The Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands
Author: Moshe Rapaport
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2013-05-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0824865847

The Pacific is the last major world region to be discovered by humans. Although small in total land area, its numerous islands and archipelagoes with their startlingly diverse habitats and biotas, extend across a third of the globe. This revised edition of a popular text explores the diverse landforms, climates, and ecosystems of the Pacific island region. Multiple chapters, written by leading specialists, cover the environment, history, culture, population, and economy. The work includes new or completely revised chapters on gender, music, logging, development, education, urbanization, health, ocean resources, and tourism. Throughout two key issues are addressed: the exceptional environmental challenges and the demographic/economic/political challenges facing the region. Although modern technology and media and waves of continental tourists are fast eroding island cultures, the continuing resilience of Pacific island populations is apparent. This is the only contemporary text on the Pacific Islands that covers both environment and sociocultural issues and will thus be indispensable for any serious student of the region. Unlike other reviews, it treats the entirety of Oceania (with the exception of Australia) and is well illustrated with numerous photos and maps, including a regional atlas. Contributors: David Abbott, Dennis A. Ahlburg, Glenn Banks, John Barker, Geoffrey Bertram, David A. Chappell, William C. Clarke, John Connell, Ron Crocombe, Julie Cupples, Derrick Depledge, Colin Filer, Gerard J. Fryer, Patricia Fryer, Brenden S. Holland, E. Alison Kay, David M. Kennedy, Lamont Lindstrom, Rick Lumpkin, Harley I. Manner, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Nancy McDowell, Hamish A. McGowan, Frank McShane, Simon Milne, R. John Morrison, Dieter Mueller-Dombois, Stephen G. Nelson, Patrick D. Nunn, Michael R. Ogden, Andrew Pawley, Jean-Louis Rallu, Vina Ram-Bidesi, Moshe Rapaport, Annette Sachs Robertson, Richard Scaglion, Donovan Storey, Andrew P. Sturman, Lynne D. Talley, James P. Terry, Randolph R. Thaman, Frank R. Thomas, Caroline Vercoe, Terence Wesley-Smith, Paul Wolffram.

Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific

Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific
Author: Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Environmental law
ISBN: 9780367502898

This volume examines environmental law and governance in the Pacific, focussing on the emerging challenges this region faces. Fourteen Pacific Island countries, and a broad range of themes, such as deep-sea mining, fisheries, protected areas, heritage, endangered species, human rights and access to justice, are addressed in the volume.

The Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands
Author: Moshe Rapaport
Publisher: Bess Press
Total Pages: 490
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781573060837

Academic survey of the Pacific Islands. Includes maps, photographs, tables, diagrams, atlas, and detailed index.

Culture and Sustainable Development in the Pacific

Culture and Sustainable Development in the Pacific
Author: Antony Hooper
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2005-04-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 192094222X

Throughout the South Pacific, notions of ‘culture’ and ‘development’ are very much alive—in political debate, the media, sermons, and endless discussions amongst villagers and the urban élites, even in policy reports. Often the terms are counterposed, and development along with ‘economic rationality’, ‘good governance’ and ‘progress’ is set against culture or ‘custom’, ‘tradition’ and ‘identity’. The decay of custom and impoverishment of culture are often seen as wrought by development, while failures of development are haunted by the notion that they are due, somehow, to the darker, irrational influences of culture. The problem is to resolve the contradictions between them so as to achieve the greater good—access to material goods, welfare and amenities, ‘modern life’—without the sacrifice of the ‘traditional’ values and institutions that provide material security and sustain diverse social identities. Resolution is sought in this book by a number of leading writers from the South Pacific including Langi Kavaliku, Epeli Hau’ofa, Marshall Sahlins, Malama Meleisea, Joeli Veitayaki, and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka. The volume is brought together for UNESCO by Antony Hooper, Professor Emeritus at the University of Auckland. UNESCO experts include Richard Engelhardt, Langi Kavaliku, Russell Marshall, Malama Meleisea, Edna Tait and Mali Voi.

