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The role that natural ecosystems, especially marine ecosystems, play in human well being is often overlooked or taken for granted. The benefits humans receive from ecosystems called ecosystem services, are often hidden because markets do not directly reveal their value - nature provides these benefits for free.

The role that natural ecosystems, especially marine ecosystems play in human well-being is often overlooked or taken for granted. The benefits human receive from ecosystems, called ecosystem services are often hidden because markets do not directly reveal their value - nature provides these benefits for free.

The role that natural ecosystems, especially marine ecosystems, play in human well being is often overlooked or taken for granted. The benefits human receive from ecosystems , called ecosystem services, are often hidden because markets do not directly reveal their true value - nature provides these benefits for free.

This report describes, quantifies and, where possible, calculates the economic value of Tonga's marine and coastal resources. Seven key marine ecosystem services are evaluated in detail: subsistence and commercial fishing; minerals and aggregate mining; tourism; coastal protection; carbon sequestration; and research, management and education. Others services are explored as well, including cultural and traditional values associated with the sea, potential future industries and other human benefits that have not yet been analysed or exploited. The scarcity of data about many of these ecosystem services prevents alculation of the total economic value, so the values below should be regarded as minimum estimates. Data gaps are described in detail in this report.

Interest has been growing over the last 10-15 years in exploitation of mineral resources in the deep sea. These are extensive or highly concentrated deposits typically found offshore at depths over 200m.

Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas (GLPCA) Global Standard – for review

Ecosystems across the globe are divided by political boundaries. So they are exposed to many different policy, legal and institutional structures, management and governance regimes; they are affected by various social, cultural and economic contexts and systems; and they are sometimes impacted by complex relations between countries. Transboundary1 conservation has emerged as a practical way to overcome these differences and encourage cooperative working across international boundaries so as to achieve shared conservation goals. The frst examples of transboundary conservation practice date from the early 1930s, but its rapid expansion has only been evident since the 1980s, in parallel with the growth of designated protected areas at the national level. Today, there are more than 200 examples of transboundary cooperation, ranging from informal agreements to government-togovernment treaties.

Primer on the IUCN GLPCA Standard for Review - September 2015

In Solomon Islands, the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project focused on food security, with a goal ‘to contribute to reduced vulnerability and increased adaptive capacity to adverse effects of climate change in Solomon Islands’. The pilot sites for the demonstration projects were the low lying atolls of Ontong Java and, in a second phase, Sikaiana. These atolls are extremely isolated and are highly vulnerable in many respects. Climaterelated threats mainly come from sea level rise and extreme weather events, and impacts on food security include contamination of the freshwater lens affecting crop production. Associated soil salinisation, as well as loss of land through erosion, also have serious implications for subsistence food production in locations that are already stressed.