Remote sensing techniques for mapping and monitoring mangroves at fine scales

King, M, Lambeth, L. 2000. Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia.

Deforestation and degradation rates remained stubbornly high in 2024, pushing the world even further off track from the shared goal of halting and reversing forest loss by 2030.

Acknowledging the diversity of forest contexts and the need for tailored approaches, this chapter examines the policy instruments that can operationalize a differentiated forest-climate agenda to achieve conservation and restoration outcomes.

Pacific Island communities are heavily dependent on fisheries for subsistence and livelihoods. Yet, despite their importance, coastal fisheries are poorly managed and commercial pressures increasingly threaten them.

Protected areas are essential to biodiversity conservation.

Crown-of-thorns seastars (COTS, Acanthaster spp.) are the most notorious coral predators, whose devastating outbreaks cause recurrent and extensive coral depletion across Indo-Pacific reefs.

The Global Biodiversity Standard is the world’s most scientifically rigorous biodiversity certification that recognises and promotes the protection, restoration, and enhancement of biodiversity.

Global Fishing Watch is the product of a technology partnership between SkyTruth, Oceana, and Google that is designed to show all of th

Protected Areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Here, we collated distributional data for >14,000 (~70% of) species of amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) to perform a global assessment of the conservation effectiveness of PAs using species distribution models.

Understanding the state and value of the world’s wetlands The Global Wetland Outlook 2025 presents a synthesis of scientific information on the value of the world’s wetlands, the costs to society due to wetland loss and degradation and the scale of investment needed to restore wetlands.

The GlobalUsefulNativeTrees species selection App combines species data from the Botanic Gardens Conservation International GlobalTreeSearch database (GTS) ( website ; Beech et al. 2017 ) with data available from the World Checklist of Useful Plant Species (WCUPS) ( Diazgranados et al. 2020 ).

The entry into force of the “Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction” (BBNJ Agreement) marks a historic moment.

This technical summary document reports on the findings from the first phase of ESRAM activity that was conducted in Greater Port Vila between January and June 2016.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, provides a framework for the effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) through four goals and 23 targets.

This guidebook is based on an understanding that social equity refers to fairness and justice with respect to the ways that people are recognised, treated, or impacted by conservation initiatives.

Sea turtles are charismatic animals and many people, both from Vanuatu and our visiting tourists, are excited to see them.

These Guidelines deal with invasive plants, animals, disease agents and other organisms, in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments, and their impacts on the environment, biodiversity, ecosystem services, human health, economies and society.

SPREP presents these guidelines for undertaking rapid biodiversity assessments in its Pacific island member countries and territories: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. These assessments are referred to as BIORAPs.

1. Societies around the globe harvest wild species, to a greater or lesser extent, for food, building materials, healthcare, medicines, pest control, ornamentation, income, recreation, and cultural and spiritual purposes.

Islands  support  unique  plants,  animals,  and  human societies found nowhere else on the Earth. Local and global stressors threaten the persistence of island ecosystems, with invasive species being among the most damaging, yet solvable, stressors.

The report High-risk forests, high-value returns: A co-benefits assessment for decision-makers examines the global significance of conserving “high-risk forests” or tropical forests with high deforestation risk, covering about 391 million hectares.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can increase the resilience of reef communities to disturbances, playing a role in sheltering biodiversity from climate-related impacts.

the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (also known as the ‘BBNJ Agreement’)1 was agreed.

On May 24, 2023, Typhoon Mawar, one of the strongest Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclones ever recorded in the month of May and the strongest globally in 2023, hit the U.S. Territory of Guam in the Western Pacific.

This guidebook offers managers and other conservation practitioners a process and methods to evaluate the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the purposes of Adaptive Management.

Measurements analyzed by an international research team led by ETH Zurich show that the global ocean absorbed significantly less CO₂ than anticipated during the unprecedented marine heat wave in 2023.  The world's oceans act as an important sink for carbon dioxide (CO₂).

The dual mandate for many protected areas (PAs) to simultaneously promote recreation and conserve biodiversity may be hampered by negative effects of recreation on wildlife.

Forest and land cover across the Pacific are undergoing rapid transformation.

Transoceanic dispersal to far-away islands is an important mechanism for the generation of new species lineages and biotas and has captivated scientists since at least the time of Darwin.

Coastal communities in the south Pacific are vulnerable to cyclones which are projected to increase in intensity due to climate change.

Mangroves provide numerous ecosystem services and are increasingly recognized as a natural climate solution. As a result, multiple recent initiatives have set ambitious mangrove restoration targets.

Disseminating research through academic publishing is essential for contributing to global knowledge, advancing critical fields and finding solutions to humanity’s challenges.

UNESCO’s new publication "Indigenous knowledge, ancestral places: navigating change in UNESCO designated sites" offers honest accounts of resilience from many different perspectives told by Indigenous Peoples whose territories intersect with UNESCO designated sites across t

The Indo-Pacific eel, Anguilla marmorata Quoy & Gaimard, has the widest geographic distribution of anguillid eels.

Hodgson, G., Hill, J., Kiene, W., Maun, L., Mihaly, J., Liebeler, J., Shuman, C. and Torres, R. 2006. Instruction Manual A Guide to Reef Check Monitoring.  Reef Check Foundation, Pacific Palisades, California, USA

IBAT has released a new Species report designed to enhance biodiversity reporting and conservation planning.

Located in the Central Division of Fiji, the Navua River and Beqa lagoon support high social, ecological and economic values.

The Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) is an approach to support protected areas planning, monitoring and evaluation and to improve management patterns  and conservation outcomes.

Papua New Guinea contains more than 7% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the land area. PNG has more than 18,894 described plant species, 719 birds, 271 mammals, 227 reptiles, 266 amphibians and 341 freshwater fish species.

This review was prepared by the Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII) on request from the Pacific Invasives Partnership (PIP).

This paper attempts to present a "quick snapshot" of the current status of biodiversity in the Pacific Islands and the prospects and challenges for the mainstreaming of its conservation and sustainable use by Pacific Island peoples during the 21st century.

Marking 60 years of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN Red List), this report captures its beginnings and tracks key milestones and achievements.

This Technical Note provides advice to managers of protected and conserved areas1 (PCAs) for applying a ‘One Health’ approach for the benefit of environmental, animal, and human health.

Identifying and conserving areas of particular importance for biodiversity is a fundamental element of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Aim: To present a short, practical guide to integrate climate change mitigation (CCM) into Protected and Conserved Area (PCA) management and decision-making and as a companion to the WCPA technical report Enhancing climate change mitigation in protected areas.

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are the most important places in the world for species and their habitats. Faced with a global environmental crisis we need to focus our collective efforts on conserving the places that matter most.

This study aimed to determine an economic value1 of seven marine and coastal ecosystem services in Kiribati.

This assessment identifies the capacity-building needs and priorities of local and national public authorities and institutions, representatives from civil societies and communities, and NGOs from the 19 Kiwa-eligible PICTs to: 1.

Global calls for greater ocean protection have sparked renewed interest in very large marine protected areas (VLMPAs, >100,000 km2) to achieve management targets; however, their conservation value is debated.