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.
6 March 2013: The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) has announced it is implementing a portfolio of Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) projects of over US$16 million, leveraged from various partners and donors. The announcement was made on the sidelines of a five-day training workshop for the SGP National Coordinators of the small island developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean.
The “Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) Regional Workshop for the Caribbean SIDS...
March 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has released a report titled “An economic analysis of ecosystem-based adaptation and engineering options for climate change adaptation in Lami Town, Fiji.” Building on a vulnerability and adaptation assessment of Lami Town, the report presents a cost-benefit analysis of four adaptation scenarios.
The report was produced as an inter-agency collaboration among the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), SPREP, Conservation...
March 2013: The March 2013 issue of the “Micronesia Challenge Newsletter,” published by the Micronesia Challenge Secretariat, features articles on: a meeting of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Micronesia Challenge Communications Working Group; and Guam’s adoption of a Micronesian Challenge logo.
According to the newsletter, the CNMI MC Communications Working Group held its inaugural meeting on 28 February 2013, to design the CNMI Micronesia Challenge...
