The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Applied Geoscience and Technology Division will hold its annual meeting from 6 to 9 November 2012 at SPC headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia. This annual meeting will allow geoscience officials from SPC member countries to meet and exchange ideas on issues of importance to the Pacific.

The goal of the Applied Geoscience and Technology Division is to apply geology, oceanography and other earth sciences, along with technology, to realise new opportunities for improving the livelihoods of Pacific communities. The division is structured in three technical programmes: Ocean and Islands, Water and Sanitation, and Disaster Reduction.

The conference will include discussions on important regional issues like mining of deep sea mineral deposits and management of the region’s fragile fresh water resources. But the division will also highlights emerging issues and opportunities with specific presentations on topics such as reducing the risk of storm waves and surges in the Tuamotu Archipelago, or the institutionalisation of disaster risk management training in Solomon Islands.

The media are invited to the opening ceremony on Tuesday 6 November at 8:30 a.m in the main conference room at SPC headquarters. The opening will be made by Mr Henry Puna, Cook Islands Prime Minister.

The first three of six boreholes planned for Tongatapu have been drilled to a depth of approximately 50 metres near the international airport and at the Mataki‘eua wellfield in Tonga.

Funded by the EU Disaster Risk Reduction Project in Eight Pacific ACP States (B-Envelope) and implemented by the Applied Geoscience and Technology (SOPAC) Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the project is working closely with Tonga’s Ministry of Lands, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources to bore holes that will be used to monitor water quality on Tongatapu.