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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.

Samoa's National Environmental Capacity Strategy (NECS) is drawn on the assessment and analysis of priority thematic and cross-cutting capacity needs. These needs have identified priority actions for capacity development and opportunities to promote synergies across the 3 Conventions which are highlighted as project profiles in the NECS. Strategies to implement these project profiles including means of monitoring and evaluation of outcomes are also highlighted in the NECS.

Protecting a species is an aspect of conservation which many organizations and individuals have put effort into so that the balance within the ecosystem can be maintained. Protection implement when factors of threats have been identify. Factors of pressure or predatory that may lead to competition and results in extinction. These are the sequence our world works since the beginning

The community based conservation (CBC)paradigm predicts that sustainable biodiversity can only be achieved if local people perceive benefits from conservation. Through interviews, the situation in Samoa portrays that the CBC of mangroves was received with apprehension because the mangrove biodiversity was more significant than sustaining the livelihood of the local communities. In contrast, Iriomote Island residents were able to achieve maximum socio-economic benefits but to the extent that they were over commercializing the mangrove ecosystem. More research is imperative to find out how biodiversity conservation can be married with sustainable development objectives to sustain the local communities' livelihood.

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.

Merremia peltata, disturbance ecology, tropical cyclones and Samoa. The biology and ecology of Merremia peltata are not well understood. While some regard the species as an exotic invader of Pacific Island ecosystems (Meyer. 2000). others identify the plant as a native species likely to be harmful to native ecosystems (Whistler, 1995a. 2002) or as either native or ancient Polynesian introduction behaving invasively (Space and Flynn.(2002). In Samoa, this species occurs up to an elevation of around 300 meters (Whistler 1995a). and thus only affects lowland ecosystems. This species increases its distribution and abundance in two ways, either vegetatively. by sprawling into neighboring areas and rooting from its nodes or by seeds, although early research in the Solomons observed a low seed viability rate, and creeping may thus be its primary means of reproduction (Bacon. 1982). M. peltata has apparently been in the Pacific for hundreds of years (Whistler, pers. com.) but has only become invasive in the years following tropical cyclones Ofa (1990) and Val (1991) according to comments from local government officials. Disturbance thus appears to be an ecological contributing factor to this invasion.

Fiji has many positive physical and cultural attributes which it can draw upon on a sustainable basis for its ongoing development. It also has significant environmental constraints which are currently compounded by inadequate environmental policies, legislation and administration. Fiji lacks the serious demographic, economic and industrial pressures from which the majority of serious environmental problems originate in other countries. But conversely, its small size, young landscape and evolutionary isolation make its natural resources vulnerable to loss or degradation.