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To assess the effectiveness of the 20 Groynes installed on 2014 at Makaunga and Talafo'ou beaches and suggest the appropriate actions to implement as a way forward

Tonga is a small island economy with the challenges of geographic isolation, limited human and financial resources a small domestic market, and high costs of doing business. The country relies significantly on official development assistance and remittances increasing its vulnerability to external shocks.

The Kingdom of Tonga (Tonga) is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change due to its geographic location, status as a SIDS, and the importance of natural resources to its main economic sectors of fisheries, agriculture and tourism. The World Risk Report 2017 has ranked Tonga as the second most at-risk country in the world for natural hazards, including cyclones and flooding, as well as sea level rise. Although Tonga makes a negligible contribution to global GHG emissions, there is no doubt that climate change is already affecting Tonga’s development and the livelihood of its people and future

This NDC review process was designed to provide a formal framework within which governments would increase the ambition of their actions against climate change and reduce its GHG emission over time, with the intention that each successive NDC would represent a progression beyond a country’s current NDC and ultimately allow to meet the aims of the Paris Agreement goal .

Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga, is a well-established whale-watching destination in the South Pacific. Between July and October, the waters around the archipelago represent one of the most important breeding grounds for Oceania humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). The Tongan government allows tourist swimming activities with whales and tour operators strongly promote the practice of swimming-with-whales, focusing primarily on mother-calf pairs. However, there is increasing evidence, derived from empirical research on swim-withcetacean tourism, that this kind of interaction affects cetacean behaviour and can lead to negative effects on the cetaceans involved. This study represents the first assessment of humpback whales’ behavioural responses to vessel and swimmer approaches in Vava’u. Fifty-six surveys took place during the 2016 and 2017 whale breeding seasons aboard dedicated research and tour vessels. Whale dive time, number of reorientation events, and respiration rates were documented in both the absence and presence of boats and swimmers. Vessel approach type, swimmer placement, and whale avoidance responses were also recorded

This document reports the monitoring of the Social and Environmental Safeguards of the Climate Resilience Sector Project (CRSP) for the period of January 2019 to June 2019. Outstanding Issues from the previous report are given in Table 1. During this reporting period, ESU has monitored the CRSP project activities, identifying challenges and measures to address these challenges as well as proposed activities for the next period of activities.

Tonga is an archipelago of islands, located in the Polynesia region of the South Pacific. Tonga comprises of 36 inhabited islands (171 islands in total) over five administrative divisions, covering a land area of 749km2. Its exclusive economic zone covers an oceanic area of approximately 700,000km2. The capital of Tonga is Nuku’alofa (on the island of Tongatapu), home to 23% of the 100,651 population.

As a result of a substantial reform program undertaken in the mid 2000s, Tonga has dedicated legislation for waste management. The legislation provides a central point of administration for waste management matters in Tonga under the auspices of the Tonga waste Authority Ltd (WAL)

This summary report examines major drivers of change to the environment that emerge from the global, regional and national factors. It evaluates the main environmental pressures created by these drivers and examines their environmental impact.

Tonga is home to many threatened species including corals, marine turtle, whales, dolphins sharks and more. The survival of these species is further threatened by the global trade in plants, animals and products that may be made from them.