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While development of natural non living resources such as minerals and water can better the lives of Pacific islanders, it needs to be managed to ensure a safe and healthy environment. And as any resource manager today knows, to manage resources we need to manage the people who use them. A number of projects in the Pacific have recently turned to economic tools to help manage the way people use non living natural resources. In this paper selected case studies will be used to: ? demonstrate the different ways that economic tools are helping to improve the governance of a variety of non living natural resources in the Pacific: and ? consider the prospects for using these tools more generally in the Pacific in the future. To highlight the ways in which economic tools can improve the governance of non living natural resources, a simple project cycle is used. A number of case studies including the following are used to show how economic tools are improving management of non living natural resources in different sectors including water, disasters, oceans., minerals and energy. Details of case sftidies are provided in the paper accompanying the presentation. Following discussion of the case studies, the implications for using economic analysis to support the management of 11011 living resources in the Pacific is discussed.

The Fiji Department of Energy through its rural electrification programme developed two community-based biofuel projects in Vanua Balavu (villages of Lomaloma, Naqara and Sawana) and Welagi in Taveuni with funding assistance provided by the French Government through the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The primary objective of the projects was to use coconut oil to generate electricity for the communities. The Vanua Balavu Biofuel Project was installed in April 2000 and the Welagi Biofuel Project was installed in July 2001.

Between 1892 and 1930, 58 percent (30 taxa) of Hawaiian endemic forest birds either were greatly reduced or became extinct. The order in which the islands experienced major declines ofseveral forest birds is Oahu (ca. 1873-1887), Hawaii (1892-1900), Mo10kai (1893-1907), Maui (18941901), Kauai (after 1900), and Lanai (1926-1932). Loss of habitat, reduced food supply, introduced avian diseases, as well as predation by man, feral cats, mongooses, and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) all appear to have reduced some species ofbirds, but none ofthese factors adequately explains the accelerated rates ofdecline offorest birds that occurred after 1892. Although it has been assumed that roofrats (Rattus rattus) reached Hawaii with the first European ships at the end of the 18th century, there is circumstantial evidence, independent of the bird decline data, that indicates that this rat did not arrive until after 1840, probably between 1870 and 1880. The hypothesis is advanced that after its establishment on Oahu in the 1870s, R. rattus spread to the remaining large islands in the group, resulting in a stepwise accelerated decline offorest birds on each island in turn. Hawaii thus parallels some other Pacific islands where major reductions of birds have followed the establishment of R. rattus. The need for precautions to prevent rats from reaching rat-free islands in the Hawaiian group is emphasized.