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Coral Reef Initiative Update

The Coral Reef Advisory Group is excited to move forward with several initiatives derived from the February 2011 Climate Change Summit, entitled “Making Climate Change Local: Building Resilient Communities in the Pacific”. The Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Group, mandated by Honorable Governor Togiola Tulafono, will be developing a Climate Change Adaptation Framework to serve as a guide for resource managers, steering future climate change-related management strategies for the Territory of American Samoa.

ASCMP

The American Samoa Coastal Management Program’s GIS team recently visited Manu’a to collect GPS data to update infrastructure layers including Buildings and Roads.  The new Buildings layer will indicate which structures were damaged or completely destroyed from the Tsunami in 2009.  Many structures in the Manu’a group were found to be vacant.

Population Day

World Population Day is an annual United Nations event observed every July 11th to raise awareness of population issues. American Samoa’s localized theme was “Managing Change: Create a better future”. During the event, participants between the ages of 8-16, Students, youth leaders, and parents were able to visit display booths from a wide range of environmental, economic and planning agencies where fun population-based activities occurred for the participants as well as prizes. The atmosphere during the event was very positive and proactive.

Biogeographic Assessment

The Biogeographic Assessment team will be visiting American Samoa to present their findings. The purpose of this project was to conduct geospatial analyses of selected marine species, habitats, and socioeconomic patterns to support multiple marine managed area initiatives in the Samoan archipelago. The project identified candidate areas for a potential network of national marine sanctuaries and other marine protected areas (MPA) throughout the archipelago based on ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural information. http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/sanctuaries/samoa/