This dataset hosts 31 individual environmental indicator assessments that are in the **State of Environment and Conservation in the Pacific Islands : 2020 Regional report.**
Regional indicators are used to understand the current status of conservation in the region and to establish a process for periodic reviews of the status of biodiversity and implementation of environmental management measures in the Pacific islands region.
Each Pacific regional indicator is assessed with regard to:
This first state of the environment report for the Pacific region uses regional environment indicators to assess the status, trends, and data quality and availability for the endorsed Pacific environmental priorities. This report also includes an update of the State of Conservation in Oceania report produced in 2013, which was endorsed and published in 2017.
This publication ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment – Guidelines for Pacific Island Countries and
Territories’ has been prepared to provide guidance on the application of SEA as a tool to support
environmental planning, policy and informed decision making. It provides background on the use and
benefits of SEA as well as providing tips and guiding steps on the process, including case studies, toolkits
and checklists for conducting an SEA in the Appendices.
This guide introduces environmental indicators and provides an overview of SPREP’S core indicators for Pacific island countries. In 2012, the SPREP members approved the development of a set of standardised indicators for use by member countries at the SPREP meeting. Through the Inform project, SPREP programmes then developed a set of 34 indicators that was endorsed by members at the 2018 SPREP meeting. This document explains the development and use of environmental indicators in Part 1 and provides a summary of each of the 34 ‘core’ indicators in Part 2.
Circular 21/150
Inform Plus proposed 5 pillars
- Component 1: Environmental Governance
- Component 2: Monitoring and field data collection for environmental standards and standardised environmental indicators
- Component 3: Data management utilising the Pacific Island Network Portal (PEP). Production of information products for decision makers based on existing data sets.
- Component 4: Enhance and expand GIS use for data collection, analysis and presentation to inform decision makers
The purpose of this research is to develop a robust water quality baseline data of relevant physical, chemical and biological parameters, over an 8-month period, 4 months in summer and 4 months in winter, at both low and high tides for three main estuaries along the Suva foreshore, where an increase in recreational water activity has been noted, as a result of urbanisation. Such a baseline is currently not available in the Fiji Islands. This investigation used affordable advanced and approved standard methods.
Groundwater is the primary water source on the island Tutuila in American Samoa, and accurate
quantification of groundwater availability is essential for well-informed management of this limited
resource. A water budget approach using SWB2, a soil water-balance model was applied to Tutuila
with the primary objective of calculating spatially and temporally distributed net-infiltration, which
directly controls groundwater recharge rate. Other water budget components such as
Quantifying hydrologic parameters such as precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration,
and aquifer response are fundamental to understanding a region’s hydrological budget, and
thus the availability of water resources. This is particularly important in small island
developing communities where critical water resources are limited. Climate and
streamflow measurements provide information on ground and surface water supply, while
measurement of aquifer parameters such as water level and salinity is imperative for
**This pdf combines all 31 indicators in one document**
DEFINITION - % of national budget allocated to Environment Ministry or equivalent
PURPOSE - Determine trends in prioritisation of environmental funding within government
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend; sufficient and sustainable financing to implement environmental programmes
DEFINITION - % of MEA reporting requirements met on time
PURPOSE - Determine if MEAs are being reported on
DESIRED OUTCOME - 100% of MEA reporting requirements met on time or positive trend. PICTs successfully meet reporting obligations under MEAs in a timely manner, ideally using the State of Environment Reporting as the basis for responding to these reporting requirements
DEFINITION - Level of extractive terrestrial wildlife use by humans
PURPOSE- Increase the safety to species, ecosystems, and people from the sustainable use of terrestrial wildlife
DESIRED OUTCOME - Monitored and sustainable use of wildlife with stable populations; zero use of protected species
DEFINITION - Percentage native forest cover of total land area
PURPOSE- Indicates the suite of environmental values associated with forests (e.g. biodiversity, carbon sequestration, subsistence hunting)
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in tree cover, or reduced rate of tree cover loss
DEFINITION - E. coli levels in water samples
PURPOSE - E. coli are indicators of faecal contamination in freshwater bodies and are associated with a range of possible human diseases. High levels of E. coli can be associated with cloudy water and decreased dissolved oxygen
DESIRED OUTCOME - E. coli threshold at or below globally accepted standards for drinking and bathing water, which is none detectable per 100 mL for both E. coli and total coliforms for drinking water; standards vary for bathing and swimming water
DEFINITION - % of total arable land that is under cultivation
PURPOSE - Tracks the area of arable land that is developed for agriculture
DESIRE OUTCOME - Stable trend in area under cultivation. A decreasing area under cultivation might affect food security and an increasing trend under area under cultivation implies some conversion of natural vegetation to agriculture
DEFINITION - % cover of wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass
PURPOSE - Wetlands, mangroves and seagrass provide ecosystem services not provided by other ecosystems (such as nurseries for economically important fish species, natural flood mitigation and water filter systems). They also support plants and animals not found in other ecosystems.
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in area of wetlands and mangroves
DEFINITION - % of live coral cover in coastal and marine environments
PURPOSE - Indicator of overall health of reef ecosystems. These ecosystems provide important services for humans
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable or positive trend in live coral cover
DEFINITION - Enterococci levels in water samples
PURPOSE - Enterococci are bacteria found in the intestines of animals and humans and indicate the presence of faecal pollution in coastal waters
DESIRED OUTCOME - Enterococci levels are within the safe threshold for marine recreation at all monitored sites. Current United States EPA thresholds are
DEFINITION - Trends in biomass of tuna species
PURPOSE - Track the health of this important component of the ocean ecosystem
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable biomass catch
DEFINITION - Fish biomass for inshore fish populations
PURPOSE - Indicates inshore fish population status and reef health
DESIRED OUTCOME - Stable level of biomass; or juvenile fish are not overrepresented in markets