110 results

The purpose of the PLA (Participatory Learning and Action) was mainly to exchange information at the community level and discuss issues and potential low cost solutions to address root causes of waste issues.

The transportation and disposal of hazardous and radioactive wastes can be a project critical activity and needs to be planned well. Consideration should be given to removing radioactive material from a project site as soon as it is ready to be moved instead of combining it’s transportation with other hazardous wastes.

To introduce this collection of studies, a logical first question to ask is why produce a “lessons learned” publication?

Avariety of factors can affect the biodiversity of tropicalmammal communities,
but their relative importance and directionality remain uncertain. Previous
global investigations of mammal functional diversity have relied on range
maps instead of observational data to determine community composition. We
test the effects of species pools, habitat heterogeneity, primary productivity
and human disturbance on the functional diversity (dispersion and richness)
of mammal communities using the largest standardized tropical forest camera

With increasing globalization of markets, rising environmental awareness, and attention from international conventions and agreements, the vast majority of countries are looking into managing their forests more sustainably. The main limitation appears to be lack of funding for improving forest management. Traditional sources include the government, targeted investments from the private sector, international donor support, and contributions in kind from rural communities. But these are grossly inadequate, and additional finances are required.

Promote and encourage the use of standard wetland inventory methodologies following the Ramsar Framework for Wetland Inventory (Resolution VIII.6), to undertake, update and disseminate national (or, where appropriate, provincial) scientific inventories of wetlands.

In this report, a set of recommendations is provided for each indicator to support the next best steps for management action that will advance progress towards the target outcome and support Pacific people and biodiversity.

DEFINITION - % of national budget allocated to Environment Ministry or equivalent
PURPOSE - Determine trends in prioritisation of environmental funding within government
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend; sufficient and sustainable financing to implement environmental programmes

DEFINITION - % of MEA reporting requirements met on time
PURPOSE - Determine if MEAs are being reported on
DESIRED OUTCOME - 100% of MEA reporting requirements met on time or positive trend. PICTs successfully meet reporting obligations under MEAs in a timely manner, ideally using the State of Environment Reporting as the basis for responding to these reporting requirements

DEFINITION - Level of extractive terrestrial wildlife use by humans
PURPOSE- Increase the safety to species, ecosystems, and people from the sustainable use of terrestrial wildlife
DESIRED OUTCOME - Monitored and sustainable use of wildlife with stable populations; zero use of protected species

DEFINITION - Percentage native forest cover of total land area
PURPOSE- Indicates the suite of environmental values associated with forests (e.g. biodiversity, carbon sequestration, subsistence hunting)
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in tree cover, or reduced rate of tree cover loss

DEFINITION - E. coli levels in water samples

PURPOSE - E. coli are indicators of faecal contamination in freshwater bodies and are associated with a range of possible human diseases. High levels of E. coli can be associated with cloudy water and decreased dissolved oxygen

DESIRED OUTCOME - E. coli threshold at or below globally accepted standards for drinking and bathing water, which is none detectable per 100 mL for both E. coli and total coliforms for drinking water; standards vary for bathing and swimming water

DEFINITION - % of total arable land that is under cultivation
PURPOSE - Tracks the area of arable land that is developed for agriculture
DESIRE OUTCOME - Stable trend in area under cultivation. A decreasing area under cultivation might affect food security and an increasing trend under area under cultivation implies some conversion of natural vegetation to agriculture

DEFINITION - % cover of wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass

PURPOSE - Wetlands, mangroves and seagrass provide ecosystem services not provided by other ecosystems (such as nurseries for economically important fish species, natural flood mitigation and water filter systems). They also support plants and animals not found in other ecosystems.

DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in area of wetlands and mangroves

DEFINITION - % of live coral cover in coastal and marine environments
PURPOSE - Indicator of overall health of reef ecosystems. These ecosystems provide important services for humans
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in live coral cover