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The target area for the ESRAM assessment is the land- and seascape comprising Nggela Islands, Russell Islands and Savo Island. This is largely due to the very high biodiversity values of their terrestrial and marine areas. The marine areas are also critically important for tourism activities, while the terrestrial lands are subject to intense land use pressures, land degradation and the impacts of climate change.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest geographic feature of planet Earth. The Pacific region is home to more than 38 million people1 who rely on it for economic, social and cultural wellbeing, and it is critically important to the global ecosystem. Coastal and marine tourism represents at least 50% of total global tourism.2 It is the largest economic sector for most small island developing states and coastal states, creating jobs and income for communities and foreign exchange earnings. Coastal and marine tourism is highly dependent on the quality of ecosystems to attract visitors.

This publication is a simplified summary version of the report ‘Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) for Central Province, Solomon Islands’. In 2024, several communities in Central Province took part in an assessment called Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping. These communities were Soka (25th Nov), Gumu (26th Nov), Toa (27th Nov), Vuranimala (28th Nov), Haleta (29th Nov), Panueli (3rd Dec), Marulaon (5th Dec) and Karumulun (5th Dec).

This report presents the findings of an expedition conducted under the Fiji MESCAL programme at the demonstration site: the Rewa River mangroves. The expedition team carried out surveys of the area’s biodiversity, cultural and archaeological heritage and its socioeconomic profile. 

Flora, vegetation and ecology 

The world’s more than 200 000 protected areas come in many forms, on land and at sea, and occur in every country (Bertzky et al. 2012). They are places that people establish to conserve natural and cultural heritage and to sustain their benefits for society. Among other values, protected areas allow people to connect with nature for their inspiration, education, wellbeing and recreation.

We are entering an era of unparalleled opportunity to address the global crisis facing nature.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the threat posed by biodiversity loss not just to ecosystem health, but also to the health of humans. This has generated new momentum to realise the benefits of protected and conserved areas to their full potential.

Conserving our sea of islands: State of protected and conserved areas in Oceania report is the first comprehensive regional assessment of protected and conserved areas. The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Programme (BIOPAMA) supported the preparation of this report with the following aims:
ƒ Document the status of protected and conserved areas in Oceania;
ƒ Review and outline progress made towards achieving national and international targets for protected and conserved areas, including for coverage, representativeness, connectivity and effectiveness;

Understanding the state and value of the world’s wetlands The Global Wetland Outlook 2025 presents a synthesis of scientific information on the value of the world’s wetlands, the costs to society due to wetland loss and degradation and the scale of investment needed to restore wetlands. It is based on the latest publications and data on the extent of inland, coastal and marine wetlands and global databases on the benefits that wetlands provide.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can increase the resilience of reef communities to disturbances, playing a role in sheltering biodiversity from climate-related impacts. To determine if the protection status allows for better resilience after coral bleaching events, we recorded soundscapes of eight reefs of Moorea Island (French Polynesia). We compared the biophony of MPAs to the one of adjacent non-protected zones recorded in 2015, before two bleaching events (2016 and 2019), to the one in 2021. Then, the biophony from 2021 was compared within and outside MPAs.

There is a widespread perception that illegal fishing is common in marine protected areas (MPAs) due to strong incentives for poaching and the high cost of monitoring and enforcement. Using artificial intelligence and satellite-based Earth observations, we provide estimates of industrial fishing activity in fully and highly protected MPAs worldwide, in which such fishing is banned. We find little to no activity in most cases.