Samoa has a Marine Resources Use Policy, and is working towards the delineation of its EEZ with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the SOPAC.
Traditionally Samoans rely on marine resources for their well-being and daily required sustenance. Over 70% of villages are located on the coastal fringe of the islands, and subsistence fishing is a major activity of the inhabitants of such villages. Fisheries also play an extremely important role in the economy of Samoa as well as contributing significantly to the health and nutrition of the people. Fisheries are the major income-earner for the country. Offshore fisheries, in particular the tuna sector, have been recently developed and now are the most valuable among fisheries contributing significantly to Samoa’s economy. However, pressures arising as a result of overfishing, inshore environment degradation, ongoing coastal developments, pollution, and natural disasters have adversely affected the coastal resources and marine environment.
April 2013: The Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC) of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has issued a report. titled “Climate Change and Pacific Island Countries,” on climate impacts and proposed responses.
The report is issued as part of a series of Asia-Pacific Human Development Report technical background papers. It indicates that within the last century, temperatures have risen by 0.6%, and sea levels have risen by 17 cm in the Pacific region, resulting in widespread coastal flooding and...
10 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has released the April 2013 edition of its Climate Change Matters newsletter, which features articles on: the Pacific Energy Summit; tide and sea level forecasting in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM); World Water Day Celebrations; the importance of addressing loss and damage; and Fiji’s climate change awareness raising efforts.
The newsletter reports that the island of Kosrae in FSM has recently...
8 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced Daniel Namosuaia, of the Solomon Star newspaper, as the 2012 winner of the Vision Pasifika Award, on the theme “Clean Pacific,” in the framework of the Pacific campaign addressing waste management issues in the region.
Namosuaia won the Award for his story “Wastes of our City,” which highlights issues and solutions with waste management practices in Honiara. A special...
