The role of contaminants in altering the coastal environment of Samoa

Samoa is a small island nation in the South Pacific. The region usually referred to as the South Pacific is in the center of the vast expanse of ocean between Asia and the two Americas. The term South Pacific is rather misleading as it usually refers to the islands of both Polynesia and Melanesia (from Pitcairn to Papua New Guinea) and also the Micronesian island states which extend well north of the Equator. Hawaii is usually exempt from the South Pacific region, due mainly to the political affiliation of Hawaii with the United States of America. In some documents, the South Pacific refers to the island nations south of the Equator. Some authors prefer the term Oceania to refer to all islands of the Pacific. In this paper, the South Pacific will be taken to mean the twenty-two island nations that make up the members of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).