SPC Geoscience Division

Did you know that 8% of global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to various consumers?  Did you also know that most of the electricity generated in the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories is from water?

The links between these two scarce and important resources – water and energy – is the theme of this year’s World Water Day, celebrated globally on 22nd March.

Each year, World Water Day is acknowledged throughout the Pacific with the support of awareness materials prepared and distributed by the GSD Division of SPC.  This year’s theme draws attention to the vital role of water and energy sources to the sustainable development of Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

While energy is needed to pump, treat and distribute water to Pacific households, water is also an important energy source in several Pacific Island Countries, where the energy of rivers and streams is harnessed by hydro-electric facilities at the municipal, village and even household scale.

Solomone Fifita, head of the SPC Economic Development Division’s Energy Programme, noted the close linkages that exist between the conservation of water and energy resources.  “The choices we make every day on our water and energy use are closely related, and decisions on the supply, distribution, price and use of water and energy impact one another,” he said.

12 March 2014, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji – A rapid post-disaster assessment recently conducted by specialists from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) will help Tongan emergency managers better understand the impacts of Cyclone Ian and prepare for future storms.

In early January, Cyclone Ian devastated parts of Tonga, particularly in the Ha’apai island group. The category-five storm killed one person, injured 14 others, displaced more than 4,000 people, and destroyed food crops and infrastructure.

In the wake of this storm, Tongan authorities requested assistance from SPC’s Geoscience Division (GSD) to assess damages on island of Lifuka in the Ha’apai Group.

‘They wanted us to provide technical data on the extent of inundation and erosion in coastal zones as well as water supplies and groundwater contamination in Lifuka,’ SPC Senior Technical Assistant and Oceanographer Zulfikar Begg explains. ‘They also asked us to train their geology staff so that they could do the same rapid assessments in the outer islands.’