Samoa 2014
Yearbook 2014
Samoa. During the year, Samoa hosted a UN conference on the needs of small island nations, with around 3,000 delegates from close to 200 countries participating. Samoa population in 2020 is estimated at 198,425. Climate change was a major issue, and in connection with the meeting, the largest solar-powered power plant in the Pacific was inaugurated. It is part of a solar energy project in collaboration between Samoa and New Zealand that will reduce the island’s fuel costs and fight climate warming.
In July, the government proposed a change in the constitution which means that only the government party should be able to nominate a candidate for the post of head of state. According to topb2bwebsites, the current model, where each of the MPs can propose a candidate, was created before Samoa had party politics.
Samoa is subjected to the action of SE trade winds. only in the winter period, while in the summer the wind regime is varied, coming mainly from the NE.: during this period the formation of violent cyclones is very frequent, which particularly affect Samoa and the SE islands. of these, especially Fiji, Tonga and New Caledonia. The disastrous cyclones of 1875 and 1889 are to be remembered: the latter in the port of Apia destroyed two Germanic warships, the Adler and the Eber as well as two American ships and many local boats, also causing the death of many people.
The action of the winds is reflected in the entire rainfall trend. The trade winds bring a certain amount of humidity which results in seasonal rains against the SE flank. of the mountains, and the other winds cause the most violent non-periodic rains, to which we owe most of the annual total recorded, which is quite high, with an average in Apia of 2884 mm., but with a maximum remembered of about 8000 mm. This variability of the total annual rainfall partly affects the plant life of the islands, although the minimum necessary humidity is always abundantly exceeded.
The temperature shows minimal seasonal variations, given the beneficial influence of the fully oceanic position: the annual average is 26 °, with a minimum in July of 24 °, 9, and a maximum of 26 °, 2, which occurs in December. The observatory, which deals not only with climatology, but also with terrestrial magnetism and geophysics, is based in Apia. The vegetation is affected by oceanic isolation, and is rather poor in species: however the three main arboreal plants necessary for the life of the natives thrive there, and are the pandanus, the coconut, the breadfruit, which can now be considered plants cultivated, while in the lower uninhabited areas the very dense forest dominates, without one being able to speak of a true equatorial forest. The most notable tree is the banyan (Ficus aoa), which reaches dimensions greater than any other component of the forest, and determines its physiognomy. On the higher parts of the slopes, the plants thin out, although there is always wood, albeit sparse.
The fauna is very poor, for the same reason, having, as only Mammals, dogs, pigs, mice and bats, the former are of some usefulness, and most of all the latter, constituting the only meat food of the islanders. Birds are more numerous as regards the species, and indeed it should be remembered that in Samoa one of those birds was found that can be said if not living fossils, at least a species in danger of extinction: the manumea (Didunculus strigirostris), close to pigeons, characterized by a beak similar to that of nocturnal birds of prey. There is a species of gallinaceous (Megapodius), and two species of mellivores, one of the genus Ptilotis, green-yellowish, the other of the genus Myzomela, black with the scarlet head, characteristic of the inflorescences of the coconut, diurnal. A squid and a gray heron frequent the coast.
The largest island is Savaii, with an area of 1820 sq km. Characteristic for those who approach the appearance of the island from the sea, which forms almost a single volcanic cone, with many minor craters that the vegetation allows to be seen or guessed at in various points, particularly on the N side. An extended stretch on the NE side. it is covered by very recent lava, due to the eruption of 1905, which began explosive on 4 August, and continued in the effusive phase for five days. The crater opened at an altitude of about 800, therefore halfway up the coast, where the dormant cone of Matavanu already existed. The current of lava, about 300 m. Wide, after filling the crater, began a slow inexorable descent, which led it to reach the beach on December 6, after a path of 12 to 14 km., Advancing into the sea and thus forming a new beach line, which in some point protrudes a kilometer from the previous one. It should be noted, near the outlet to the sea, the expansion of the fan-shaped lava flow particularly towards E., and the subsequent rise of two explosion craters, active only for a short time.
Undoubted trace of another eruption can be seen on the western side, on which lava is found, rising in the first half of the century. XVIII, from the crater of Manga Afi to the sea. All of Savaii can be said to be an enormous basalt cone, with numerous secondary craters at various altitudes: there are fifty between medium and small, as well as very small ones.
The island is inhabited only along the beach, with villages scattered all around, villages of a few hundred residents, alternating with other smaller ones: the major centers are Safotolafai and Faga in E., with a thousand and a half residents together, and Safune and Mataùtu to N., of about the same importance.
Between Savaii and Upolu there are two islets: Apolima and Manono. Apolima is an extinct crater, with a diameter of about 600 m. E.-O., of about 750 m. NS. The island has a slightly larger size, as the external slope is steep on the sea. In N. the crater is ruined in a short stretch, allowing the sea to form a small internal lagoon, on the shore of which only the island village stands. Manono is of irregular shapes, less high above the sea, and entirely surrounded by corals, which make its waters dangerous.
