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Three mangrove restoration methods were tested at Nu'uuli, Tutuila island, American Samoa. Since cleaning 27 years ago converted the mangrove into a mudflat, the ecosystem showed no natural regrowth despite an ample supply of propagules.

Samoa along with it Pacific island neighbours and all other small island developing states is particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Our land, livelihoods culture and ecosystems are fundamentally threatened by sea level rise and the changing climatic conditions

Lab praticals for Marine biology

SOPAC is committed to sustainable development through capacity building and works to reduce poverty and strengthen resilience in the Pacific by supporting the development of natural resources, in particular non-living resources. SOPAC work investigates natural systems and the management of vulnerability through applied environmental geosciences, appropriate technologies, knowledge management, technical and policy advice, human resource development and advocacy of important Pacific issues.

The UN Development Assistance Framework for the Pacific Subregion (UNDAF) represents the first regionwide response to the UN operational reform process, and is a product of several partnerships in development, including between two UN Country Teams in Fiji and Samoa covering a total of 15 UN agencies, offices and programmes3, and between the UN and the governments of 14 Pacific island countries. While the UNDAF will guide the majority of UN agencies’ work in the Pacific, a minority of activities fall outside of its objectives, due to the unique mandates or ongoing programmes of specific UN agencies. Programmes outside of the UNDAF are listed by agency and country in Section 3.

The key conclusions of this overview and stock-take report are prioritized in terms of suggested importance and need for action in respect of developing a mediumterm development strategy and five-year plan. It should be noted that some conclusions i.e. the need to complete an environmental management policy framework, have longerterm implications, but in order to prepare and implement a five-year plan that responds to the issues raised, a number of these will need to be addressed as soon as possible

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) includes the eastern end of the island of Timor, the enclave of Oecusse and the islands of Atauro and Jaco. RDTL acceded to UNCCD on 20 August 2003 and the Convention entered into force for RDTL on 18 November 2003. The National Parliament of RDTL ratified the Convention in 11 April 2006.

The main influences on environmental decision-making in rural parts of the Pacific Islands region are emulation, experience, and inferred best-practice. Emulation means that often one community will simply copy the solution adopted by another community in response to what is perceived to be the same challenge. It is in this way that maladaptation has spread through many parts of the Pacific, particularly what has been referred to as the seawall mindset. Experience means that a community will often do what they did before in response to a particular challenge, even though (i) the former challenge may have been different to the present one, and (ii) the efficacy of the response to the earlier challenge has not been fully evaluated. Inferred best-practice is the only response that includes externally-derived information to any significant extent. It involves community leaders and their advisers relating their knowledge about inferred best-practice in response to a particular challenge elsewhere. Often that knowledge is highly prized and is influential in the particular decision that the community takes, but often it is in error and therefore unhelpful in informing the decision

While acknowledging their diversity, the IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR) also noted that small island states share many similarities (e.g., physical size, proneness to natural disasters and climate extremes, extreme openness of their economies, low adaptive capacity) that enhance their vulnerability and reduce their resilience to climate variability and change.