The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous and their Disposal (the Basel Convention) is the broadest and most significant international treaty on hazardous and other wastes.
This guidance document is primarily meant to be a practical guide for the national technical officials responsible for the collection of information for the preparation of the national reports that are to be submitted annually to the Secretariat of the Basel Convention.
The number of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and institutions has grown steadily over the last few decades. The work taking place under these agreements and within these institutions is increasing in volume and specificity, and it is having an increasingly substantive impact, particularly as there is an increasing focus on practical implementation.
This edition of the Multilateral Environmental Agreement Negotiator’s Handbook principally to respond to the need for a practical reference tool to assist in addressing the many complex challenges in such negotiations.
The Protected Areas Working Group (PAWG) Action Plan 2014-2020 aligns with the Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas (Framework) in terms of time span and objectives. The Action Plan was developed during a series of planning meetings and the Annual meeting of PAWG held in July 2015.
The report is intended as a general guide to coastal protection practices in the Pacific region. Coastal protection interventions in the Pacific basically fall into two categories: non-structural adaptation and structural adaptation approaches.The options presented in this guide should be examined carefully by qualified engineers prior to selection and implementation.
A link to the Pacific Islands Protected Area Portal (PIPAP) which aims to facilitate the sharing of resources and expertise among the Pacific Islands Protected Area practitioners.
This dataset hosts 31 individual environmental indicator assessments that are in the **State of Environment and Conservation in the Pacific Islands : 2020 Regional report.**
Regional indicators are used to understand the current status of conservation in the region and to establish a process for periodic reviews of the status of biodiversity and implementation of environmental management measures in the Pacific islands region.
Each Pacific regional indicator is assessed with regard to:
The InterRidge Vents Database is a global database of submarine hydrothermal vent fields. The InterRidge Vents Database is supported by the InterRidge program for international cooperation in ridge-crest studies (www.interridge.org).
The Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University (U.K.), solo Earth Observation (soloEO; Japan), Wetlands International the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
This dataset shows the global distribution of seamounts and knolls identified using global bathymetric data at 30 arc-sec resolution. A total of 33,452 seamounts and 138,412 knolls were identified, representing the largest global set of identified seamounts and knolls to date. Seamount habitat was found to constitute approximately 4.7% of the ocean floor, whilst knolls covered 16.3%.
The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
GEBCO's aim is to provide the most authoritative publicly-available bathymetry of the world's oceans. It operates under the joint auspices of the International Hydrographic Organization(IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (of UNESCO).
GEBCO produces and makes available a range of bathymetric data sets and products. This includes a global bathymetric grid; gazetteer of undersea feature names, a Web Map Service and printable maps of ocean bathymetry.
Minerals are non-renewable resources (at least within human timeframes) but mining them is now apparently a sustainable enterprise, not a one-way street of exploitation. ISA provides an international and transparent forum to regulate and manage all mineral resources related activities and ensure protection of the marine environment in the “Area”, the deep seabed and subsoil beyond national jurisdiction, for the benefit of all humanity.
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation completed field research for one of the largest coral reef studies in history: the Global Reef Expedition. The Expedition travelled around the globe surveying some of the most remote reefs on the planet, conducting research to assess coral reef ecosystem health and resiliency.
The Global Reef Expedition visited many countries in the Pacific Ocean to assess the health and resiliency of their coral reef ecosystems. See links below for more information, reports and maps.
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 and others to inform planning, policy decisions and management. The WDPA is a joint project between UN Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This project has developed sub-regional bioregionalisations for the western-south Pacific Ocean, through expert workshops and novel statistical analysis of physical and biological data. This combines approaches CSIRO developed in Australia, used in the Bay of Bengal (in collaboration with BOBLME) with similar approaches that have been used throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans to derive a single combined bioregionalisation.
Comprehensive assessment of the risks and impacts of seabed mining on marine ecosystems by Fauna and Flora International.
This guide helps communities understand the pressures people may place on beaches and suggests how natural processes or ecosystem based approaches can be used can encourage sand to come back and stay put.
A recently published paper, titled “Coastal proximity of populations in 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories” details the methodology used to undertake the analysis and presents the findings. **Purpose** * This analysis aims to estimate populations settled in coastal areas in 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTS) using the data currently available. In addition to the coastal population estimates, the study compares the results obtained from the use of national population datasets (census) with those derived from the use of global population grids.
The Convention for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (1986) is also known as the SPREP Convention or Noumea Convention. The Convention has two Protocols that also entered into force in 1990. This Convention is the major multilateral umbrella agreement in the Pacific Region for the protection of natural resources and the environment.
The Mapping Ocean Wealth data viewer is a live online resource for sharing understanding of the value of marine and coastal ecosystems to people. It includes global maps, regionally-specific studies, reference data, and a number of “apps” providing key data analytics. Maps and apps can be opened according to key themes or geographies. The navigator the left of the maps enables you to add or remove any additional map layers as you explore. Information keys explain how the maps were made and provide additional links. Further information and resources can be found on Oceanwealth.org
Fact Sheet - Pacific tourism depends on healthy marine ecosystems for aesthetic appeal and for the ecosystem services that support human occupation. This fact sheet links it to SDGs and brief background info on how the Pacific island countries face challenges in planning for sustainable development of infrastructure as well as sea and land uses related to tourism