Search the SPREP Catalogue

Niue as a Party to the Rio Conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Combating Desertification, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, is preparing its National Capacity Self Assessment Report to identify the capacity gaps on the implementation of the Conventions. The thematic assessment component of the National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) Project reviews the status of implementation for each of the three Rio Conventions at the national level. It further analysis the capacity constraints on the implementation and proposes potential opportunities for building the three levels of capacity development at the country level.

Interviews were conducted in 25 locations (five in Survey Area 1, eight in Survey Area 2, and 12 in Survey Area 3) in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB) with the majority of the interviews conducted in a focus group setting (80 %). A total of 20 adults and 10 calves were reported during this assessment for the first two months of 2008, with a total of 37 adults and 17 calves reported overall for 2007 and 2008. A total of 54.2 % respondent groups across all survey areas believed that dugong numbers had in fact increased in recent years, whilst 8.3 % thought that they had declined, 29.2 % felt that they were the same whilst 8.3 % were unsure. Reasons given for the increase in dugong populations in Survey Areas 1 and 2 was reported to be linked to the cessation of hunting; whilst respondents in Survey Area 3 thought it was due to the cessation of the mine, and subsequently less waste, sedimentation and boat traffic (both commercial and recreational).