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Climate change is often referred to as the defining challenge of our time, and it is well known that Pacific Island States are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Indeed, these adverse effects are already very tangible for most communities across the region. Coastal features are visibly changing, with rising sea-levels, higher king tides and storm surges, saltwater intrusion and changing weather patterns posing an increasing threat to the livelihoods of Pacific Island communities. The threats are amplified by extreme weather events becoming more intense and more damaging as a result of climate change, with Cyclone Pam recently causing loss of human life and catastrophic damage in Vanuatu, and to a lesser extent in the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati. 2 While communities and governments—assisted by regional, international and nongovernmental organizations—are proactively building resilience and adapting to climate change, there is a real risk of much more severe and damaging impacts materializing in the coming decades.3 The threats are so severe that most, if not all, Pacific Island States face the threat of losing some or all of their habitable territory as a result of climate change, with related risks of the loss of traditional livelihoods and large-scale involuntary displacement

Newsletter on Pacific Libraries

2008 Annual Report for the University of the South Pacific.

Traditionally, Pacific Island people have lived a subsistence lifestyle with taboos and practices that ensured sustainability of resource use. However, modernization with all its implications has reduced the quality of life with problems affecting the very pillars of sustainable development. There are many disadvantages that derive from small size, a narrow range of resources, excessive dependence on international trade, high population density, over use of natural resources, relatively small watersheds, costly infrastructure, fragile ecosystems and high levels of endemism.

Traditionally, Pacific Island people have lived a subsistence lifestyle with taboos and practices that ensured sustainability of resource use. However, modernization with all its implications has reduced the quality of life with problems affecting the very pillars of sustainable development. There are many disadvantages that derive from small size, a narrow range of resources, excessive dependence on international trade, high population density, over use of natural resources, relatively small watersheds, costly infrastructure, fragile ecosystems and high levels of endemism.

This report presents data from the most comprehensive assessment undertaken on differing levels of ecological survey effort employed in Fiji. The four methods examined in order of increasing taxonomic complexity (number of variables or species observed) were FLMMA community monitoring, Reef Check, Akuila Cakacaka's Masters thesis method* and that used by Coral Cay Conservation in Fiji. All of these methods utilise a belt transect underwater visual census methodology with differing lengths of transects though for standardisation, all were set at 20m long by 5m wide by 5m high in this investigation. All methods employed a target species list. Of these target species lists, only the FLMMA methodology observed individuals from all of its target taxa; the other methodologies observed only 67, 70 and 59% of the species included on the target species List for the 'Reef Check method', 'Akuila's method' and the 'Coral Cay method' respectively.

This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report provides information for policymakers,scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of CO2emissions. It describes sources,capture, transport, and storage of CO2. It also discusses the costs, economic potential, and societal issues of the technology, including public perception and regulatory aspects. Storage options evaluated include geological storage, ocean storage, and mineral carbonation. Notably, the report places CO2capture and storage in the context of other climate change mitigation options, such as fuel switch, energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear energy. This report shows that the potential of CO2capture and storage is considerable, and the costs for mitigating climate change can be decreased compared to strategies where only other climate change mitigation options a reconsidered. The importance of future capture and storage of CO2for mitigating climate change will depend on a number of factors, including financial incentives provided for deployment, and whether the risks of storage can be successfully managed. The volume includes a Summary for Policy makers approved by governments represented in the IPCC, and a Technical Summary.The IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage provides invaluable information for researchers in environmental science, geology, engineering and the oil and gas sector, policymakers in governments and environmental organizations, and scientists and engineers in industry.