Impacts of tourism on threatened species in the Pacific region: a review.

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Morrison

The Pacific region has high levels of endemism and contains three of the world’s global biodiversity hotspots. Despite its conservation significance, the region faces difficulties in protecting its biodiversity primarily due to restricted knowledge, limited local capacity and financial constraints. Tourism has been increasingly promoted in the region as a means of promoting and financing conservation activities. To date however, there have been few studies looking at the impacts of increasing tourism on biodiversity in the Pacific. This paper reviews publicly available data on the contribution of tourism to the threatened status of Pacific biodiversity. The ~1900 IUCN Red listed species in the region are threatened by a number of factors that can be grouped into four major processes; habitat loss (55%), overexploitation (32%), invasive species (22%) and pollution (14%). Tourism, as a specific threatening process, affects 15% of all assessed listed species with its impacts more apparent in countries with relatively large and significant tourism industries. Most of the individual species reported as threatened by tourism are corals (83%). Terrestrial species may be equally threatened but the absence of National Lists of threatened species and incomplete IUCN Red Lists for all countries in the region highlights significant knowledge gaps making it difficult to fully assess the impacts of tourism on all taxa. While sustainable tourism development currently appears to be a suitable income-generating and conservation-promoting activity in the region, the short and long-term impacts of this development must be carefully monitored and addressed.

Melanesia is important in any discussion concerned with the distribution of terrestrial Mollusca in the Pacific region, as a zone exhibiting an intermingling of faunas derived from different geographical areas. Along the chain of islands constituting Melanesia these faunal elements exhibit changing patterns consistent with island hopping across water gaps. Yet the numbers of species of Mollusca on these islands show a positive correlation with the size of the individual islands (figure 19) and not, as might be expected, with the distance of particular taxonomic groups from centres of dispersal. Variations in this pattern can be attributed to differences in the isolation of islands, ecological diversity and the paucity of collecting in many areas. It should be realized that the distributional patterns recorded for any particular taxon must reflect the frequency and density of collecting and the inadequacies of the systematics of the group, besides biological attributes of the taxon and the island. The limitations should not distract, however, from attempts to analyse the available information, instead they must serve as a guide to the difficulties involved.


Ecography ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1050-1055 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin K. F. Lee ◽  
David A. Keith ◽  
Emily Nicholson ◽  
Nicholas J. Murray

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. TEAIORO ◽  
I. ARABUA ◽  
J. WHITFORD ◽  
P.C. SOUTHGATE

This paper reports on two experiments to assess the nutritional value of cultured microalgae for larvae of the blacklip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera. In the first experiment, two binary diets were assessed and Isochrysis sp. (T-ISO) was administered in combination with either Pavlova salina or the diatom Chaetoceros muelleri. The second experiment assessed the nutritional value of the individual species of microalgae from the best binary diet used in the first experiment (T-ISO and C. muelleri). Larvae fed T-ISO/C. muelleri in the first experiment showed significantly better growth and survival (P < 0.05) than those fed T-ISO/Pav. salina after 20 days of feeding. Administering the microalgae from the best binary diet separately, showed that C. muelleri alone is unsuitable for rearing D-stage P. margaritifera larvae. Larvae fed with T-ISO showed significantly better growth and survival (P < 0.05) than those fed C. muelleri at the end of 9 days of feeding and the slower growth rate of larvae fed C. muelleri was apparent from day 5. The mean antero-posterior shell measurement (APM) of larvae fed C. muelleri at day 5 (88.33 ± 1.95 μm) was significantly smaller (P < 0.05) than that of the larvae fed T-ISO (94.33 ± 4.47 μm). The data generated in this study will be valuable in the further refinement of hatchery culture techniques for P. margaritifera throughout the Indo-Pacific region.


Tmesipteris Vieillardi , Dangeard, is one of those rare plants from the Pacific region, of which our knowledge has remained comparatively incomplete, owing chiefly to the difficulty of obtaining adequate material. As is well known, the genus Tmesipteris occurs under several forms, which Dangeard described as so many distinct species, but which are generally grouped under the name Tm. tannensis , Bernh. The usual habit of plants belonging to this genus is that of semi-erect or pendulous epiphytes, although specimens are frequently seen growing on the ground. But it is not commonly known that one of the forms is normally erect and terrestrial, only rarely growing as an epiphyte. In its external morphology and anatomy also Tm. Vieillardi shows some noteworthy points of difference from the remaining forms ( see Plate 5, figs. 1, 5, 8 and 10), and it is not unlikely that it represents the parent type from which the other forms may have arisen. The chief object of the present paper is to describe these distinctive features of Tm. Vieillardi and to discuss their bearing upon the affinities of this plant, both within the family Psilotacese and with other Pteridophytes. Advantage has been taken of this opportunity to publish photographs of the different “forms” of the genus, so as clearly to illustrate, for what they are worth, the individual differences in habit and external morphology.


