Search the SPREP Catalogue

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.

The Government of Kiribati, represented by Hon. Nabuti Mwenikarawa, Minister of Finance & Economic Planning and Ms Teea Tira, Secretary of Finance & Economic Planning and National Authorising Officer, and the European Commission, represented by Mr Roberto Ridolfi, Head of the Commission Delegation for the Pacific, hereinafter referred to as the Parties, held discussions from March 2006 until August 2007 with a view to determining the general orientations for cooperation for the period 2008-2013.

The magnitude 8.3Mw earthquake struck 175 kilometres south of the Samoan Islands on 29 September 2009 at 6:48am local time.   A few minutes later, a series of earthquake triggered tsunami waves hit American Samoa, Western Samoa and the small northern island of Niuatoputapu in Tonga.  The tsunami waves, some of which are said to have been as high as 6m, caused fatalities, casualties and devastated entire communities in the Pacific Island countries.

Mongabay rainforest profiles: American Samoa, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu