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CRAG says population growth is a threat to the territory
The Governor’s Coral Reef Advisory Group (CRAG) says that one of the major threats facing the future of the territory is “Too Many People on Too Little Land,” or “To’atele Tagata as La’ititi le Laueleele.”
Department of Commerce director Faleseu Eliu Paopao explained, “There is not a man, woman, or child in American Samoa that will escape the impact of population growth if the problem is left unchecked.”
This will be especially true for Tutuila, which houses 96% of the territory’s population despite having only 30% of habitable land.
(DOC statistics reveal that the population in American Samoa increased from less than 10,000 to 57,291 over the past century, between 1900 and 2000).
In July 2007, the estimated population stood at 65,029 and at the same time, a major shift in population location from east to west occurred, with more than 40% of the population now residing in the Tafuna Plains (Tualauta County).
At the current rates of growth, in about five years, there will be an increase of 7,000 more people, 1,500 more houses, and 2,000 more automobiles.
Chief Statistician Vai Filiga asks, “Can you imagine what traffic will be like here with 2,000 more cars on a two-lane road that is already heavily congested?” He added, “Imagine the impact that 14,000 more people will cause the island during the next decade.”
A significant problem in the immediate future centers around the issue of Population Momentum which is the childbearing potential that will impact future growth as the population under 18 will likely grow up and have families of their own.
In American Samoa, 40% of the population is under 15 years old and this means that while measures can be taken to reduce population growth, the population will most likely continue to increase.
And as the population grows on this small island, pressures on the environment, including social and economic resources are inevitable. The strain imposed on all resources due to the growth and density of human population is called Population Pressure, which has been recognized by CRAG as the root cause of many of the other key threats to American Samoa’s coral reefs, including fisheries management, climate change, and land-based pollution.
Population pressure was first addressed in the territory in May 2000 when the late Governor Tauese Sunia’s Task Force on Population Growth, chaired by then Lt. Governor Togiola Tulafono met with a number of key stakeholders to address the issue.
The Task Force drafted and presented to the Governor and Fono a report called “Impacts of Rapid Population Growth in American Samoa: A Call for Action,” in which several areas of concern for population pressures were highlighted including: culture, economy, infrastructure and land use, education, social and medical services, and the environment, not the least of which included the coral reefs.
(A copy of the report is available on-line at http://doc.asg.as/crag/population/).
With the population problem literally growing on a yearly basis, CRAG applied for funding to develop a Local Action Strategy (LAS) specific to the issue of Population Pressure. A LAS identifies and implements plans of action to reduce key threats to coral reef systems.
Local consultant Maggie Keane of Ina’ilau a Tama’ita’i Inc., was contracted to facilitate the development and implementation phases of the Population Pressure LAS, in conjunction with a Population Pressure LAS working group.
Employing many aspects of the 2000 report as a model, the Population Pressure LAS working group developed a vision statement and plans of action that fell into five main categories: policy, education, outreach, communication, and data collection and management.
The action plans key in on turning the vision to facilitate a balance of population growth with available human and natural resources to create a high quality of life into reality. The 5 “C’s” for sustainable change – commitment, consistency, continuity, connectivity, and credibility – were used as tools to propel the LAS forward.
To achieve commitment, otherwise known as a vested ‘buy-in,’ key stakeholders were asked to address the Population Pressure issue and consider implementing the proposed plan of action.
A series of events, beginning with a focus group in September 2007, was implemented and in May 2008, two focus groups on ‘Immigration’ and ‘Policy in the Making’ were conducted as well as a full day mini-summit on “Population, Reproductive Health and Education.”
The mini-summit included the health and science team from the Department of Education’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction, the Maternal and Child Health Program team from the Department of Health, the CEO and Family Planning Clinic team from the LBJ Medical Center, and representatives from the CNR program at the American Samoa Community College.
Two important by-products of the mini-summit were the initial development of a framework for establishing a national health policy, and the development of an on-line population pressure communication system to encourage interaction between agencies.
A key feature is the PowerPoint presentation “Population Dynamics in American Samoa” which was developed by the LAS working group. Population dynamics studies how the population in a community changes over time.
The three main components for this change are births, deaths, and migration. Population growth is determined by the number of births minus deaths, plus or minus net migration.
Effective, affordable, easily available contraception methods, increased family planning, and strict immigration policies are significant plans of action in reducing population growth.
The primary goal of the Population Pressure LAS is to establish a comprehensive, integrated Population Pressure Commission that will address population growth.
A mini-summit for the Fono is being planned for August and a territorial-wide Summit on Population is scheduled for later this year on September 24-25 at the Convention Center in Utulei.
This work will continue until it is ready to be submitted to the Governor and the Fono for enactment into law, with the key date being September 2008.
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