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The District of Gagaifomauga II is located on the northern side of the island of Savaii west of the tourist precinct of Manase. The district is characterized by rocky coastal shores and estuaries as well as steep coastal cliffs susceptible to erosion and landslip. The inland area is steep and mountainous, covered by plantations and forest and a small number of village houses. The villages of Gagaifomauga II include, Paia, Samauga, Lefagaoali’i, Matavai Safune, Faletagaloa Safune and Fatuvalu. All villages except Paia and part of Lefagaoali’i are located on the coast. Paia is a small village approximately 1.5 km inland, while three quarters of Lefagaoali’i is located inland away from the coast. The coastal villages are all susceptible to coastal hazards.

PACC project reports

For Pacific SIDS, the need for adaptation to climate change has become increasingly urgent. Long-term climate changes, including the increasing frequency and severity of extreme events such as high rainfall, droughts, tropical cyclones, and storm surges are affecting the lives and livelihoods of people in PICs. Coupled with non-climate drivers, such as inappropriate land use, overexploitation of resources, increasing urbanization and population increase, development in the region is increasingly undermined. For the low lying atolls, the likely economic disruption from climate change pressures could be catastrophic, even to the extent of requiring population relocation to other islands or adding numbers to the Pacific diaspora, with the subsequent social and cultural disruption having unknown proportions. Failure to reduce vulnerability could also result in loss of opportunities to manage risks in the future when the impacts may be greater and time to consider options limited.

Pacific Island governments, along with other world leaders and civil society, have pledged their commitment to take action to change and promote sustainable development. Along with this commitment is the recognition that a sustainable future is dependent upon a considerable shift in attitudes, value, lifestyles and behaviour. Education and training are critical components of SPREP's mandate and vision for sustainable development in the Pacific. This is clearly identified in SPREP's Strategic Programmes and Action Plan endorsed by Pacific leaders in 2004.

Few studies1 have been published on school-based environmental education (EE) in the Pacific islands, and there is little available information on effective initiatives in schools. The key purpose of this study is to review and assess the extent to which EE is being carried out in Pacific Island schools to support ongoing dialogue about environment and sustainable development education at the national, regional and international levels.

The presentation of programmes and budget details starts with a brief introduction to the relevant programme describing its content and focus and stating its goal. A list of staff and positions (filled, vacant and unfunded) falling under each programme is provided to give members an idea of the human resources available to that particular programme and needed for programme delivery to complement the financial resources provided. The programme details are then displayed under each of its component parts that are linked directly to the Strategic Programmes. These include the component Objective. Outputs, Activities planned for 2008 that would contribute to delivering the Outputs, the Verifiable Indicators for the Activities and in the last column, the budget figures. For added transparency, this is broken down into Personnel. Operating and Capital Costs with the likely sources of funding identified. In instances where programme funding is unsecured, its inclusion in the budget estimates, is based on the firm understanding that a programme proposal has already been negotiated with a donor(s) and a positive response received so that there is at least a 50/50 chance of having the funds available for use in 2008. For the total 2008 Work Programme and Budget, 95% of the funding is secured and 5% unsecured.

Planning for the conservation of biodiversity at the national level emerged as a key issue at the Rio Summit in 1992. It was further addressed in the formulation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), article 6 of which states: “Each Contracting Party shall, in accordance with its particular conditions and capabilities: (a) Develop national strategies, plans or programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity or adapt for this purpose existing strategies, plans or programmes which shall reflect, inter alia, the measures set out in this Convention relevant to the Contracting Party concerned; and (b) Integrate, as far as possible and as appropriate, the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies.” This Article is mandatory and creates an obligation for signatory nations to develop National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans (NBSAPs).

This review examines the current status of NBSAP development across fourteen South Pacific member nations, and assesses the scales of actionable planning and M&E protocols existing within these plans. The results of the review show that the status of NBSAP development and implementation in the selected Pacific member countries is varied; from some countries still awaiting funding to begin their NBSAP development process, to others that are busy undertaking implementation activities

The Secretariat’s proposed work programme and budget (WP&B) for 2008 was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Financial Regulations and expressed in USD. Consistent with the Financial Regulations, the proposed 2008 consolidated work programme and budget is a balanced one and totals $7,736,577 $545,968 or 7.6% higher than the 2007 work programme and budget.