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.
11 November 2010: The Tarawa Climate Change Conference (TCCC), which met from 9-11 November 2010 in Tarawa, Kiribati, as a session of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, concluded with the release of the Ambo Declaration.
The Conference brought together selected representatives from the key negotiating groups within the UNFCCC process to attend a one-day high level conference on climate change. In the Ambo Declaration, ministers and government representatives participating in the Conference: express...
11 November 2010: The World Bank and the UN have released a joint report titled “Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention,” which analyzes disasters from an economics perspective.
The report stresses the need for prevention to reduce countries’ vulnerability to natural hazards in order to enable their sustainable and cost-effective development. It outlines a number of measures to prevent death and destruction from natural hazards such as...
November 2010: The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has published the fourth issue of its magazine, “Making It: Industry for Development,” with the theme “On track to prosperity?” The issue focuses on the challenge facing the world’s 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), particularly the importance of strengthening productive capacity, and it attempts to define the issues faced by these countries and to identify the solutions. The magazine includes articles on: helping LDCs,...
