SPC Geoscience Division

Home News & Media Releases Latest Snapshots 58: Community Risk Programme May 2010 Updates

Snapshots 58: Community Risk Programme May 2010 Updates

Sunday, 20 June 2010 12:02 administrator
E-mail Print PDF

Welcome to the May 2010 issue of Snapshots. This month we highlight some of the progress that we’ve made in relation to DRM mainstreaming particularly through our efforts in Papua New Guinea.
This issue will also highlight: steps being undertaken to improve water security in Nauru; the re-establishment of the Disaster Risk Management Training Advisory Committee in Fiji; the on going
discussions with the World Bank on a Pacific Catastrophe Risk Financing Initiative;
the 10th meeting of the World Bank’s GFDRR Results Management Council; the training undertaken by the Pacific DRM Training Programme of The Asia Foundation/US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and; the on-going development of a regional exposure database jointly being implemented by SOPAC, ADB, World Bank, AIR Worldwide, GNS Science New Zealand and the Pacific Disaster Center in Hawaii. Enjoy!

Mosese Sikivou
Programme Manager - Community Risk

Read Full Issue Here

Last Updated on Sunday, 27 June 2010 13:52  

Newsflash

Majuro, June 27, 2012: An expert from Tuvalu is leading the construction of composting toilets in Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), to trial how effective they are at reducing septic pollution of Majuro’s main groundwater resource, the Laura water lens.

The dry eco-san composting toilets use very little water and have the twin benefits of both conserving water and preventing sewage from leaching out of septic systems and into the surrounding environment. The toilets have already been successfully trialled on Tuvalu’s main atoll of Funafuti, where 40 toilets have been constructed.

Tuvalu’s experience with these toilets has also generated interest in other Pacific island countries. Tonga has constructed two demonstration toilets in households on the island of Vava’u, while Nauru has installed them in several primary schools.The initiative is part of a regional Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) demonstration project to build the capacity of Pacific Island countries to manage water resources.

Pisi Seleganiu, Project Manager of Tuvalu’s GEF IWRM project currently in Majuro, believes composting toilets are the most appropriate sanitation technology for atoll countries which have scarce water resources and porous soils.