Search the SPREP Catalogue

This publication is the result of the first phase of a 2-year project 'Adapting to climate change in eastern New Zealand' funded by: MAF Sustainable Farming Fund, AGMARDT, Climate Change Office/Ministry for the Environment, Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Environment Bay of Plenty, Environment Cantebury, and Merino NZ Inc.

Over the ages, human societies have altered local ecosystems and modified regional climates. Today, the human influences has attained a global scale. This reflects the recent rapid increase in population size, energy consumption, intensity of land use, international trade and travel, and other human activities. These global changes have heightened awareness that the long-term good health of populations depends on the continued stability and functioning of the biosphere's ecological, physical, and socioeconomic systems.

Although the term biodiversity emerged from the pool of obscure jargon quite a few years ago, it is still enshrouded with significant ambiguity. At one extreme, some people use it as a loose synonym for nature. At the other extreme, some people reduce biodiversity to simplistic parameters, such as the number of species. Conservation organizations, both private and public, must navigate these waters with great care. They need to engage a pulic that loves nature as embodied in beautiful places and charming creatures - elk in a Yellowstone meadow or snow leopards on a Himalayan snowfield - while expounding the values of species and ecosystems that have "swamp," "rat," or "spider" in their titles. A the same time, to undertake their work in a systematic and rigorous manner, conservation organizations need to be able to quantify their goals and accomplishments. Some things are easy to measure, such as the areas of new reserves, but biodiversity writ large is not one of them.

The water resources of Samoa have encountered many disastrous and difficult situations as a direct result of climate change. Dry and drought periods result in water shortages while heavy rains bring flooding. Furthermore, sea level rise increases the possibilities of seawater intrusion into underground water aquifers. Extreme events such as cyclones and flash flooding have become prominent events, which have had major effects on the Samoa Water Authority’s service. All these events tend to disrupt the service and result in major problems of deteriorating water quality.

As we stand at the beginning of the new millennium, the threats to nature and protected areas are unprecedented. While some progress has been made and strategies such as protected areas have been successful in preserving biodiversity in some places, new threats are arising. None of these threats is as great as global climate change and none will have such large implications for the way natural resource managers plan and implement conservation strategies.

Coral reefs are one of the most spectacular and valuable ecosystems on the planet — and one of the most threatened. Climate change, coastal development and tourism, destructive fishing, and other human activities are endangering their very existence. At the current rate of destruction, more than one-third of the world’s coral reefs will be destroyed within our lifetime. This will mean devastating losses in biological diversity, shoreline protection, income, food, and scientific discoveries. However bad the outlook may seem, there is still hope for coral reefs. With increased education comes an increased appreciation and understanding of the immense value of coral reefs. This has led to exciting initiatives and conservation projects in countries throughout the world. Coral reef protected areas are being established worldwide and are considered one of the best tools for reef protection.