A major objective of this report was to develop a regional assessment of Pacific Island sensitivity to projected
climate change as a component of the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning
(PACCSAP) program. The PACCSAP Program is intended to help partner countries including Cook Islands, Fiji,
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu and their communities better understand and respond to climate associated impacts.
This paper addresses the question of whether the increased occurrence of central Pacific (CP) versus Eastern
Pacific (EP) El Niños is consistent with greenhouse gas forced changes in the background state of the tropical Pacific as inferred from global climate change models.
The analysis uses high‐quality satellite and in situ ocean data combined with wind data from atmospheric reanalyses for the past 31 years (1980–2010).
The objective of this regional meeting is to build the capacity of the 14 project target countries, with an aim to build an open data community amongst the users of the national data portals and inform outputs. This is intended to improve south-south collaboration, enhance the opportunity for sustainability and increase the feeling of ownership and belonging amongst the project countries.
This will be delivered by real world application of Inform developed processes and tools, focused on a common area to all countries; protected areas.
This list of indicators was developed through the Inform project at SPREP for use by Pacific Islands countries (PICs) to meet their national and international reporting obligations. The indicators are typically adopted by PICs for their State of Environment reports and are intended to be re-used for a range of MEA and SDG reporting targets. The indicators have been designed to be measurable and repeatable so that countries can track key aspect of environmental health over time.
Forum Leaders embrace Pacific regionalism as:
*The expression of a common sense of identity and purpose, leading progressively to the sharing of institutions, resources, and markets, with the purpose of complementing national efforts, overcoming common constraints, and enhancing sustainable and inclusive development within Pacific countries and territories and for the Pacific region as a whole*
Principal objectives are;
The Convention for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (1986) is also known as the SPREP Convention or Noumea Convention. The Convention has two Protocols that also entered into force in 1990. This Convention is the major multilateral umbrella agreement in the Pacific Region for the protection of natural resources and the environment.
This guide introduces environmental indicators and provides an overview of SPREP’S core indicators for Pacific island countries. In 2012, the SPREP members approved the development of a set of standardised indicators for use by member countries at the SPREP meeting. Through the Inform project, SPREP programmes then developed a set of 34 indicators that was endorsed by members at the 2018 SPREP meeting. This document explains the development and use of environmental indicators in Part 1 and provides a summary of each of the 34 ‘core’ indicators in Part 2.
The Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (1986), along with its two additional Protocols, entered into force in 1990. The Convention is a comprehensive umbrella agreement for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment of the South Pacific Region, and represents the legal framework of the Action Plan for managing the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific adopted in 1982 on behalf of the South Pacific Conference on Human Environment.
Refer to dataset description for information. Please use this version for double-sided printing.
Please refer to dataset description for further information.
This report on the State of the Climate in South-West Pacific 2020 is the first of its kind for this region and a milestone multi-agency effort to deliver informed climate analysis and climate change trends.
Circular cover letter that was sent out on 1st December 2021
Proposed Project Objective: Enhanced use of data for decision making in the environment sector throughout the Pacific region. Building on the tools and momentum the Inform project established, this scaled up project will expand the user base and fill significant gaps including in situ monitoring, increased partnerships between the environment ministries and other ministries, increase use of spatial tools, and the establishment of standardise environmental standards and key indicators for key resources.
In the South-West Pacific region, 2020 was the second or third warmest year on record, depending on the data set. Near-surface temperatures over the land and ocean averaged across the region were about 0.37–0.44 °C above the 1981–2010 average.
Circular 21/150
Inform Plus proposed 5 pillars
- Component 1: Environmental Governance
- Component 2: Monitoring and field data collection for environmental standards and standardised environmental indicators
- Component 3: Data management utilising the Pacific Island Network Portal (PEP). Production of information products for decision makers based on existing data sets.
- Component 4: Enhance and expand GIS use for data collection, analysis and presentation to inform decision makers
This dataset hosts 31 individual environmental indicator assessments that are in the **State of Environment and Conservation in the Pacific Islands : 2020 Regional report.**
Regional indicators are used to understand the current status of conservation in the region and to establish a process for periodic reviews of the status of biodiversity and implementation of environmental management measures in the Pacific islands region.
Each Pacific regional indicator is assessed with regard to:
Guidelines, brochures, Indicators and published work on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity which is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
DEFINITION : Trend in percentage production of energy from renewable sources
PURPOSE : Energy generation is a major source of GHG emissions. Pacific island countries also have limited capacity for oil and gas storage and are therefore highly vulnerable to fluctuations in fossil fuel price and availability
DESIRED OUTCOME : Positive trend in energy production from renewable sources
DEFINITION : Annual per capita generation of municipal solid waste
PURPOSE : Accurate measurement of per capita waste generation for better waste management
DESIRED OUTCOME : Stabilisation and subsequent negative trend in household waste generated
DEFINITION : Quantity of generated hazardous wastes processed/treated (including export)
PURPOSE : Treatment and safe storage of hazardous waste mitigates the risk to humans and nature. Hazardous materials can have direct and indirect, chronic or acute impacts
DESIRED OUTCOME : Full treatment/processing of all hazardous waste generated