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Solid Waste Management poses a challenge for Municipalities in developing countries not only because of the technical or organizational difficulties of waste collection and disposal. In most cases the available public funds are not sufficient to provide for an adequate and extensive service provision. Lacking funds result in technical (enough equipment, proper maintenance) and organizational (insufficient and under qualified staff) hazards that then cause poor service delivery with severe consequences for public health and the environment.

The Regional Meteorological Services Directors (RMSD) Meeting convened for its 14th session at the International Conference Centre in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands from 9–12th August 2011. It was preceded by a Pacific Regional Meteorological Services Directors Workshop in Support of Climate Adaptation Planning in the Pacific Islands on 8th August. The objectives of the meeting were for participants to formulate and establish a clear understanding of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC), the Pacific Desk Partnership concept (since renamed as the Pacific Meteorological Desk Partnership, PMDP), and the Pacific Meteorological Strategic Plan (PMSP) (2012– 2015). A total of 54 participants attended the meeting. Primarily the participants were Meteorological Service Directors and representatives from American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States of America and Vanuatu. Representatives of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, SPREP, SPC, WMO, UNESCO-IOC, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, University of Oklahoma, Pacific ENSO Applications Climate (PEAC) Centre (co-located at the University of Hawaii and the University of Guam) were also present

Geological Society of London

This paper provides a brief examination of capacity development needs for climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in small island developing states (SIDS). It is noted that this is a critical time for SIDS which must contend with ongoing developmental pressures in addition to growing pressures from risks associated with global environmental change and economic liberalisation that threaten their physical and economic security. Much depends in this context on the orientation of SIDS in global economic and political systems. Getting the policies right is proving to be very difficult as SIDS continue to be deficient in a critical mass of intellectual capital, policy coherence, financial resources and qualified personnel that are needed to develop and implement sustainable development policies and projects. In turn, this critically hampers the emergence of adequate systemic capacity. SIDS however have a history of changes at the global and regional levels which not only created constraints but can be seen as a source of new opportunities for building resilience to natural disasters. How effective this process transpires in the end will depend on how well lessons learnt from preceding years are taken on board and effectively acted upon.

The 5th Oceania Regional Meeting was held at the Pacific International Coral Reef Centre in Koror, Palau from 26th to 30th March 2012. The meeting was co-organized by SPREP and the Ramsar Convention Secretariat and hosted by the Government of Palau. Funding assistance for the meeting was provided by the Governments of Australia and France with additional support provided through the UNEP-SPREP MEA project. The final agenda for the meeting is presented in Annex 1 and the final list of participants in Annex 2.