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Flooding imposes significant costs on households and businesses located in the lower Vaisigano catchment area. SOPAC, under the European Development Fund (EDF) project Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States, has worked with the Government of Samoa to develop the Samoa Flood Management and Action Plan, which identifies actions for government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and communities responsible for flood and floodplain management that can assist in reducing flood risks in Samoa, particularly in the lower Vaisigano catchment area located in Apia, which is subject to frequent flooding.

This book aims to help people manage coral reefs and other coastal ecosystems; especially to solve problems that flow from nearby catchment (watershed) areas. Such catchment areas may be adjacent to the coral reef, or include areas a long way away and outside the jurisdiction and control of the coastal manager. This book introduces ways to reduce some of that damage through cooperation with people and industries upstream, based on the experiences of many coastal managers around the world. A catchment area is defined as all the land that channels rainwater and groundwater into a river or stream, that then delivers water to coastal areas, in this case areas that contain coral reefs. The term catchment is often interchangeable with watershed, which is particularly used in the USA and nearby countries. However, watershed is also used to describe the boundary line between two catchment areas i.e. a line drawn across the tops of hills or mountains.

The Solomon Islands is characterised by scattered islands that vary considerably in size, physical and hydrologic characteristics. The types of islands range from high volcanic to tiny low coral atolls. The higher islands have river systems whilst the low coral atolls have no natural surface water systems and are completely dependent upon rainwater catchments and groundwater.

Water is essential for human, faunal and floral physiology. Water sustains life and is essential for climatic equilibrium, the maintenance of ecosystems, agriculture, industrial processing and hydropower. In many countries, increasing population, natural resource extraction, food production, industrial activity and other land uses are producing diffuse and point source discharges which carry a wide range of contaminants into water bodies and affect the quality and quantity of water for other uses. This situation is caused by ineffective assessment, planning, utilisation and management of water by water resources management authorities, water supply and sewage disposal service providers and other sectoral users of water resources. There is an immediate and critical need for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in a catchment unit in order to ensure the sustainable use of the available water resources.