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This collection of articles provides a glimpse into the marine and wildlife resources in American Samoa's tropical, oceanic environment. The articles were written by 8 biologists at the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR), National Park of American Samoa (NPS) and Land Grant Program at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC). Our purpose in writing these was to make the results of our studies available to local teachers, students, visitors and whoever else might be curious about Samoa's unique environment. The use of English, Samoan and scientific names of plants and animals varies.

The District Coastal Infrastructure Management (CIM) Plan for Faasaleleaga I District has been prepared as part of the Government of Samoa?s Infrastructure Asset Management Programme (IAMP). The CIM Plan is one of the primary means of implementing the CIM Strategy, which was formally approved by the Government of Samoa in February, 2001, as providing the Strategic direction for the management of infrastructure (both public and private) within the coastal area. The Strategy has as its central vision “Resilience – Coastal Infrastructure and Communities Resilient to Natural Hazards”. The CIM Plan takes this vision and provides the practical tools with which the communities and the government, in partnership, can implement the Strategy.

In March 2002, a workshop was held to build a comprehensive long-term monitoring plan for American Samoa by coordinating existing monitoring programs and identifying areas where additional monitoring/research was needed. The primary achievement of the plan is to identify and define core sites on the main islands of Tutuila and the Manu’a group in order to mesh existing programs monitoring corals, fishes and water quality. The priority for these and future monitoring programs will be to monitor these core sites, of which there are eight on Tutuila and six on each of the islands of Ofu/Olosega and Ta’u. The other major monitoring initiative is that of the multi-disciplinary Coral Reef Ecosystem Investigation surveys which will monitor alternative sites on Tutuila and the Manu’a group, as well as remote Swains Island and Rose Atoll. The monitoring plan acts as an in-depth guide to coral reef monitoring in American Samoa by detailing the goals and methodologies of these and other major monitoring programs, notably of the various Marine Protected Areas. Listing the workshop recommendations for additional monitoring/research needed for comprehensive long-term monitoring completes the plan.

The American Samoa Local Action Strategies (LAS) are the result of a nearly two-year process that saw input from territorial agencies, non-profit groups, interested individuals, and other stake-holders such as local fishers, and federal agency partners. This process was initiated through the American Samoa Coral Reef Advisory Group (CRAG), a voluntary committee comprised of numerous agencies and academic institutions in the territory concerned with coral reef issues. Since its inception in 1998, CRAG has overseen many successful management and science activities, has increased member-agency collaboration and has improved alignment and cooperation with non-CRAG agencies that have common interests. To address LAS focus areas, CRAG developed both short- and long-term action plans that prioritize activities for funding. Where possible, current and ongoing activities were incorporated into each LAS to provide continuity and networking, and to underscore that individual agency mandates and projects are supported by the CRAG as a whole. Each LAS consists of goals, success indicators, projects and timelines, and will continue to evolve and develop as new resources are brought to bear, and as projects are completed.

Small island states present a significant challenge in terms of sustainable tourism development. On a small island there are limited resources, economic and social activities tend to be concentrated on the coastal zone, and the interconnectivity between economic, environmental, social, cultural and political spheres is strong and pervasive. Consequently the sustainable development of tourism is more a practical necessity than an optional extra. This paper investigates the question of how to monitor sustainable tourism development (STD) in Samoa, an independent small island state in the South Pacific. It describes some of the methodological considerations and processes involved in the development of STD indicators and particularly highlights the importance of formulating clear objectives before trying to identify indicators, the value of establishing a multi-disciplinary advisory panel, and the necessity of designing an effective and flexible implementation framework for converting indicator results into management action.

The Common Country Assessment (CCA) is a country-based process for reviewing and assessing the national development situation and identifying key issues as a basis for policy dialogue and forms the foundation for the ensuing United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The CCA has been prepared in close collaboration with the Government of Samoa and other key partners from the donor community, civil society, and the private sector. All UN organizations present in Samoa, which together comprise the United Nations Country Team (UNCT). participated in the CCA process. The UN Agencies located in Fiji but whose programmes cover Samoa, also contributed to the process. The specific objective of the CCA process is to enable all partners to achieve a shared and deeper knowledge of the key development challenges facing Samoa, based on a shared in-depth understanding of the country's development situation. One of the central aims of the CCA is to ensure that the UNCT and its planned programmes are broadly consistent with the strategic outcomes sought by the Government in its national development plans. The CCA process therefore ensured the full participation of government and selected community representatives in the consultative process, the assessment of the current situation including initiatives already undertaken and identification of key issues and challenges. It also took into account other available economic and social assessment and reviews of the Samoa economy.

In recognition of the unique and important attributes of wetlands in American Samoa, the American Samoa Government (ASG) has developed a comprehensive wetlands management plan to provide a policy framework to manage wetlands resources. The management plan is intended to assist ASG promulgate rules and regulations for the American Samoa Coastal Management Of primary importance is to establish a mechanism for achieving a policy of "no net loss" of wetlands.

Global Climate Change and Coral Bleaching. The ultimate long-term environmental threat to coral reef ecosystems is global climate change that many believe is linked to the dramatic increase of coral bleaching in the past decade. Bleaching varies regionally, locally within a reef, and among species. It also coincides with elevated water temperatures associated with El Nifio and La Nifia events.