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Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs): Special places in the world's oceans. Volume 1: Western South Pacific Region

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

2014
The ocean encompasses 71 per cent of the planet's surface and a large portion of its habitable space. Whereas life on land is almost exclusively contained within a thin strip of breathable atmosphere overhead, in the ocean it is found from the waves that wash against the shore to the deepest canyons that plunge thousands of metres beneath the sea floor.
Global Biodiversity Outlook 4
Available Online

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

2011
A mid-term assessment of progress towards the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
Reversal of breeding season by lowland birds at higher altitudes in western Cameroon

Tye, Hilary

Evidence of breeding during the dry season is given for 31 species of lowland birds in montane and semi-montane areas in western Cameroon. At least 17 of these species are shown to breed in the wet season at lower altitudes in West Africa. This reversal of breeding season may be due to the unusually heavy rainfall and high humidities which cause temperatures to decrease more rapidly with altitude than on mountains with drier climates. Low temperatures and heavy rainfall during the wet season prevent almost all montane species from breeding then, and affect similarly the lowland birds whose ranges overlap with those of montane birds. Breeding season of some lowland species in Cameroon have previously been considered prolonged, but separation of breeding records by altitude reveals clear seasonality.
Warming Seas in the Coral Triangle: Coral Reef Vulnerability and Management Implications

Bruno, John F.

,

Casey, Kenneth S.

,

McLeod, Elizabeth

,

Menviel, Laurie

,

Moffitt, Russell

,

Palmer, Michael J.

,

Salm, Rodney

,

Selig, Elizabeth R.

,

Timmermann, Axel

2010
The highest diversity coral reefs in the world, located in the Coral Triangle, are threatened by a variety of local stresses including pollution, overfishing, and destructive fishing in addition to climate change impacts, such as increasing sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and ocean acidification. As climate change impacts increase, coral reef vulnerability at the ecoregional scale will have an increasingly important influence on conservation management decisions. This project provides the first detailed assessment of past and future climatic stress, thermal variability, and anthropogenic impacts in the Coral Triangle at the ecoregional level, thus incorporating both local (eg. pollution, development, and overfishing) and global threats (increasing SSTs). The development of marine protected area (MPA) networks across the Coral Triangle is critical for the region to address these threats. Specific management recommendations are defined for MPA networks based on the levels of vulnerability to the therma stress may be priorities for establishment of MPA networks, wheras high vulnerability regions may require selection and design principles aimed at building resilience to climate change. The identification of climate and other human threats to coral reef systems and ecoregions can help conservation practitioners prioritize management responses to address these threats and identify gaps in MPA networks or other management mechanisms (eg. integrated coastal management).
Management of freshwater lenses on small Pacific islands

Falkland, Tony

,

White, Ian

2009
The nature of shallow aquifers and the impacts of seawater intrusion in small islands within the Pacific Ocean are reviewed. Many Pacific islands rely on shallow fresh groundwater lenses in highly permeable aquifers, underlain and surrounded by seawater, as their principal freshwater source. It is argued that, in small islands, the nature of fresh groundwater lenses and their host aquifiers coupled with frequent natural and ever-present anthropogenic threats make them some of the most vulnerable aquifier systems in the world. A simple steady-state approximation is used to provide insight into the key climatic, hydrogeological, physiographic, and management factors that influence the quantity of, and saline intrusion into freshwater lenses. Examples of the dynamic nature of freshwater lenses as they respond to these drivers are given. Natural and human-related threats to freshwater lenses are discussed. Long dry periods strongly coupled to sea surface temperatures impact on the quantity and salinity of fresh groundwater. The vulnerability of small island freshwater lenses dictates careful assessment, vigilant monitoring, appropriate development, and astute management. Strategies to aid future groundwater sustainability in small islands are presented and suggested improvements to donor and aid programs in water are also advanced.
Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management

Evely, Anna C.

,

Fazey, Ioan

,

Raymond, Christopher M.

,

Reed, Mark S.

,

Robinson, Guy M.

,

Stringer, Lindsay C.

2010
This paper evaluates the processes and mechanisms available for integrating different types of knowledge integration, we present a series of questions for identifying, engaging, evaluating and applying different knowledges during project design and delivery. These questions are used as a basis to compare three environmental management projects that aimed to integrate knowledge from different sources in the United Kingdom, Solomon Islands and Australia. Comparative results indicate that integrating different types of knowledge is inherently complex - classification of knowledge is arbitrary and knowledge integration perspectives are qualitatively very different. We argue that there is no single optimum approach for integrating local and scientific knowledge and encourage a shift in science from the development of knowledge integration products to the development of problem-focussed, knowledge integration processes. These processes need to be systematic, reflexive and cyclic so that multiple views and multiple methods are considered in relation to an environmental management problem. The results have implications for the way in which researchers and environmental managers undertake and evaluate knowledge integration projects.
Adaptation of Human Coping Strategies in a Small Island Society in the SW Pacific - 50 Years of Change in the Coupled Human-Environment System on Bellona, Solomon Islands

Birch-Thomsen, Torben

,

Christiansen, Sofus

,

Fog, Bjarne

,

Mertz, Ole

,

Reenberg, Anette

2008
Coupled human-environmental timelines are used to explore the temporal coevolution of driving forces and adaptive strategies from the 1960s to 2006 on Bellona in the SW Pacific. Climatic events and agro-environmental conditions are assessed in conjunction with issues such as population dynamics, agricultural strategies, non-agricultural activities, transport and infrastructure, migration, education, political conditions, etc. Satellite imagery and aerial photos reveal relative stability in agricultural land use intensity despite an increase in de facto population (51% from 1966-2006). Results of questionnaire survey of 48 households show that the utilization of natural resources (notably shifting cultivation and fisheries) remains wide-spread, although it is increasingly supplemented by other income generating activities (eg. shopkeeping, private business, government employment). Group interviews are used to discuss ways in which the local communities' adaptive resource management strategies have been employed in the face of climatic and socioeconomic events and changes in the recent past. Fifty years' development is described as a combination of continuity and change. Resource management practices are only marginally impacted by different stress factors, but the importance of agriculture has been decreasing in relative terms. Culturally determined bonds have become a main 'mechanism' to cope with environmental or socioeconomic stress and the Bellonese have become less vulnerable to external shocks.
Checklist of the Fishes of the Chesterfield Islands (Coral Sea)

Kulbicki, Michel

,

Randall, John E.

,

Rivaton, Jacques

1994
The fish of the Chesterfield islands, a region midway between the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and New Caledonia, have been sampled during several cruises by ORTSTOM between 1984 and 1989. Information from these cruises and other sources are compiled into the first fish checklist of this region. A total of 866 taxa, representing 134 families, are recorded. 134 taxa are identified to the genus level, of which 58 could be new to science. This fish fauna of the Chesterfield islands has closer affinities with that of New Caledonia than to the GBR. One notices also the low representation of several genera (Neopomacentrus, Colopsis, Siganus, Abudefduf) which are abundant in both New Caledonia and on the GBR.
A Guide to the Identification and Collection of New Zealand Rodents

Cunningham, D.M.

,

Moors, P.J.

1983
The Nansen Initiative Global Consultation - Conference Report. Geneva, 12-13 Oct, 2015

Nansen Initiative

2015

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