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The world’s more than 200 000 protected areas come in many forms, on land and at sea, and occur in every country (Bertzky et al. 2012). They are places that people establish to conserve natural and cultural heritage and to sustain their benefits for society. Among other values, protected areas allow people to connect with nature for their inspiration, education, well-being and recreation. While protecting ecosystems that are essential for life, they can support human livelihoods and aspirations and offer nature-based solutions for the complex challenges faced by the world today.

This dissertation examines the relationship between contemporary development projects and the Fijian idea vanua which is commonly translated as “land” but entails meanings of people, community, and custom. Often treated as a rigid cosmological entity with its own cultural order, in this dissertation I argue that when viewed as an environmental framework in which historical actors and ideas are constantly moving in and out, vanua is actually flexible, open-ended, and has the capacity to interact and collaborate with contemporary development projects such as environmental conservation and commercial farming. This capacity is built from the entanglement of diverse historical forces (e.g. indigenous politics, pre-colonial capitalism, colonial policies) which still resonate in the environment today, and is able to affect the realization of the universal values (e.g. environmentalism, development) intended to be introduced. Here I use a small coastal village called Waitabu located on Taveuni Island as the ethnographic setting to demonstrate how these processes are played out.

The Pacific Islands region is currently experiencing an intensification of interest in culture of an enabler, rather than an inhibitor of development.

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)

This approach flourished in the twentieth century until it was suggested that locally grown herbs can be better for overall health and result in fewer side effects than antibiotics and other universally applicable and diagnosed materials

Enhancing ocean governance for sustainable economic development in the Pacific Islands region by:| strengthening regional leadership and cooperation on oceans| establishing jurisdictional rights and responsibilities over maritime boundaries| supporting decision-making through improved access to information| conducting marine assessment and planning activities to understand ocean management priorities, mobilise and coordinate action, and monitor progress| building national and regional marine policy, planning, science and geospatial knowledge and capabilities.

This report provides an overview of expected housing density changes and related impacts to private forests on America's islands in the Pacific and Caribbean, specifically Hawaii, Guam, America Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin islands. We discuss the vulnerability of island forests to conservation for housing development, introduction and spread of invasive species and risk of uncharacteristic wildlife, among other concerns.Island forests are subject to pressures that are similar to those on the mainland, including conversion of forest to housing, agriculture and industry; introduction and spread of invasive species; and risk of uncharacteristic wildlife. But islands by their nature, with relatively small pr constrained land areas and fresh water limitations, can be more vulnerable than mainland areas to such impacts.