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The International Waters Project in Vanuatu began in mid-2002 and will be ending in mid-2006. The National Task Force (NTF) for the project selected Crab Bay in Central Malekula as the project site. The decision was made primarily to support the existing community initiated marine taboo (no take and no entry zone), which was established in 2002 to arrest the fast declining stock of land crab (Cardisoma carnifex) in the area.

The baseline assessment provides a current status report on the coastal marine resources of Niue. It offers recommendations for the management options available to address the concerns of local villagers with respect to deterioration of coastal resources. The lessons learned from the pilot project are expected to have national importance and should provide a guide to the best approach to sustainable fisheries management for all of Niue.

The purpose of the IWP in Yap is to "promote sustainable coastal fisheries via a system of marine protected areas established and maintained through a collaboration of traditional resource owners, government and non-government organizations, and other stakeholders in one management framework" (Anon 2002). The use of MP As is being advocated around the world, particularly the developing world, in part because MP As are relatively uncomplicated to implement compared to technically demanding yield-based management measures such as quotas. This makes MP As veiy suitable for developing countries, especially those with highly diverse multi-species fisheries and relatively weak administrations. The reason for choosing to establish MPAs in Yap is that inshore fisheries and their supporting environments are experiencing increasing pressure from both fishing and (localized) pollution as the population of Yap increases (Goldman 1994a, Anon 2002). Some species (e.g. Tridacna gigas) are apparently overfished, while the case for others rests on anecdotal evidence (Goldman 1994b).

One of the most critical factors influencing the success of the IWP pilot projects has been the choice of sites. Communities that choose to be involved in the project were committed to the process from the outset. In contrast, in communities that did not initiate their own involvement — some did not ask for "expressions of interest", and in some instances the decision about the location of pilot initiatives was politically motivated — it took considerable time for the National Coordinators to convince the community that being involved in the IWP initiative was worthwhile. Two key lessons can be drawn from the initial engagement with pilot communities: pilot sites should be chosen carefully and efforts should be made to not give communities false expectations.

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.

Before making a commitment to a given area, programs such as IWP must collect information on local institutions, community history, social and political structures, livelihood strategies and opportunities for. and constraints to achieving program activities. This information provides insights that can help in dealing with specific local issues and in identifying key issues, as well as factors for improved management of marine resources.

Most legislation governing natural resources in Fiji is very old and outdated, and very little attention is given to environmental issues in these statutes. The absence of a legislative environmental policy results in an absence of statutes with an express or implied environmental mandate, while laws governing resource development fail to recognise the environmental basis of natural resources. As a result, legislation provides little in the way of capacity to protect the environment from the impacts of development activities. There is certainly no mandate or legislative capacity to pursue the goal of sustainable development.

International Waters is one of four focal areas of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which was created in 1994 to fund programmes aimed at achieving global environment benefits in four focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters and ozone layer depletion. International Waters include oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed seas and estuaries as well as rivers, lakes, groundwater systems, and wetlands with trans-boundary drainage basins or common borders involving two or more countries. The ecosystems and habitats associated with these waters are essential parts of the system.

Tins report discusses the major environmental threats associated with the main development sectors in the country and identifies ten principal environmental issues that encompass this range of threats. The report examines the causes of these issues, and assesses the effectiveness of the efforts (termed "responses") that have been made so far to address these. Some underlying ("root") causes that are common to many of these issues are identified and serve to explain, at least in part, why the responses to date have been less than entirely effective. The report then goes on to examine a number of strategies and measures that could be adopted in the future to address these ten principal environmental issues in a more effective manner by addressing these "root" causes.

The framework for management of the ocean and coasts of the Pacific Islands region has been evolving since the early 1970s when Pacific Island countries played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Commencing with a summary of the provisions of relevant international instruments, this paper presents a broad overview of regional arrangements for ocean and coastal management in the Pacific Islands region. It considers the work of the various regional intergovernmental organizations with active programmes in ocean research and governance and the consultative arrangements that support coordination and collaboration. Consultative arrangements involving other stakeholders, such as local, regional and international nongovernmental organizations are summarised. To improve environmental governance and address increasing environmental threats, particularly in relation to coastal area management, consultative arrangements need strengthening. This applies equally to national and regional level consultation. The institutional and policy framework for the management and conservation of oceanic fish stocks that Pacific Island countries have been refining over a period of 25 years is suggested as providing useful lessons for strengthening coastal management processes and strategies in the region.