SPC Geoscience Division

Under Pressure is a short video that examines the perspectives of different stakeholders involved with deep sea mineral resources in the Pacific.

Several Pacific Island nations are eagerly eyeing up the potential economic benefits from valuable deep sea mineral resources that have been discovered within their extensive maritime territories. Rising global demand for metals, combined with advances in mining technology, have spurred a rush of commercial interest in the potential profits to be gleaned from the depths of the ocean floor.  

These Pacific Island countries have now become the centre of an international debate over whether the sustainable economic benefits for Pacific Islanders will outweigh the environmental risks of harvesting these precious metals from the bottom of the sea. This short film examines the deep sea mining issue from a number of perspectives including anti-deep sea mining NGO’s, politicians, government agencies, deep sea mining companies, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Under Pressure is the first of a series of three films supported by the SPC-EU funded Pacific Deep Sea Minerals Project. The next two films will explore the current state of scientific knowledge about deep sea minerals in the Pacific and the current situation in Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Island country that has been at the centre of the deep sea mining debate.

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Wednesday 10 July 2013, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji – With the increasing flow of funding into the Pacific region for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation projects, it is essential to combine the perspectives of different sciences for effective outcomes. This is a key message from the Joint Meeting of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable currently underway in Nadi, Fiji.

‘There are a lot of people with good intentions who want to do something useful about climate change adaptation,’ says Dr Arthur Webb of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).  ‘But for successful adaptation, we have to combine the sciences.’

‘You can have a technically sound climate change adaptation project, but if you don’t engage the social sciences in explaining activities to the community then the project will be less effective or could even fail,’ says Dr Webb, who manages SPC’s Oceans and Islands Programme.

‘If you have one group of scientists working to inform a community about something and they leave out another group of scientists with different and relevant expertise, then you don’t get the full picture.’

‘On the other hand, there are good examples of community disaster risk and climate change adaptation projects where the application of technical scientific principles is being combined with social science perspectives to ensure that critical aspects, such as communication and livelihoods, are taken into consideration,’ he says.

Monday 8 July 2013: Nadi, Fiji – The first Joint Meeting of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable has been officially opened at the Sofitel Resort and Spa in Nadi, Fiji.

Marking the occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon. Samiu Kuita Vaipulu, received a ceremony of traditional welcome from the Government of Fiji. The meeting was officially opened by the Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Mr. Aiyaz Sayad-Khaiyum. Also present at the opening ceremony were the Hon. Mark Brown, Minister for Finance and Economic Management of the Cook Islands, Hon. Thomas Laken, Minister for Planning & Climate Change Adaptation of the Republic of Vanuatu and Ms. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction.

With this meeting the Pacific region has achieved a world first by bringing together the two principal regional conferences on disaster risk management and climate change. The joint meeting will contribute to the formulation of an over-arching regional strategy and framework for climate and disaster-resilient development to be considered for endorsement by the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2015.

An integrated approach to addressing disaster risk reduction and climate change concerns will mean better use of national and regional capacities and resources to address the risks posed by hazards, whether they are extreme weather events such as cyclones and droughts or ‘slow onset’ events such as rising sea levels or ocean acidification associated with climate change. The strategy will further progress the agenda of enabling the Pacific Islands region to build resilience to our changing climate.

The Pacific Regional Consultations on Water and Sanitation are being held at the Tanoa International Hotel, Monday 01-03 July 2013. Countries will be discussing how to progress action on the recent Statement by Pacific Heads of State and Heads of Delegations participating in the 2nd Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 19-20 May, 2013.

Michael Pettersen, Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SOPAC), says the Chiang Mai Statement highlights the concern of Pacific Leaders that the whole Pacific region is struggling to meet its Millennium Development Goals relating to water and sanitation.

“This Statement recognises that sustainable water supply and safe sanitation underpins the very feasibility of Pacific Island Countries. It is clear that national and international development goals are unlikely to be met without increased advocacy and financial support for water and sanitation, which will require renewed leadership and investment at the national, regional and international level,” he says.

Mr. Pettersen noted that efforts to improve water and sanitation in the Pacific region are not keeping up with the significant and growing impacts of population growth, urbanization, natural disasters and climate change.

“This weeks’ consultation meeting is designed to help Pacific Island Countries support the development of a revised framework for Water and Sanitation for the region building on work already established through the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Sustainable Water Management which has been in place for the last ten years.