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Asian Development Bank member fact sheet. ADB assistance to Samoa supports improvements in the delivery of basic social services, and provision of safer and more efficient road and maritime transportation, better internet connectivity, and effective disaster relief.

Economic growth and investment in infrastructure go hand in hand. A growing economy needs constantly improved infrastructure to ensure that the production and exchange of goods and services happens as smoothly and efficiently as possible

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the heart of its implementation with its promise to “leave no one behind”.

A rapidly growing population, poor human development indicators, and climate change risk exposure demand a public investment policy that is effective so as to ensure the sustainable growth and development of the Solomon Islands

This handbook serves as a guide to the applications, technologies, business models, and regulations that should be considered when evaluating the feasibility of a battery energy storage system (BESS) project.

The Asia and Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Unabated warming could significantly undo previous achievements of economic development and improvements of living standards. At the same time, the region has both the economic capacity and weight of influence to change the present fossil-fuel based development pathway and curb global emissions. This report sheds light on the regional implications of the latest projections of changes in climate conditions over Asia and the Pacific. The assessment concludes that, even under the Paris consensus scenario in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C to 2°C above preindustrial levels, some of the land area, ecosystems, and socioeconomic sectors will be significantly affected by climate change impacts, to which policy makers and the investment community need to adapt to. However, under a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, which will cause a global mean temperature rise of over 4°C by the end of this century, the possibilities for adaptation are drastically reduced. Among others, climate change impacts such as the deterioration of the Asian “water towers”, prolonged heat waves, coastal sea-level rise and changes in rainfall patterns could disrupt ecosystem services and lead to severe effects on livelihoods which in turn would affect human health, migration dynamics and the potential for conflicts. This assessment also underlines that, for many areas vital to the region’s economy, research on the effects of climate change is still lacking.

In May 2015, 74 line transects in three different habitat types (plantation, mixed crops, urban) were surveyed on Upolu and Savai’i islands, Samoa, with an aim of estimating the population size, density and distribution of two invasive bird species, Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) and Jungle Myna (Acridotheres fuscus). Based on the available literature, the surveyed habitats were identified as preferred foraging habitat for the two myna species. The three habitats make up 24.9% of Samoa’s land area. Survey data were analysed using the Distance program. It was estimated that the population of myna birds occurring in the plantation, mixed crops and urban habitats of Samoa is approximately 158,995 (+- 29,588). Approximately 130,030 (+- 19,837) myna were estimated to live on Upolu and 28,968 (+- 9,751) on Savai’i, across the three habitat types. Survey results also revealed that both species show a significant preference for urban habitat. Jungle Myna were estimated to be the most numerous (population estimate: 133,925 +-24,321), occurring on both islands and in all surveyed habitat types. Jungle Myna seem to have saturated the urban habitat available in Upolu and therefore have proceeded to colonise plantations and mixed crops adjacent to urban areas. Common Myna (population estimate: 23,367 +- 7,612), having reached the shores of Samoa ca. 20 years later than Jungle Myna, show highest density in urban environments. They are concentrated in the north-west section of Upolu, with only a few individuals observed on the east coast of Savai’i.

Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu. The Port Vila Urban Area (PVUA), defined as the Port Vila Municipality (PVM) and adjoining peri-urban areas, has a population of about 70,000. About 49,300 of these people live in PVM. Per capita gross national income in Vanuatu was approximately 279,402 vatu (Vt) (around $3,073) in 2011.