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The following tables summarizes some conservation (eg. shark sanctuary, marine protected areas) and utilization (eg. tourism, fishing) factors that could affect shark and ray abundance within Pacific island countries. The value of shark fisheries and tourism was categorized as "high", "moderate", or "low" using primary literature and internet searches.

Our Pacific island region is rich and diverse in its culture, languages and traditions. Despite this diversity, Pacific peoples have something in common– we belong to the largest ocean on planet Earth, which covers more than 169 million square kilometres, we maintain a strong reliance on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for sustainable development, for daily livelihoods and for preserving our cultural practices. But perhaps the most important common feature we share is that we are a region of ocean state islands. In 2006, the Island Biodiversity Programme of Work (IBPOW) was adopted at the eighth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity to address the uniqueness and fragility of island biodiversity and it provides guidance on priorities for biodiversity management in small island developing states, including the application of ecosystem approaches to management.

I n 2016–2017 the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), through its Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) and with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organised for an evaluation of its protected areas, as part of the process to improve management effectiveness. The scope of work for this project included: Conduct a literature review of protected areas in PNG and methodologies used to evaluate protected areas; Design and test an evaluation tool to be employed in PNG; Undertake field work to assess PNG’s formally gazetted protected areas; and Analyse the data and compile reports (i.e. overall report and assessment data for each protected area).

Papua New Guinea is a high biodiversity country in both the terrestrial and marine environments. Many new species of many different genera of plants and animals are still being 'uncovered' through ongoing and concentrated efforts by various researchers and institutions, incrementally filling in the gaps of our knowledge. Areas that were blank on the Conservation Needs Assessment map of 1994 have been filled in over the last 20 years, although many areas are yet to be surveyed.

Great white sharks are one of the world’s most impressive and familiar predators – but until recently we knew surprisingly little about them. This book changes all that, opening a window into the amazing world of New Zealand’s great whites. Join Kiwi shark scientists Malcolm Francis and Clinton Duffy as they track great white sharks from the cool waters of southern New Zealand to the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the tropical Pacific. Discover how electronic tags have revolutionised the study of great whites, revealing that these mighty ocean predators are international travellers that dive to depths of more than a kilometre as they journey to and from shark hotspots at Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. Visit Australia’s shark nurseries, meet the Stewart Island shark gang and join the teenage great white sharks, Nicholas Cage and Pip, on their travels. Award-winning natural history writer and broadcaster Alison Balance has been following the New Zealand great white shark project for the last decade. She takes readers out on a research boat to experience first-hand the thrill of encountering and tagging a great white shark, follows the excitement – and frustration – of tracking their movements around the southwest Pacific, and uses science to paint a portrait of great white sharks as you’ve never understood them before. Find out what pieces of the great white shark puzzle have been solved, and what questions remain unanswered, in a science adventure book for young adults and anyone with an interest in sharks and the sea.

The Republic of Korea-Paci c Islands Climate Prediction Services project (ROK-PI CLIPS) seeked to provide nationally tailored seasonal climate prediction information and build the prediction capacity of the PICTs. This project was funded by the Government of Korea through the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and was implemented by the APEC Climate Center (APCC) and the Secretariat of the Pacifc Regional Environment Program (SPREP).

The Republic of Korea-Paci c Islands Climate Prediction Services project (ROK-PI CLIPS) seeked to provide nationally tailored seasonal climate prediction information and build the prediction capacity of the PICTs. This project was funded by the Government of Korea through the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and was implemented by the APEC Climate Center (APCC) and the Secretariat of the Pacifc Regional Environment Program (SPREP).

On 11 November 2014, a remarkable event occurred. President Barack Obama of the United States and President Xi Jinping of China announced a bilateral agreement to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause global warming by their respective nations. On 12 December 2015, a year and a month later, representatives of 195 countries attending the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Paris, France, announced the Paris Climate Agreement. The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit the future emission of GHGs such that the rise in global mean surface temperature will be no more than 1.5 °C (target) or 2.0 °C (upper limit) above the pre-industrial level. The Paris Climate Agreement utilizes an approach for reducing the emissions of GHGs that is distinctly different than earlier efforts. The approach for Paris consists of a series of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), submitted by the world’s nations, reflecting either a firm commitment (unconditional INDCs) or a plan contingent on financial and/or technological support (conditional INDCs). The Obama–Xi announcement was instrumental in the framing of the Paris Climate Agreement. The INDCs submitted by the USA and China were built closely upon the November 2014 bilateral announcement. China and the USA rank number one and two, respectively, in terms of national emission of GHGs. Practically speaking, unified global action to combat global warming required these two nations to get on the same page.

Large-scale environmental problems have become prominent byproducts of the interactions between human activities and the biophysical settings in which they occur. Some of these problems, such as the destruction of tropical forests, arise in areas within the jurisdiction of individual states but have consequences (e.g., biodiversity loss, climate change) that are regional to global in scope. Other problems, including the seasonal thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer, occur in areas that lie beyond the jurisdiction of nation states. Still others, like marine dead zones, originate in areas within the jurisdiction of individual states but can spread and have impacts on areas outside these jurisdictional boundaries. In all these cases, efforts to come to terms with the relevant problems require international (often global) responses that call for transboundary cooperation and, more often than not, eventuate in the development of regulatory arrangements designed to limit or even prohibit the human actions that give rise to the problems.

Protected natural areas deserve the combination of nature uniqueness and conservation willing. The foundation stone for National Parks is the awareness of that unique character—actual or presumed, most times based on non-tangible properties or singularities —grown in some social sectors, followed by the aim of preserving particular biota, singular ecosystems or entire landscapes. This was the case for the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. Like other protected areas in alpine mountains, its apparent wilderness was a key factor in declaring it National Park, in 1955. The rough relief carved in the Maladeta granodiorite batholith, including rocky crests and summits, steep slopes and glacial valley bottoms, had for long grabbed attention. The abundance of alpine lakes and other water-related systems must have been particularly attractive, in comparison with other Iberian mountains, and even with other Pyrenean areas.