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.
29 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) held a workshop at the Kiribati Institute of Technology to train government officers to use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a framework to improve decision making and project quality, in particular for projects affected by climate change.
The workshop focused on two analysis, namely alternative energy options on Kiribati Island, and fish aggregating device deployment. Kurinati Robuti, Kiribati National Economic Planning Office (NEPO...
29 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) has reported that the Government of the Dominican Republic has designated the Parque Nacional Manglares del Bajo Yuna as its third Wetland of International Importance.
According to the Ramsar Secretariat, the site is a large subtropical coastal wetland located in the Samaná Bay, with a predominance of mangroves. It supports various species at...
22 January 2013: The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) has published a “Handbook on Capitalisation of Experiences 2012.” The Handbook focuses on climate change adaptation experiences and aims to build the capacity of climate change adaptation programmes and project teams.
The Handbook argues that good communication strategies and knowledge management are critical to achieve high impacts from capitalisation initiatives. The Handbook recommends capitalisation of...
