about us

• management
• office location
• history

PUMA – the Planning and Urban Management Agency is a division of the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MNRE), Government of Samoa.

PUMA’s vision is:

Well-planned and regulated development protecting the environment together with well coordinated provision of urban and rural services and effective disaster management.

Under the MNRE Corporate Plan, PUMA is charged with meeting the MNRE Objective 4, which is to provide strategic planning and disaster management services for the sustainable management of the environment and natural resources.

PUMA’s role as part of MNRE is responsible for the provision of MNRE two budget outputs to Government comprising of the Planning and Urban Management Agency and the Operation of the national disaster management office

The function of PUMA is to regulate sustainable development and protection of natural resources at all levels through planning for development that meet stakeholders’ needs, coordinating provision of PUMA’s urban/rural services as well as minimizing the adverse impacts of disasters.

PUMA has five strategies to achieve its goal, the MNRE Objective and its specific Implementation Priorities. The Business Plan for PUMA is a summary specification of the Strategies and Results that PUMA, as a whole will apply to generate Outputs. In addition, the detailed Action Plans for PUMA Management and for each of the four Sections in PUMA are intended to serve as a checklist and guide for the day-to-day management of each Section.
The structure of PUMA has been designed in response to the functional responsibilities of PUMA as set out in the PUMA Act 2004 and to the recent Government rationalization which resulted in Disaster Management being assigned to PUMA. PUMA comprises four sections plus a range of special projects.

These sections are – Strategic Planning, Sustainable Development, Disaster Management and Urban Management Services. The projects include (1) National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and (2) Capacity Building for Development of Adaptation Measures (CIDA or Canada) under Climate Change. (3) ISP for Ozone Protection and (4) Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) project for development of a National Implementation Plan (NIP).

Other projects include IAMII with World Bank and the Sewage and Sanitation project under ADB which are implemented directly through the Strategic, Sustainable and Disaster Management Sections.