traditional leaders, the matai, meet regularly in fale, the open-sided houses, to reach communal decisions. And on Sundays the roads are flooded with families dressed in dazzling white clothes flocking to hundreds of churches.

On the 14-15 October 2010, 14 Pacific Island countries met to discuss the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience. This meeting was attended by representatives from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. At the meeting there were also representatives from international, regional and national organizations, development partners and non-government organisations. The meeting was jointly hosted by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Th e Vanuatu Economic Report 2009 outlines the state of economy and social development in the country and presents a road map for addressing key development challenges. It identifies the principal binding development constraints and opportunities in public sector performance, private sector and social development, and governance.

This Climate Change Implementation Plan (CCIP) for the Pacific Regional Department (PARD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) describes the areas of focus for PARD's operations and identifies key gaps between country and ADB actions, as well as opportunities for scaling up ADB's assistance related to mitigation, adaptation and associated cross-cutting needs. This gap analysis points to recommended interventions in regional and country programs for additional technical assistance (TA) and financial assistance, including access to new climate funds and adoption of new financing mechanisms. These include multi-donor Climate Investment Funds (Clean Technology Fund and Strategic Climate Fund), ADB's Future Carbon Fund, and possibly a new Sustainable Fuel Credits mechanism to promote reduced petroleum consumption. The CCIP will evolve through periodic updates in order to effectively guide ongoing and future programs and TA and project design. Going forward, specific climate change interventions will continue to be incorporated into the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) and Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) for each Pacific Developing Member Country (PDMC) and into the Regional Operations Business Plan (ROBP) for the Pacific region as a whole. TA and investment projects will be designed, taking into consideration regional and country variations in governance, institutional capacity, and geographic and local environmental conditions.

A group of researchers, managers and tribal leaders with extensive local knowledge from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua, Indonesia, provided new information on the status of leatherback nesting populations in the western Pacific Ocean. Twenty-eight nesting sites were identified, of which 21 were previously unknown or poorly described. Although data are still incomplete, we estimate a total of ca. 5000-9200 nests currently laid at 4 sites along the northwest coast (Bird's Head Peninsula) of Papua, Indonesia. Genetic analysis by using mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid sequences identified a total of 6 haplotypes among the 106 samples analysed for Solomon Islands, Papua and Papua New Guinea, including a unique common haplotype that is only found in these western Pacific populations. There was no significant difference in haplotype that is only found in these western Pacific populations. There was no significant difference in haplotype frequencies among these rookeries, which suggests that they represent a metapopulation composed of a single genetic rock. Further work is needed to define the demographic structure within this metapopulation.

The Pacific Strategy for the New Millennium1 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) focuses on the core objectives of (i) continuing support for economic growth, good governance, and public sector reform; (ii) promoting private sector development as the engine for growth; and (iii) supporting sustainable environmental management and equitable social development. A new regional strategy is being prepared for ADB operations in the Pacific, which will focus on the priority needs of the poor, as defined by an extensive program of qualitative and quantitative poverty assessment, based on listening to the voices of those in hardship or poverty. The new strategy will focus on improving access to basic services and creating employment opportunities. As the Government is beginning preparation of its Strategic Development Plan 8 (SDP8) for 2005-2007, it is timely to review ADB’s strategy and program for Tonga.

The purpose of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Pacific Strategy 2005-2009 is to provide a framework for ADB operations in its 14 Pacific developing member countries (PDMCs)1 and for ADB support to regional cooperation in the Pacific. This third ADB Pacific Strategy will allow ADB's Pacific Department (PARD) to better focus its activities, deepen its experience and expertise in key result areas (KRAs), and align resources to strategy objectives, in order to maximize the impact of ADB support to the development efforts of the PDMCs.

ADB's strategy for Tonga supports the Government's development goals. The focus of assistance in 2005-2006 will be (i) continuing assistance to the Government's reform program to enhance sound economic and public sector management; (ii) addressing the emerging deterioration in some social indicators through targeted interventions that promote inclusive social development; and (iii) improving the enabling environment for private sector development. The key projects for the period under consideration will be (i) assistance to develop a new strategic development plan for Tonga, linked to a multi-year fiscal framework and an annual resource allocation process; (ii) continued support for public enterprise reforms, especially the privatization of selected public enterprises; (iii) addressing youth unemployment and associated social problems; (iv) improving basic infrastructure for drainage and sanitation in selected areas in the capital, Nuku'alofa; and (v) agriculture sector development through an enhanced policy environment and development of small and medium agriculture-based enterprises.

In 2004, the Government of Tonga reaffirmed its commitment to achieving the development objective of improving living standards, set out in the Strategic Development Plan 7 (SDP7) for 2001-2003. Throughout that period, the Government focused on implementation of the Economic and Public Sector Reform Program (EPSRP), which aims at maintaining a stable macroeconomic environment and achieving sustainable economic growth, led by private sector development and supported by an efficient and effective public sector. Through SDP7, the Government plans to achieve social and economic objectives of individual fulfillment, gender equity, political stability, and a stable economic and financial environment.