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39th Annual Session Download as iCal file
From Saturday, 16 October 2010 -  12:00am
To Friday, 22 October 2010 - 11:59pm
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Hosted by the Government of Australia

The SOPAC Annual Session is a meeting of the Secretariat Governing Council and has four components:

  • A Plenary Session covers the procedural aspects of the meeting and the presentation of reports from member countries, donor Governments and organisations, and the Secretariat. This session is a meeting of the Council at which other delegates are invited as observers, contributing to the discussion of non-technical matters concerning SOPAC such as cooperation and funding.
  • A meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to consider the SOPAC Work Program. All TAG members participate as equals during this meeting.
  • A meeting of the Science Technology and Resources Network STAR which is an open forum for reporting geoscientific research in the South Pacific and for exchanging information and ideas between scientists from SOPAC Member Countries and the international geoscientific community.
  • A Governing Council meeting to discuss the administrative and financial business of SOPAC, which may be both closed and/or open to observers.

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Newsflash

22 August 2013 - Secretariat of the Pacific Community - Suva, Fiji - Better preparing communities for cyclones, floods, droughts, and predicted sea level rise is a top priority for many Pacific island nations. The urgency to prepare however, does not justify cutting corners.

Climate change adaptation planning should follow the same national processes as any development, with environmental impact assessments, technical surveys, and cost benefit analyses.

This was the argument Dr. Arthur Webb of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Applied Geo Science and Technology Division (SOPAC) presented to a diverse audience of students, academics and development practitioners at USP Marine Science Campus on Thursday 17th August.

“Nine out of ten communities want a sea wall,” said Dr. Webb, an expert in coastal processes, “but putting concrete over a healthy beach system is an example of maladaptation. It will do more harm than good. Not only will it disrupt the flow of sediments, in many cases increasing erosion, but it’s terrible for tourism.”

Webb displayed examples of maladaptation that had been carried out in the Pacific. In one instance, mangroves were planted on an atoll coastline where they were not naturally occurring.