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.
27 September 2010: Heads of Agriculture and Forestry Services (HOAFS) convened in Nadi, Fiji, from 14-17 September 2010, for the Fourth HOAFS Meeting. The meeting focused on the value of agrobiodiversity through good land-use planning to address food security, climate change and trade challenges.
Key issues discussed at the meeting included the need for: land-use planning that ensures the right crops, trees and livestock breeds are planted in the right places; efficient distribution of planting...
27 September 2010: The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has announced it will fund the “Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region” programme. GTZ allocated an additional EUR 10 million to the existing South Pacific Community (SPC)/GTZ Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pacific Islands Region programme, which brings the total financing to EUR 14.2 million and supports the programme until 2015.
According to SPC, the additional funds will allow extension of...
October 2010: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced that four of its member States have recently signed agreements concluded under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
SPREP announced that Palau and Vanuatu have become the final two Pacific dugong range States to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Dugongs and their Habitats throughout their Range (Dugong MOU). SPREP thus confirms that all SPREP members...
