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Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the world today. Those in the Pacific see its effects with increasing regularity. There are king tides contaminating fresh water supplies, coral bleaching destroying the natural beauty and impacting the environmental appeal for tourists, and there are more frequent severe weather events such as cyclones.

The Pacific Ocean Pollution Prevention Programme (PACPOL) mission is to protect public health, safety, environment and natural resources of the Pacific Islands from the effects of ship sourced marine pollution

Another possible scenario could take place from the InterOil Napa Napa Refinery in Papua New Guinea, which has the highest volume of crude and other persistent oils being transported via ships throughout the Pacific region. Potential oil drill sites as well as potential vessel slip docks such as those in Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu could also result in oil leaks and marine pollution.

The magnitude 8.3Mw earthquake struck 175 kilometres south of the Samoan Islands on 29 September 2009 at 6:48am local time.   A few minutes later, a series of earthquake triggered tsunami waves hit American Samoa, Western Samoa and the small northern island of Niuatoputapu in Tonga.  The tsunami waves, some of which are said to have been as high as 6m, caused fatalities, casualties and devastated entire communities in the Pacific Island countries.

This is the Pacific Islands region’s Strategy for solid waste management, setting the strategic direction for the period 2010-2015. It is supported by a highlevel implementation plan which sets out the key actions that will be taken to deliver the vision of the strategy.

This book is primarily targeted at solid waste officers in Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs) who may have little background in engineering and construction. The objective of this guide is to help those users understand the concept of a landfill and its operation. Also demonstrated are economical and effective ways to upgrade/improve an existing facility, which can be applied to most landfills in PICTs. This book focuses on inland-based waste disposal and does not include landfilling at coastlines, lagoons or wetlands where a different method needs to be developed and applied.