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Tokelau Country Statement at the Whale in a Changing Ocean Conference, Vava'u, Tonga

The Tokelaus are a chain of three atolls, soutii of the Phoenix Group and north of the Sarnoas. Distances (in statute miles) froin Apia, Western Samoa, are approxi~i~ately 300 to Fakaofo, 330 to Nukunono, and 400 to Atafu. Annual rainfall for each atoll is usually in excess of 100 inches but they have experienced long dry spells. llurricanes occasionally pass througii the group and several motus of I4ukunono atoll were swept by waves in the storni of January 29 and 30, 1966.

This report on Tokelau has been prepared for the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Office for Tokelau Affairs (OTA) on the basis of the terms of reference set out in Annex I. It is written at a time of great administrative and organisational change for Tokelau. It also comes at a time of great environmental need and an increase in international environmental activities. On this scene Tokelau is a player with a great interest in and sympathy for the environment but with little or no law on environmental matters. The objective of this report is to explore the existing law to explain the nature of the law proposals that are awaiting promulgation for Tokelau. and to consider the future role for law in Tokelau in respect of the environment.

In late 1997, Tokelau requested assistance from the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) to conduct a stock assessment of marine resources in Fakaofo as a first step towards producing a management plan for the lagoon. SPC recruited a consultant to conduct the survey in conjunction with local staff early in 1998. However, the shipping service to Tokelau was having problems during this time, and was in NZ for maintenance. The timing of subsequent sailings clashed with other work commitments by the consultant, and the survey was not carried out until July/August 1998. The terms of reference for the work are contained in Appendix 1.

The State of the Environment (SOE) Report includes all those environmental problems that have been identified to date in Tokelau. This report also serves to illustrate the severity of some of these problems, and how we may expect to resolve them. More specific details of actions which will address these environmental problems are included in the Tokelau Environmental Management Strategy (TEMS)

Mongabay rainforest profiles: American Samoa, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu