Putting knowledge into action: Wallis and Futuna leads in disaster preparedness with support from SPC and the EU
Wednesday, 07 August 2013 14:04
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6 August 2013 – Secretariat of the Pacific Community - A moving closing ceremony took place on 2 August in Mata ‘Utu. It celebrated achievements made possible through a two-year partnership between the European Union (EU), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the French territory of Wallis and Futuna.
The three institutions brought together their comparative assets to deliver an integrated programme to reinforce the safety of people and infrastructure against natural disasters.
Wallis and Futuna, like its Pacific neighbours, is facing costly natural disasters: it is still reeling from the devastation brought by Cyclone Evan in December 2012, and the impacts of the Tonga earthquake and tsunami in September 2009 (not to mention a previous tsunami in 1993) are still being felt.
Recognising that knowledge is key to disaster planning, the government led by the Administrateur Supérieur commissioned a study of the tsunami hazard faced by the entire territory, including the islands of Wallis, Futuna and Alofi.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 14:54
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PREEN - Pacific Resource and Environmental Economics Network - Newsletter, June 2013, Issue No: 8
Tuesday, 30 July 2013 13:43
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Welcome to the June 2013 Edition of the PREEN Newsletter.
This edition includes reviews of current work in the field including a recent publication on economic valuations of ecosystem services in the Pacific.
You will also find news from the launch of the economic assessment of cyclone Evan in Fiji and the Pacific meetings on Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change in the Pacific as well as upcoming events and announcements.
We hope you will find this newsletter useful in keeping up to date with the economics research and events in the Pacific region.
The next edition of this Newsletter will be in December 2013. We welcome new articles as they emerge so please do share your new findings, projects and events with us in view of keeping the network informed of developments in the Pacific.
Best wishes,
Anna Rios Wilks
PREEN Coordinator
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 14:12
Under Pressure - Deep Sea Minerals Documentary
Monday, 15 July 2013 16:11
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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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Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 14:09
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Pacific leaders prepare for more extreme weather events
Monday, 15 July 2013 15:17
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TVNZ One News, Saturday July 13, 2013, Barbara Dreaver - Pacific leaders are working to be more prepared for disasters, after a year of wild weather events.
In the past year there has been flooding in Fiji, a cyclone in Samoa, an earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands and months of drought in the Marshall Islands - and research shows it is not going to get better.
The World Meteorological Organisation has released a report showing the world has experienced unprecedented high impact climate extremes in the past decade.
"We know from the scientists that the intensity of these cyclones are going to increase over time," said David Sheppard from the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.
Not content to sit back and let it happen, Pacific leaders have vowed to combine resources for climate change and disaster management.
"Neither disasters or climate change is a thing for the future, it's an issue for today and tomorrow - the fact we learn so slowly," said the UN's Margereta Wahlstrom.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 14:09
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Combining sciences is critical for effective risk reduction
Thursday, 11 July 2013 09:06
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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.
Last Updated on Thursday, 11 July 2013 09:11
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