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The 2015 Human Development Report is the latest in the series of global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990 as independent, analytically and empirically grounded discussions of major development issues, trends and policies.

This guide helps communities understand the pressures people may place on beaches, and suggests how natural processes or "ecosystem based approaches" can be used to encourage sand to come back and stay put. Beaches have important values for local communities, such as for fishing, tourism, recreation, and low tide gathering and gleaning. Local communities are an essential part of keeping beaches healthy and can use low cost, natural ways to make beaches stronger

In 2010, under Kiribati’s Programme of Work for Protected Areas (PoWPA), a national ecological gap analysis (GA) was conducted. Its main purpose was to assess how effective the current Protected Areas (PA) network was at achieving Kiribati’s National Biodiversity Strategies Action Plan (NBSAP) conservation targets, and in particular to identify priority areas for the expansion of the PA network and priority actions for improved management of existing PAs. A complementary objective was to identify the key gaps in our knowledge of the country’s biodiversity. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Conservation International’s Pacific Islands Program (CI-PIP) provided technical support to the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD) to conduct a GA of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA – areas of high biodiversity and conservation value) in Kiribati, and provided advisory support for its PA network design. The KBA approach was applied at the archipelago (Gilbert, Line and Phoenix Islands) level combining terrestrial, coastal and lagoon habitats. The KBA methodology applied here is based on an international standard methodology that focuses on worldwide threatened species. KBA sites – all designated at the island level - were identified based on the presence of globally threatened species. The KBA sites (Islands) were then prioritized based on three additional criteria including the frequency of species of local concern as identified by the NBSAP, Kiribati Adaptation Plan (KAP) II mangroves, and the PoWPA phase one consultations; areas of expert concern; and a habitat metric based on habitat diversity and numerical analysis of habitat types.

Reducing the risk of climate change requires large and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are caused by the burning of fossil energy sources (1). The debate around emission reductions has been dominated by concern for economic growth, and its reliance on cheap and plentiful energy. Instead, I believe energy’s role in achieving human development should be our core priority.

The concept of ‘climate finance’ has gained considerable currency following commitments from developed countries to provide new and additional funding for action on climate change. There have been a series of studies estimating the size of the financing need and assessments of how the international financing architecture can meet those needs. Sources of ‘climate finance’ comprise not only finance that governments spend, but also private finance for private actions on climate change. These studies have served a useful purpose of putting the mobilization and effective use of increased international resources for action on climate change firmly on the agenda.

The Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP) is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) US$5.25 million project in eleven Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Implementation of the project started on 1 January 2008. PIGGAREP’s planned five year duration has been extended to six and a half years, with a scheduled end date now of December 2013.

In 1989, the Asian Development Bank provided technical assistance to the then Department of Agriculture and the Survey Department through a NZ Consulting Firm - ANZDEC under an ADB Land Resource Planning Survey Project. The Project provided training on mapping and GIS capability for the survey staff who were involved in the mapping work. Electronic GIS data and equipment were handed over to the Department of Agriculture at the end of the project which were later on damaged by Cyclone Ofa in 1990. A decade later, the Integrated Climate Change Risks in Agriculture and Health Sectors (ICCRAHSS) Project funded by the GEF through UNDP contracted the services of a consultant to provide: -improved GIS maps for soil, crops and rainfall distribution under different climatic projections; -review existing GIS systems and possible areas for collaboration; -consider a program to support capacity building on the use of the system and; -some applications that addresses options for climate change adaptation for the agriculture sector. Based on this report, a GIS system for the Ministry of Agriculture was procured to address the need for such a system to be in place with the expectation that the system will be properly utilized and maintained by relevant people.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and members of the health technical team in the project Integrating Climate Change Risks into Agriculture and Health, the development of this Synthesis Report formulates the baseline of the linkages in climate change and health based on the local context of Samoa. The purpose of this report is to compile and consolidate efforts in addressing risks of climate change to health with scenarios outlines throughout the analysis. The development was reviewed by experts involved in the areas of climate services and health experts in the areas of communicable diseases. This report has developed a baseline to future research work into climate change and health to guide policy formulation as well as to consolidate resource prioritisations for health services to adverse impacts of climate change.