2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-207
Author(s):  
Ruqayya Ṭā Hā Jābir al-cUlwānī

An engaged and perceptive contemplation of the Qur'an forms one of the most important bases for the cultural and social advancement of Muslims in all walks of life, and the absence of such study is one of the reasons behind the general cultural attenuation in the modern world. Reflection is one of the means of the construction and formation of a civilised society. The applied faculty of intellect creates an environment which allows reflective and considered thought to be developed from a functional perspective for the general well-being of society. Meanwhile the effective neglect of such study leads to the proliferation of superstition, dissent and social conflict. Indeed it can even be argued that it diminishes the significance of the laws and conventions which serve as the backbone of society. This paper reveals a number of factors which can impede the achievement of such an engaged study of the text: thus, for instance, thoughtless obedience to societal conventions; shortcomings in educational systems and syllabi; and a failure to encompass the significance of the Arabic language. Furthermore this paper presents several effective suggestions for nurturing students' potential, encouraging an environment which allows freedom of thought, and its refinement.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Le Thy Thuong ◽  
Nguyen Thi Oanh

The Indo-Pacific region is an area adjacent to some oceans and the gateway that connects the great power and small countries to the world; this region is always considered by Vietnam as a key strategic geographic area, having direct impacts on national security, position and its role in this region. While big powers have different perceptions to the Indo-Pacific region, as a country occupying an important geographic position in the Pacific region, Vietnam shares a common vision of an open and rule-based area, and a common interest in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity as well as building a common space for coexistence and development with the belief that the Indo-Asian-Pacific is large enough for every nation to grow and prosper. This article finds out that recent changes in the Indo-Pacific region in geopolitics, economics, security and national defence have made many countries, including Vietnam, to redefine their global and regional policies to refresh their strategic perceptions. Vietnam has its own perception, position, approach and national orientations, which is shaping its state behaviour and perspectives in this geopolitical vibrant Indo-Pacific region. Besides, this article uses the SWOT analysis model to determine the challenges, strengths and weaknesses of Vietnam in the Indo-Pacific region. Moreover, while the future of the Indo-Pacific in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world remains filled with uncertainty and economic challenges, the crisis also presents an opportunity for Vietnam to re-evaluate its position. Today, Vietnam always maintains its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism and diversification of international relations, which attaches great importance to enhancing multi-faceted cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Thus, with its own perception and geostrategic advantage, Vietnam—a developing country in the region and in the world with relatively stable economic growth, pursuing rules and order will be a positive factor for a stable, peaceful and prosperous development in the region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amio Matenga-Ikihele ◽  
Judith McCool ◽  
Rosie Dobson ◽  
Fuafiva Fa’alau ◽  
Robyn Whittaker

Abstract Background Pacific people living in New Zealand, Australia, United States, and the Pacific region continue to experience a disproportionately high burden of long-term conditions, making culturally contextualised behaviour change interventions a priority. The primary aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of behaviour change interventions designed to improve health and effect health behaviour change among Pacific people. Methods Electronic searches were carried out on OVID Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase and SCOPUS databases (initial search January 2019 and updated in January 2020) for studies describing an intervention designed to change health behaviour(s) among Pacific people. Titles and abstracts of 5699 papers were screened; 201 papers were then independently assessed. A review of full text was carried out by three of the authors resulting in 208 being included in the final review. Twenty-seven studies were included, published in six countries between 1996 and 2020. Results Important characteristics in the interventions included meaningful partnerships with Pacific communities using community-based participatory research and ensuring interventions were culturally anchored and centred on collectivism using family or social support. Most interventions used social cognitive theory, followed by popular behaviour change techniques instruction on how to perform a behaviour and social support (unspecified). Negotiating the spaces between Eurocentric behaviour change constructs and Pacific worldviews was simplified using Pacific facilitators and talanoa. This relational approach provided an essential link between academia and Pacific communities. Conclusions This systematic search and narrative synthesis provides new and important insights into potential elements and components when designing behaviour change interventions for Pacific people. The paucity of literature available outside of the United States highlights further research is required to reflect Pacific communities living in New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific region. Future research needs to invest in building research capacity within Pacific communities, centering self-determining research agendas and findings to be led and owned by Pacific communities.


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