Climate Change and Small Island States

Climate Change and Small Island States
Author: Jon Barnett
Publisher: Earthscan
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2010
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1849774897

Small Island Developing States are often depicted as being among the most vulnerable of all places to the effects of climate change, and they are a cause c?l?bre of many involved in climate science, politics and the media. Yet while small island developing states are much talked about, the production of both scientific knowledge and policies to protect the rights of these nations and their people has been remarkably slow.This book is the first to apply a critical approach to climate change science and policy processes in the South Pacific region. It shows how groups within politically and scientifically powerful countries appropriate the issue of island vulnerability in ways that do not do justice to the lives of island people. It argues that the ways in which islands and their inhabitants are represented in climate science and politics seldom leads to meaningful responses to assist them to adapt to climate change. Throughout, the authors focus on the hitherto largely ignored social impacts of climate change, and demonstrate that adaptation and mitigation policies cannot be effective without understanding the social systems and values of island societies.

Combatting Climate Change in the Pacific

Combatting Climate Change in the Pacific
Author: Marc Williams
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2017-12-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319696475

This book analyses the regional complexes of climate security in the Pacific. Pacific Island States and Territories (PICTs) have long been cast as the frontline of climate change and placed within the grand architecture of global climate governance. The region provides compelling new insights into the ways climate change is constructed, governed, and shaped by (and in turn shapes), regional and global climate politics. By focusing on climate security as it is constructed in the Pacific and how this concept mobilises resources and shapes the implementation of climate finance, the book provides an up-to-date account of the way regional organizations in the Pacific have contributed to the search for solutions to the problem of climate insecurity. In the context of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in 2015, the focus of this book on regional governance offers a concise and innovative account of climate politics in the prevailing global context and one with implications for the study of climate security in other regions, particularly in the developing world.

Idyllic No More

Idyllic No More
Author: Giff Johnson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Islands of the Pacific
ISBN: 9781512235586

Can Pacific nations, endowed with islands of travel poster beauty, vibrant cultures, and centuries old ways of life based on sustainable practices, hurdle significant development and political challenges they face today - in addition to withstanding climate change and rising sea levels? Corruption, reliance on donor-driven aid and consultants, dwindling rural populations and burgeoning urban centers that stress the ability of governments to provide education and health services, an epidemic of non-communicable diseases as lifestyles change, and battles with countries outside the region for control of fisheries and deep sea resources - these are among the increasingly challenging issues facing the islands today. In a series of essays about the looming climate threat, sustainable development and the region's multi-billion dollar tuna industry, the U.S. nuclear test legacy in the Marshall Islands, and the impact of out-migration, 'Idyllic No More' addresses the often difficult problems and choices facing the Pacific islands today.The author, says veteran Oceania journalist Floyd K. Takeuchi, "frames a view of the Pacific islands that's characterized by hard-edge realism while offering a way forward. 'Idyllic No More' is a bracing look at where the islands are today, and what it will take to build a future of hope and opportunity for islanders across the region." 'Idyllic No More' is an excellent resource for stimulating discussion in classes, and for readers interested in contemporary Pacific island issues.

Adapting to Climate Change

Adapting to Climate Change
Author: Joel B. Smith
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461384710

Global climate change is one of the most important environmental issues facing the world today. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) acknowledges the potential for global climate change to have major effects on the world economy. The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli mate Change (lPCC) is focused on evaluating the scientific data on climate change and analyzing the potential responses to it. One of the primary issues in the global climate change debate is how to adapt to any change that might occur. The process ofidentifying adaptation measures and evaluating their effectiveness is the focus of this book. In dealing with climate change adaptation, the sequence of events in conduct ing these types of analyses can be generalized as follows: • Develop scenarios for the possible range of climate change, • Assess the vulnerability of various sectors of the national economy and infrastructure to climate change, and • Identify and evaluate measures in each sector to adapt to the climate change It is this third step that is the subject of this book. In presenting this material, Chapter 1 gives an overview of the concept of climate change adaptation and the general principles guiding the conduct of analyses in this area. Chapters 2-7 give the results of evaluating climate change adaptation options in the agriculture, water resources, coastal resources, forest and ecosystems, fisheries, and human settlements sectors.