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There is now a strong consensus that climate change presents an urgent challenge to the well-being of all countries, particularly the poorest countries and the poorest people in them. Even if efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are successful, it is no longer possible to avoid some degree of global warming and climate change. The primary direct effects of climate change are an increase in droughts and floods, more seasonal peaks in river flow, and a higher probability of stronger tropical storms. The poorest countries and communities are likely to suffer the most because of their geographical location, tow incomes, and low institutional capacity, as well as their greater reliance on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture.

This Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008 report from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network summarises what has happened to the world's coral reefs since 2004 and uses expert opinion of coral reef scientists and managers from 96 countries and states to make predictions on what could happen to coral reefs in the future. This combined expertise also seeks to provide advice to the world's decision makers on what should be done to allow us to bequeath healthy coral reefs to future generations. The release of this report coincides with the end of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR 2008), which has focussed considerable global attention on coral reefs.

On September 2, 2004 Hurricane Frances (Category 3) passed directly over San Salvador Island, The Bahamas. This event offered the opportunity to gather baseline data regarding the impact of hurricanes on populations of the invasive Australian pine (Casuarina equisettifolia L.) in the Bahamas. Results of vegetation surveys within both forest stands and beach environments suggest that the overall impact of this hurricane was minimal. Less than 13% of forest individuals and 17% of beach individuals surveyed were damaged, and the majority of damage was restricted to just one location for both the forest and beach study sites. The most common damage type within the forest sites was “snapped” trees (8%) and this primarily occurred within trees ranging in size from 7–12 cm in diameter. Browning of the entire foliage was the most common damage type within the beach sites (9.3%) but this damage type only occurred within tree sizes less than or equal to 90 cm in height. Thus it appears that Hurricane Frances had a negligible effect on Australian pine populations as a whole on San Salvador Island and that this disturbance event will probably not limit future population expansion. It is suggested that more powerful or more frequent hurricanes would be needed to significantly affect Australian pine populations on San Salvador Island. Similar patterns in damage should be expected with comparable hurricane events on other islands in the Bahamas and for other tropical beaches in which this species has invaded.

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) Program Master Plan is meant to be a simple and easy to follow step-by-step roadmap to assist the American Samoa Government (ASG), Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources' MPA Program in meeting the goal to ensure protection of unique, various and diverse coral reef habitat and spawning stocks. This will also assist efforts to meet the Governor's mandate of protecting 20% of American Samoa's coral reefs by declaring no-take MPAs. The MPA Program Master Plan will provide new Program Leaders with a description of the activities that the MPA Program staff has been involved with, along with a vision of what is to come, and a foundation upon which to move forward. This structured guide will allow MPA Program Leaders to track their progress towards creating no-take MPAs. It is hoped that this plan will help to minimize the loss of institutional memory due to high staff turnover. The Master Plan will help the local staff to understand what activities the MPA Program plans to conduct. By having a plan, the MPA Program can be more transparent with the public by announcing opportunities for the public to be involved in implementing no-take MPAs. This long-term plan will help to guide the writing of future grant proposals and can assist the coordination of activities with other natural resource agencies and entities. This Master Plan is written with the assumption that the MPA Program staff and budget will remain at about the same level throughout implementation (1 program leader and 2- 3 staff, plus volunteers). If opportunities arise to increase staff and funding, the timeline may change for activities. Also, additional activities may be undertaken.

In failing to tackle climate change with urgency, rich countries are effectively violating the human rights of millions of the world's poorest people. Continued excessive greenhouse-gas emissions primarily from industrialised nations are - with scientific certainty - creating floods, droughts, hurricanes, sea- level rise, and seasonal unpredictability. The result is failed harvests, disappearing islands, destroyed homes, water scarcity, and deepening health crises, which are undermining millions of peoples' rights to life, security, food, water, health, shelter, and culture. Such rights violations could never truly be remedied in courts of law. Human-rights principles must be put at the heart of international climate-change policy making now, in order to stop this irreversible damage to humanity's future.

Our vision for the region is a secure and prosperous Pacific Community, whose people are educated and healthy and manage their resources in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable way. Our vision for the organisation is a highly professional, bilingual and dynamic Secretariat that is closely attuned to the needs, aspirations and priorities of its members and works in partnership with other national, regional and international organisations and its development partners to serve its island members.