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.
25 January 2013: The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Tuiloma Neroni Slade, has released the Pacific Plan 2012 Annual Progress Report and its associated Reporting Annex. The documents highlight challenges faced by the region, and outline progress made towards greater regional integration and cooperation in various areas, including climate change, fisheries, gender equality and disability-inclusive development.
The Progress Report, based on progress reports...
January 2013: The UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) have developed the Water Learning Centre (WLC), an e-Learning programme to enhance national capacities to develop and implement sustainable natural resource management strategies at local, regional, sub-regional and basin scales.
The programme aims to build the capacity of developing country water sector personnel on topics such as climate change...
18 January 2013: The UN Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the Cooperation Council for the Arab Gulf States (GCC) co-hosted a regional workshop on disaster risk reduction (DRR), which heard calls for stronger commitments in the Gulf region towards the development of a DRR strategy.
At the workshop, titled “Reducing and managing disaster risk and implementing the Hyogo For Action (HFA),” which took place from 13-16 January 2013, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, GCC Secretary-General ...
