Note - As of November 2022, the PAWG has been rebranded to the Pacific Area-based Conservation Network (PACoN), with a new terms of reference and membership. More information to come - WATCH THIS SPACE...
Marine spatial planning (MSP) has the potential to balance demands for ocean space with environmental protection and is increasingly considered crucial for achieving global ocean goals.
The Phoenix Islands lie in the heart of the Pacific Ocean and are one of the most remote island chains on Earth. They are located approximately halfway between Fiji and Hawaii. The largest atoll, Kanton, is 1,750 km (1,087 miles) from the Kiribati capital Tarawa.
In 2015, 2016, the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), through its Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) and with the support of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organised an evaluation of its protected areas, as part of the process to improve management eff
This report updates the 1992 State of Environment report with the latest findings from the Marshall Islands. Environmental reporting is defined as a requirement for RMI in the ‘Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination (OEPPC) Act 2003’.
The great majority of marine protected areas (MPAs) fail to meet their management objectives. So MPAs can be effective conservation tools, we recommend two paradigm shifts, the first related to how they are located and the second related to how they are managed.
Governments around the world are increasingly committed to reaching terrestrial and marine conservation goals. But achieving such commitments is challenging, and conservation targets that are reached on paper, e.g., in terms of square kilometers protected, can be misleading.
The Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) is a coalition of nature conservation and development organizations, governments, inter-government, donor agencies and community groups created to increase effective conservation action in the Pacific Island Region. It w
This report presents the results and recommendations of a Biological Rapid Assessment Programme (BIORAP) carried out in the marine and terrestrial environments of the Vava’u Archipelago, Tonga, from 13 to 28 February 2014.
The exclusive economic zone of Tonga, nearly 700,000 km2 of ocean, is 1000 times larger than the country’s land area. Coastal and marine resources provide the Government of Tonga, businesses and households many real and measurable benefits.
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted 20 targets, known as the Aichi Targets, to benchmark progress towards protecting biodiversity.
Context. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is lost due to the increase of urbanisation, and the lack of transfer of this knowledge to younger generations. Aims.
The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss have brought into stark relief the need for greater collaboration and action at the international level to conserve, manage, and restore coral reefs.
The Turtle Research and monitoring Database System (TREDS) was developed in 1993, to allow members of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to store, collate, and organise their data for research, monitoring and reporting.
The 2018 UN List provides up-to-date information on marine and terrestrial protected areas globally, and identifies those protected areas that have been the subject of management effectiveness evaluations.
People live in nature. However, substantial evidence confirms that, under the pressure of anthropogenic alteration, nature is being fragmented, imperiled and becoming less able to provide essential services.
Rigorous analysis of opportunities to expand nature conservation can help determine where natural capital could have the biggest impact on climate, jobs, and health.
Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) is the first stage of PEBACC. This report presents the results of the ESRAM undertaken by Griffith University for the Republic of Vanuatu (hereafter Vanuatu) and Tanna Island (heareafter Tanna).
While the ocean covers more than two thirds of the Earth’s surface, the oceanic territory of Vanuatu is 57 times larger than its land territory. With an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 680,000 km2, Vanuatu is a large ocean state.
Vanuatu signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) joining other 190 CBD parties to protect our global biodiversity. Vanuatu’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was developed and endorsed in November 1999.
Island and coastal nations need to protect their waters to keep the oceans healthy. But they often have lots of debt and aren't able to prioritize ocean conservation over other needs.
Experiences from the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development regarding their medium grant under the EU-ACP BIOPAMA Action Component focusing on management interventions for the Kiritimati Island Conservation Protected Area.
The aim of the National Protected Areas Forum was to fulfill mandates and strengthen policies to protect the country’s abundant natural assets into the future to benefit all life and future generations.
This guidance document aims to build awareness, knowledge, and capacity internationally on how to best undertake economic evaluations of tourism in protected areas, and thereby contribute towards a globally acknowledged standard methodology.
This Management Plan was prepared by the representatives of the Vuri Clan of Sikipozo Tribe in partnership with the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF), Ecological Solutions Solomon Islands (ESSI), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SI), the Ministry of Forestry and Research (National He
More than 15% of global terrestrial area is under some form of protection and there is a growing impetus to increase this coverage to 30% by 2030. But not all protection is effective and the reasons some countries’ protected areas (PAs) are more effective than others’ are poorly understood.
Community-based conservation can support livelihoods and biodiversity, while reinforcing local and Indigenous values, cultures, and institutions. Its delivery can help address cross-cutting global challenges, such as climate change, conservation, poverty, and food security.
Human rights matter for marine conservation because people and nature are inextricably linked. A thriving planet cannot be one that contains widespread human suffering or stifles human potential; and a thriving humanity cannot exist on a dying planet.
We describe below the data and provide an overview of the specific variables that are constructed for the analysis in the papers: “Revisiting Global Biodiversity: A Spatial Analysis of Species Occurrence Data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility” by Susmita Dasgupta, Brian
The third edition of the Newsletter of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Oceania (2018). IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise.
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database of marine and terrestrial protected areas, updated on a monthly basis, and is one of the key global biodiversity data sets being widely used by scientists, businesses, governments, International secretariats an