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This United Nations-backed report, hosted by the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in collaboration with Australia’s environmental authorities, highlights critical insights from a comprehensive assessment of Fiji’s marine environment. Key findings include: Urgent need for environmental awareness: Enhanced public understanding is essential to safeguard Fiji’s rich marine resources from threats like marine pollution, coastal habitat destruction, and climate change impacts. Marine pollution pressure: Coastal waters are increasingly burdened by land-based pollutants—plastics, sewage, industrial runoff—and remnant debris from historical events (e.g., WWII wrecks), with contamination affecting marine ecosystems. Habitat degradation: Seagrasses, coral reefs, and mangrove ecosystems face degradation stemming from coastal development, deforestation, sedimentation, and unsustainable use. Climate change and invasive species: Rising sea levels and temperature increase stress marine ecosystems. Invasive species further destabilize native biodiversity and fish stocks. Policy and capacity gaps: Although Fiji is party to major environmental agreements, enforcement and systematic marine monitoring remain inadequate. Collaborative solutions: The report calls for strengthened coordination among UN agencies, SPREP, Fiji’s government, and Australian partners. Recommendations include expanding coastal climate-change observation, improving environmental education, enhancing marine pollution legislation, and bolstering community-based conservation efforts. Together, these insights emphasize that raising environmental awareness and fostering regional cooperation—especially with Australia—are vital to protecting Fiji's marine environment and achieving sustainable development goals.

Palau, a Pacific Island nation, has taken a strong stance against the export of live reef fish, citing environmental concerns and threats to marine biodiversity. The government has banned at least one company found to be involved in this type of trade. This decision aligns with broader regional efforts to safeguard fragile reef ecosystems from over fishing and unsustainable commercial practices. The move signals growing regulatory oversight in the Pacific regarding marine conservation and the export of vulnerable marine species.

Anything that sounds too good to be true probably is plastic is no exception. Clean, durable and light, plastic has made its way into every country, every society, every lifestyle. Yes it makes life easier in lots of ways. Who amongst us can say they've never used a plastic straw, plastic shopping bag, or plastic spoon? But there's downside; our production and consumption of single-use plastics and our inability to manage plastics, waste sustainably have led to a massive pollution problem.

The planet is currently undergoing what scientists are calling the sixth mass extinction. This tragic loss of biodiversity is largely caused by human activity through, amongst others, land use change, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and invasive alien species. States have sought to take action on this issue through implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), its protocols and targets, as well as other multilateral environmental agreements. Many have also undertaken a number of conservation efforts, including the establishment of parks, reserves, and protected areas and the mandating of environmental impact assessments.

To be successful, initiatives aimed at the betterment of lives and the environment must recognize women’s frequent roles as primary land and resource managers and weigh the different ways women and men consider conservation and sustainable use incentives. Projects must also recognise that women and girls often carry the responsibility of water collection and household water use. In impoverished or disadvantaged communities, the role of water in the community is especially gendered.

Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is an integrated and strategic response to the challenges of sustainable development. It addresses climate targets, while also providing solutions around other issues such as food security and biodiversity conservation. Notwithstanding its increasing familiarity projects that could be characterised as “pure” EbA are still few and far between. Instead, the term is often used to describe a broad variety of interventions that seek to link climate adaptation and natural resource management.

The world burns about 17% of its fossil fuel on transport (the fastest growing sector). The Pacific imports all its fossil fuel and burns 70%+ of that on transport. The world divides its energy thinking into electricity (energy) and Transport Electricity is its priority. When it thinks about transport as energy it mainly thinks about land transport.

Seacology is important to the local community of the Pacific islands because it helps the peole to protect their environment and culture

The last two decades have seen an upsurge in research into the potential synergies between invasive species and climate change, with evidence emerging of increased invader success under climate change. All stages along the naturalization-invasion continuum are likely to be affected, from the introduction and establishment of alien species to their spread and transition to serious invaders. A key question is whether alien plants will have a relative advantage under climate change conditions. So far, evidence for differential responses of alien invasive and native species to climate change drivers (elevated CO2) and outcomes (increasing temperature, changing rainfall patterns, changes in disturbance regimes) is mixed. Although alien invasive plants appear to be more responsive to elevated CO2 than many native species, plant response to elevated CO2 and other climate change components is dependent on environmental conditions and resource availability. Similarly, correlative modelling of species-climate relationships has not revealed clear evidence that invasive plants are likely to be able to increase the extent of suitable habitat under future climates any more than their native counterparts. We suggest that the most important driver of a shift to alien-dominated vegetation under climate change will be the superior capacity of alien invasive plants to take advantage of colonisation opportunities arising from climate change, such as extreme climatic events, changes in disturbance regimes, and widespread reduction in vegetation resilience as range margin populations decline. There are substantial challenges ahead for managing invasive plants under future climates. Weed risk assessment and management approaches must incorporate consideration of future climatic conditions. Most importantly, we will need a shift in management approaches away from a focus on the control of undesirable alien plant species to building resilience of resident vegetation assemblages, in association with targeted monitoring and early eradication of alien plant species.