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Today: Pacific island people reliant on natural resources 70-80% of the catch from inshore fisheries is used for subsistence purposes

Presentation on Pacific Islands Region: Ecosystem Approach Critical for Climate Change Adaptation

Powerpoint presentation by Stuart Chape on EBA services to the Pacific region.

The Keeling Curve is the name given to the chart of rising atmospheric CO2 levels, as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. So far, none of the action taken to tackle climate change has slowed the curve's inexorable rise. Co2 has now reached the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (ppm)

Ecosystem-based adaptation and climate change vulnerability in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands - a synthesis report.

This cost-benefi t analysis is part of the UNEP Ecosystem-based Adaptation Flagship Program and UN-HABITAT Cities and Climate Change Initiative and is intended to guide decision makers in their consideration of various options for climate change adaptation. While the scope of the research and analysis is confi ned to Lami Town, Fiji, a town adjacent to the capital Suva, general lessons and considerations may also be informative at the national level. Furthermore, the lessons learned will be useful for future comparison of options for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) to climate change in the Pacifi c region.

The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) was originally established as a result of a decision taken at the Conference on the Human Environment in the South Pacific held in Rarotonga in 1982. It was established as a separate entity within the South Pacific Commission (SPC - now the Secretariat of the Pacific Community) based in Noumea, New Caledonia; and formed part of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme.

The evolution and expansion of the human species over the past few hundred thousand years, an infinitesimal fraction of planetary time, now sees us as the dominant life form on Earth. We are dominant because of our intelligence and adaptability, and our need to constantly strive for newer and better ways of doing things. But there are now six billion of us, predicted to increase to 8-10 billion by 2050, and our domination of the planet is paralleled by the massive impact that we have had on the Earth's ecosystems. A recent mapping of the human footprint on the planet has concluded that more than 80% of the Earth's land surface is directly influenced by humans. We consume 40% of the Earth's net primary productivity, 35% of oceanic shelf productivity and 60% of freshwater runoff. As a result, remaining natural landscapes are rapidly being modified and the Earth's biological diversity continues to decline at an alarming rate. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) has found that in the last several decades 20% of the world’s coral reefs were lost and 20% degraded, while 35% of mangrove area has been lost. The MEA also concluded that humans have likely increased the species extinction rate by as much as 1,000 times over background rates typical throughout Earth's history.

Microbenthos and macrobenthos were quantitatively studied at 62 stations distributed regularly over the Uvea Atoll lagoon (850 km2). Sampling was performed using both SCUBA and a 0.1 m2 Smith Mclntyre grab. Mean estimates of ATP, chlorophyll a and phaeopigments were 297.3ng/cm2, 77.01 mg/m2 and 35.28 mg/m2 respectively. The mean macrobenthic biomass was 4.14 gAFDW/m2 of which the macrophytobenthos accounts for 39%. The benthic biomass decreased from the coast to the deepest parts of the lagoon. Macrophytes were most abundant in the coastal area and became progressively scarcer with increasing depth. By comparison, sessile species dominated on hard substrates in intermediate and deep zones. The abundance of the surface-deposit feeder group, that dominated the trophic structure of zoobenthos (33% of the macrofauna biomass), could be explained by a microphytic biomass six times higher than macrophytobenthic one in terms of carbon. Carnivores (32%) were mainly represented by necrophagous species, and filter-feeders (27%) by bivalves. Herbivores were rare. Four main benthic communities were identified on the basis of their macrobenthic assemblages using a Detrended Correspondence analysis. They corresponded to (1) a coastal zone, with the highest mud percentage in sediments, (2) an intermediate zone, with moderate depth and dominated by hard substrates, (3) a back reef zone, with thick sand layers, and (4) a deep zone dominated by hard substrates. Relative distribution of the trophic groups varied according to the different zones and suggests distinct functional characteristics for the different benthic assemblages. From a biogeographic point of view, this study highlighted the richness of the Uvea Atoll lagoon in terms of benthic species and biomass, compared to other central Pacific atoll lagoons.