The Information Resource Centre & Library of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has completed compilation of online virtual environment libraries for all Pacific island countries and territories.
Accessible from the SPREP IRC & Library homepage (http://www.sprep.org/publication/pub_top.asp), virtual environment libraries have been created for American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.The online resources include deep links to environment profiles and indicators, full text country reports, linkages to reports published by SPREP and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and links to documents hosted on Moana, Pacific Reefbase and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Digital Library. The libraries also include access to academic literature and research, multimedia materials and an inventory of environment related websites for each country.
Peter Murgatroyd, the SPREP Information Resource Centre Manager and coordinator of the Pacific Environment Information Network (PEIN) launched the new online libraries.
"The importance of access to environmental data and current knowledge and best practices in environmental management must be stressed, especially in the face of rapid environmental change and resource depletion in the region. Community access to information is critical to enhance environmental governance at both the national and local level."
The PEIN virtual environment libraries were developed by the SPREP IRC & Library with funding assistance from the European Union.