Search the SPREP Catalogue

Over 352 herbivores have now been intentionally introduced into new regions as weed biological control agents. Recent evidence shows that rapid and significant evolution in host specificity can occur. The risk of non target use by biological control agents increasing to unacceptable levels through rapid evolution therefore needs to be considered.

In August 2001 a State of Emergency was declared in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) following a significant oil spill from the USS Mississinewa, a sunken WWII US military oil tanker, in the remote and environmentally sensitive atoll known as Ulithi Lagoon.

Mining in its broadest sense is the process of obtaining useful minerals from the earth's crust. A mineral is generally defined as any natural accruing substance of definite chemical composition and consistent physical properties.

Traditional knowledge can provide cheap leads for pharmaceutical companies looking for new drugs.

This is a useful little book that investigates the trade of medicinal plants in Germany during the first half of the 1990s.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Center for Environment has designed the Best Practices Guide Series to provide technical information on the topics of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the environment to support international initiatives and promote the use of clean and innovative technologies.

The WHO Guide to sanitation in natural disasters (Assar, 1971) summarized the essential aspects of environmental health management in disasters. These included the provision of emergency water and sanitation services; the burial or cremation of the dead; vector and pest control; food hygiene; and the assessment of the danger of epidemics following emergencies and disasters, etc. Thirty years later these aspects remain essential, though the needs, challenges and opportunities are greater. The present book deals not only with emergency response, but also with measures designed to reduce the impact of disasters on environmental health infrastructure, such as water supply and sanitation facilities. It also aims to strengthen the ability of people to withstand the disruption of their accustomed infrastructure and systems for environmental health (e.g. shelter, water supply, sanitation, vector control etc.) and to recover rapidly.

To regulate and control, the international, trade, domestic trade, possession and transportation of species protected under the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) and for related matters.

Presently the Government of Samoa is working on an extension to Apia wharf and is currently exploring options to develop a more secure anchorage for the country's growing fishing fleet. During the course of these investigations it was found that due to the lack of detailed bathymetric and oceanographic data for Apia Harbour Vaiusu Bay and the fore-reef area fronting Apia, a number of options considered could not be expanded upon. As a result, SOPAC was approached and the necessary survey works were completed.

In the past two years the local communities on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, have tried to stop islanders from fishing in some coral reefs areas by creating traditional no-fishing zones, known to the locals as Ra’ui. The Ra’ui primarily protects the reef from many people walking and collecting shellfish, octopus, and other organisms, and therefore helps restock the lagoon fish. Locals want to maintain the restricted areas for conservation purposes.