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The Asian Development Bank through its contractor, the Snowy Mountain Engineering.Corporation were tasked with exploring the potential of augmenting the capacity of the Afulilo Reservoir to power a third turbine at the Ta’elafaga Hydro-power Station. To assist in this augmentation assessment, SMEC arranged with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program to oversight a consortium of partners to conduct a 11 month monitoring program with the purpose of assessing the status of the marine environment, particularly the coral reefs, as well as water quality in the Fagaloa and Uafato Bays. The data from the 2009-1010 marine monitoring program implies that several sites in Fagaloa Bay are exhibiting signs of various impacts from various inputs into the marine environment, which are most notable at sites 1, 2, and 14. These sites are closest to the apex of Fagaloa Bay where the Ta’elefaga Creek discharges into. Impacts for these sites include low or no coral cover and recruitment, growth in algal cover, lower salinity levels, higher rates of sedimentation and turbidity, as well as high nutrient inputs. Fish biomass at site 14 was also the lowest (sites 1 and 2 were not surveyed due to poor visibility). Other specific results across all sites include a reduction in live coral cover, a general shift to more hardier coral species, and low fish bio-mass when compared with other sites in Samoa.

The Pacific Islands region is located in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The 15 Independent countries and eight territories that make up this region are delineated into three major culture areas, these are Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (Table 1) and have a combined Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of approximately 29 million km

At its 14th meeting held in the Hague, the Netherlands in June 2007, the Conference of the Parties to CITES adopted decision 14.80 that directed the CITES Secretariat to seek external funding to enable a workshop to be held in the Pacific, in collaboration with appropriate regional organizations, to initiate regional cooperation on the management of sustainable fisheries for giant clams (Tridacnidae).

It is now widely acknowledged that the causes of climate change are mostly anthropogenic in nature and that its effects will have far reaching consequences across the globe. Governments have been exhorted by the world’s scientists to expedite and scale up implementation of mitigation measures and prepare to adapt in order to “avoid the unmanageable and manage the unavoidable” (SEG 2007). This will require concerted and coordinated action by all parties affected at the global, regional, sub-regional, and national and community levels. While international cooperation is essential, each country will need to prepare for and adapt to environmental and socio-economic changes brought about by changes in temperatures, sea level, weather patterns, etc, which are expected to impact people and environment in different ways. The extent to which a country is able to mobilise and manage resources to mitigate and/or adapt to these impacts will depend largely on the capacity of its institutions and people, commonly described in this report as “institutional capacity”.

In the future no country will be immune from the impact of human-induced climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is unequivocal in its pronouncement that global warming will cause significant climate changes throughout the world, including increases in air, sea surface and ocean temperatures and influencing pattern of precipitation, wind flow and ocean salinity (IPCC 2007). The world is expected to experience increased climate variability as well as extreme weather events, such as prolonged drought, heavy rains and heat waves, and the increased frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones. Sea level rise is also predicted. The effects of such changes will be significant to all the Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs), although the nature and degree of the socioeconomic impact of climate change cannot be predicted with any certainty at this point in time

Ecosystem approaches to management of fisheries is increasingly promoted in the Pacific has a ‘holistic’ method for understanding a wide set of parameters affecting fisheries. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) are currently supporting Fisheries Divisions and Departments of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) in their endeavours to implement an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

PNG has an Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) of around 3,120,000 km², with a land area of 462,243 km² and a total coastline of approximately 17,110 km. Coral reefs are estimated to cover an area of 40,000km².

After two Community Engagement Program (CEP) patrols in the later half of 2002 (September and December) it was decided by the Community Development Specialist (CDS) and the Community Trainer (CT) to do an assessment and evaluation of the trainings, briefing and debriefing sessions, and patrols to date. Personal thoughts about the CEP, patrols and the briefing and debriefing sessions were collected individually from Village Trainers (VTs) in private interviews. The evaluation was deemed necessary to help the CEP in coordmating its activity and training programs. The CDS and the CT then reviewed the patrol reports, discussed needs and further actions, and these are listed below.

For the Pacific Islands, the aquarium trade based on wild harvest of coral and other marine aquarium products is an important source of livelihoods for rural communities. However, concerns over its environmental effects have led to experimentation with and promotion of the culture of coral and other products. Until recently, very few studies have seriously investigated the scope, potential, impacts, costbenefits or long-term financial and bio-economic viability of wild collecting over the culture of marine aquarium commodities, particularly coral, or a combination of both activities.

The International Waters Project (IWP)1 is a 7-year, USD 12 million initiative concerned with management and conservation of marine, coastal and freshwater resources in the Pacific islands region, and is specifically intended to address the root causes of environmental degradation related to trans-boundary issues in the Pacific. The project includes two components: an integrated coastal and watershed management component, and an oceanic fisheries management component (the latter has been managed as a separate project). It is financed by the Global Environment Facility under its International Waters Programme. The coastal component is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and executed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in the conjunction with the governments of the 14 independent Pacific Island countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nine, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The coastal component supports national and community-level actions2 that address priority environmental concerns relating to marine and fresh water quality, habitat modification and degradation and unsustainable use of living marine resources through a 7-year phase of pilot activities, which Started in 2000 and will conclude at the end of 2006.