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Footprints - Newsletter of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network

Tuesday, 15 June 2010 15:30 administrator
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Bula Vinaka and Welcome to Footprints – the official newsletter of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network. Since reintroducing the newsletter in the last quarter of 2007, we have ‘reinvented’ the publication in an effort to be more reader-friendly in 2010. The changes include a new layout. The title reflects the collective ‘steps’ taken by the partners, working with Pacific island country representatives, toward achieving the desired outcomes of the Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Framework for Action 2005-2015.In taking each step we leave behind ‘footprints’ as a record of where we have been, what we have done and what we have accomplished. I invite all partners to contribute regularly to Footprints.
Mosese Sikivou
Programme Manager - Community Risk
Last Updated on Sunday, 20 June 2010 12:09 Read more...
 

Pacific Resource and Environmental Economics Network Gets New Logo May 2010

Monday, 31 May 2010 08:14 administrator
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The recently established PREEN (Pacific Resource and Environmental Economics Network) unveiled its logo today at a prize giving ceremony hosted by the IUCN in Suva. The logo depicts land, sea, fish, turtles and mangroves. Also included in the logo is a scene of traditional fishers at work.

 

Last Updated on Sunday, 27 June 2010 15:55 Read more...
 

Altimetry satellite data matches media reports of 8-m waves during Cyclone Tomas

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:43 administrator
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There have been recent reports in the media that particular shorelines in Vanua Levu have experienced significant erosion from wave action since Tropical Cyclone Tomas in March 2010, threatening infrastructure and ancient burial sites. As a result, villagers have been advised to take into account global warming and to relocate to higher grounds (Fiji Times, Saturday, May 15, 2010)

Cyclones are among the most frequently occurring natural disasters in the tropical Pacific, and they are characterised by high waves and strong winds. At the time of tropical cyclone Tomas ocean surface waves up to eight meters high were reported to inundate villages on Vanua Levu. Such an extreme event can lead to coastal erosion or accretion, depending on the configuration of the particular shoreline. It is however difficult to imagine such large waves, and even more difficult to assess their impact without direct measurements in the location concerned.

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 May 2012 09:45 Read more...
 

NATURE - Testing the resilience of Pacific Island People

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:39 administrator
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Much has been said about rising sea levels and predicted impacts on low lying Pacific Island communities.As Pacific islanders we need to be more informed about what directly affects us and our livelihoods. The population of the Pacific islands is estimated to be over 8.6 million people, most of which are coastal dwelling and are therefore dependant on the ocean and its resources. So it is vital that we understand our ocean.

The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), hosts the South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project alongside other initiatives aimed at improving our scientific knowledge of ocean and island ecosystems for the sustainable management of natural resources.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:55 Read more...
 

SOPAC helps survey every well in Nauru

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:31 administrator
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Between March and April 2010 SOPAC and the Government of Nauru conducted a survey of every well in Nauru to determine water quality, usage, and possible areas of contamination.
Nauru has no significant surface water resources, limited groundwater resources, and is extremely vulnerable to drought.

Water for domestic use comes from a mixture of desalinated water delivered by truck, rainwater harvested from roofs, non-potable coastal groundwater, seawater and limited use of the thin freshwater lens found under Nauru’s central plateau. Two locally based teams surveyed 336 wells by going house to house over 5 weeks. 30% of Nauru’s population rely on water from domestic wells for bathing, washing, general cleaning, and toilet flushing.

click hereexternal link for full story.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 14:39
 
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Page 71 of 74

Newsflash

Press Release: Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Cook Islands, 23 July 2010

The Hon. Robert Wigmore, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for seabed mining activities has today announced concrete steps aimed at progressing seabed mining in the Cook Islands.

“The Government is totally committed to the development of our rich seabed mineral resources for the benefit of the present and future generations of Cook Islanders,” stressed the Deputy Prime Minister.  “To do that we must ensure that in the pioneering field of seabed mining we have in place sound developmental policies to guide seabed mining activities and regulations in force that will enable us to control and protect the wealth that belongs to the people of the Cook Islands as well as our marine environment before any exploratory or other mining activities begin.  It must be the Government and people of the Cook Islands that have control over seabed mining, not outside interests.”