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Social and biophysical dimensions of ecosystems are inextricably related such that a change in one dimension is highly likely to generate a change in the other. Although change is a natural consequence of complex interactions, it must be monitored and even managed if the rate and direction of change threatens to undermine system resilience.

In the first half of the 1990s, in response to increasing concern about many of the world's fisheries, and following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), a number of international fisheries instruments provided an impetus for countries to strengthen their fisheries management. A key step in supporting such efforts is the development of more-detailed, systematic and comparable information on fisheries management trends. In 2004, FAO developed the State of World Marine Capture Fisheries Management Questionnaire in response to this need, in 2007, FAO used this questionnaire to conduct a study of the trends in marine capture fisheries management in 29 Pacific Ocean countries.

Awareness of the limitations of a single-species approach to fisheries management has led to global acceptance of the need to adopt a wider ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) assessment and management. Applying EAF in management requires the application of scientific methods and tools that also go beyond the single-species approaches which used to be, to a large extent, the exclusive sources of scientific advice. Managers and decision-makers must now find management solutions that take into account the wider range of societal objectives that must be explicitly considered under EAF and the interactions in the ecosystem. Ecosystem models, i.e. models that represent a wider range of technological and ecological processes affecting the species in the ecosystem (including multispecies and whole ecosystem models), are potentially important tools for providing this wider scientific information.

The High-Level Conference which Italy has the honour of hosting and which today I have the honour of inaugurating, represents an extraordinary opportunity for reflection and commitment on crucial issues of our time and is already a significant event on account of such a distinguished attendance, notably of Heads of State and Government. I read this as a sign of awareness and renewed willingness on the part of the leadership of all continents and. together with the world organizations, of the international community as a whole.

The goal of Article II of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is to ensure stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent "dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".

Country profiles on land and water for Fiji and Samoa.

The world today is very different from the way it was 50 years ago. Improvements in transportation, education, and communications (including telephones, radio, television, and the internet) mean that life is increasingly influenced by what is happening outside the farm, family and immediate community. Sadly, some of these changes may have a negative impact on the Pacific Way of Life. However, many of the changes are inevitable, so farming families need to be in a position to benefit from them rather than be hurt by them.