Resources on ecosystems and climate change in WCPO
You can find news stories, popular articles, opinion pieces and blog posts on ecosystems and climate, including the effects of the climate crisis, on the Ecosystems and climate news and views page.
Fact sheets
- The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has published 6 fact sheets on interactions between climate and the ocean, covering the topics of carbon capture, carbon emissions, weather hazards, oceanic acidification, temperature and rising sea levels
- The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has published 5 fact sheets on protecting the diversity of ocean life and 6 fact sheets on pollution and rubbish in the ocean in line with the UNs sustainable development goals
- Western and Central Pacific Oceanic Fisheries Management: summary of Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis, OFMP2, 2018; includes climate change and pollution as root causes of some problems covered in the analysis
- Strategic Action Programme for Western and Central Pacifics living marine resources, 2018, OFMP2, 2018; includes action to strengthen and protect marine ecosystems
- Climate change and the Pacific tuna fisheries, FFA
- Building the Blue Pacific continent, Pacific Islands Forum; fact sheet about the development of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent
- Marine debris, microplastics and pollution, Secretariate of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
- Sustainable Pacific shipping: environmental considerations, SPREP
- Mercury (Hg) in Pacific Ocean ecosystems, SPREP
- Sustainable consumption and production in the Pacific, SPREP
- Threatened, mobile and migratory species in the Pacific, SPREP
- Pacific biodiversity, including marine and coastal life, SPREP
- Impact of climate on tuna fisheries, WWF Pacific, May 2013
Tagging a live tuna during research at sea tagging helps scientists understand how tuna respond to a changing climate. Photo: SPC.
Technical papers
- Pathways to sustaining tuna-dependent Pacific Island economies during climate change, Nature Sustainability, 2021, DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00745-z
- Marine pollution originating from purse seine and longline fishing vessel operations in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, 20032015, paper by Kelsey Richardson, David Haynes, Anthony Talouli and Michael Donoghue in Ambio, 2017. There is also a presentation by one of the authors about the research and recommendations from it.
- Compendium of ISSF research activities to reduce FAD structure impacts on the ecosystem, ISSF, 2020
- Forum communiqu, 50th Pacific Islands Forum, Funafuti, Tuvalu, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, August 2019; includes the wording of the Kainaki II Declaration for urgent climate change action now (annex 1).
- Pacific Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter 20182025, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, 2018
- Framework for Pacific regionalism, Pacific Islands Forum Sectretariat, 2014
- Framework for resilient development in the Pacific 20172030, Pacific Community, 2016; includes member-driven, inclusive and coordinated action to deal with climate change and resilience to disaster
- Boe Declaration on Regional Security, Pacific Islands Forum, 2018
- Boe Declaration Action Plan, Pacific Islands Forum, 2019
- Biketawa Declaration, Pacific Islands Forum, 2000
- Baseline study and performance indicators for the Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project, report prepared for FFA by Ian Cartwright, Thalassa Consulting, 2017; includes background on the need to address climate change in managing the oceanic fisheries of the WCPO, and marine pollution.
- Palau Declaration, 2014, The ocean: life and future, calls for stronger regional efforts to fix baselines of maritime boundaries to ensure the impact of climate change and rising sea levels does not result in the loss of jurisdiction.
- Impact of climate change on Pacific tropical tunas and their fisheries in Pacific Island waters and high seas areas, short paper covering same research as presentation slides below, Conservation International, December 2018
- Impact of climate change on Pacific tropical tunas and their fisheries, presentation slides, WCPFC Scientific Committee, August 2018
- Impact of climate change on tropical Pacific tuna and their fisheries in Pacific Islands waters and high seas areas, report of the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, July 2018
- Impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture, FAO, 2018
- Modelling the impact of climate change on Pacific skipjack tuna population and fisheries, by Patrick Lehodey, Inna Senina, Beatriz Calmettes, John Hampton and Simon Nicol, Climatic Change, vol. 119, 2013
- Modelling the impact of climate change on South Pacific albacore tuna, by Patrick Lehodey, Inna Senina, Simon Nicol and John Hampton, Climatic Change, vol. 119, 2013
- Shifting from marine reserves to maritime zoning for conservation of Pacific bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), by John Sibert, Inna Senina, Patrick Lehody and John Hampton, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA(PNAS), vol. 109, 2012
- Guidelines to reduce sea turtle mortality in fishing operations, FAO, 2009
- International plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks, FAO
- International Plan of Action for reducing incidental catches of seabirds in longline fisheries, FAO
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The ecosystem approach to fisheries: issues, terminology, institutional foundations, implementation and outlook, FAO Fisheries technical paper 443, 2003
Posters and videos
- Marine debris in the Pacific, WWF, 2019