Search the SPREP Catalogue

The overarching goal of the NCSA Project is to undertake an assessment of Samoa's capacity to address environmental issues affecting the wider public and local populations with particular emphasis on building effective national capacity to implement the three (3) Rio Conventions namely; the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which would, in the end, required a synergy of crosscutting issues and a subsequent action plan. It aims to develop a plan for the implementation of key activities identified as priority actions to address capacity needs and constraints identified by the three Conventions. The NCSA Process adopted by Samoa comprises five (5) main phases: Inception Phase, Stocktaking Phase, Thematic Assessment, Crosscutting Assessment and Action Plan development. The NCSA project has achieved the first two phases of which are the Inception and Stocktaking Phases. The current stage of the NCSA process is the Thematic Assessment Phase which necessitates the production of this Thematic Assessment Report to focus primarily on the assessment of Samoa's capacity to meet its global environmental objectives under the UNCCD in the context of land degradation as it affects Samoa.

The constraints to development faced by PICs are well known and have been discussed in numerous studies for several decades. These include small, highly dispersed land areas and populations; distances far from world markets; narrow resource bases and primary production options, and vulnerability to natural disasters such as tropical cyclones and droughts, the last two to being especially problematic for atoll countries. In the smallest, most resource-poor PICs, a sustainable future with an improved quality of life for a growing population will be difficult to achieve.

The guide is a tool to understanding Pacific communities' vulnerability to climate change, variability and sea level change; and to determining what action needs to be carried out in order to adapt to these changes. In the CV&A process, the focus of data collection is the community that constitutes elders, men, women, youths and children. Their experience in relation to climate variability, change over time, and extreme events become very important. The assessment focuses on current vulnerability to both climate and non-climate related factors, and on examining current adaptive capacity. It then includes evaluation of vulnerability to future climate related risks, involving key stakeholders in the evaluation process. This eventually leads to the formulation of adaptation policies that would strengthen adaptive capacity.

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD of Tuvalu, the fourth-smallest country in the world, so much the better, because its nine square miles of diy land may soon disappear from sight like a polished stone chopped in the deep sea. And if that happens, it might be unpleasant to consider that the basic amenities of our lifestyle-our cars and planes and power plants, our well-lighted, well-cooled and -heated homes-have brought about the obliteration of an ancient, peaceful civilization halfway around the world.