2 The South Pacific biodiversity conservation programme G. ROBIN SOUTW CONSERVATION in the South Pacific to be replicable in other areas within 5. "Improved capacIties of co-opera­ Islands is being given a major shot in the region. These models will have been tion between different sectors of the arm, through the launching of the well tested and documented by the end society and agencies contributing to South Pacific Biodiversity Conservation of the programme."2 the conservation of the biological Programme (SPBCP), a five-year pro­ diversity of the Pacific Islands." gramme that is now getting underway. A total of fourteen Pacific Island countries are eligible for direct support The importance and urgency of Funded to a total of US$lO,OOO,OOO establishing mechanisms to conserve through the United Nations Develop­ from the programme: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, the fragile biodiversity of the Pacific ment Programme (UNDP), as part of Islands cannot be over emphasized. the Global Environment Facility, and Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands, Given the substantial funding being with promised co-financing from the provided under the SPBCP, the Australian International Development Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Samoa. Other SPREP question to be asked is whether the pro­ Assistance Bureau to an amount of ject is formulated in a way that will A$2,500,OOO, the SPBCP will be country members will be able to partici­ pate in the SPBCP from other sources enable the participating countries to managed in concert with Pacific Island sustain the initiatives over the longer countries by the South Pacific Regional or through exchanges of services, while Papua New Guinea is the recipient term. The conservation of biodiversity Environment Programme (SPREP) must, after all, be permanent if it is from its new headquarters in Apia, of a separate GEF biodiversity allocation. going to have any meaning: biological Western Samoa. systems do not work in five-year cycles. "This project intends to protect The final project document was com­ The sustainability of this project is a biological diversity within a number of pleted after some fairly extensive question that has been on many minds Pacific Islands by facilitating the estab­ consultation in the region, which during the review process, since so little lishment of a series of large, diverse included two workshops, one in Port is known about biodiversity in the Conservation Area Projects or CAPs Vila, Vanuatu, in October 1991, and Pacific Islands, there is very little resi­ (terrestrial, marine and combined) in the other in Apia, Western Samoa, in dent expertise in biodiversity, and the which there are agreed criteria for July 1992. The immediate programme various national governments have development based on long-term eco­ objectives are: small staffs and very limited resources, being dependent on aid funding for pro­ logical sustainability. Emphasis is on 1. "To facilitate establishment and assisting local partnerships to develop jects of this kind. The stated SPBCP initial management by local com­ approach is to " ... use conservation sustainable management structures for munities, NGOs and government biudiversity conservation. Ancillary areas to protect critical habitats and agencies, of a series of Conservation develop sustainable use and develop­ activities, linked to specified CAPs Areas that demonstrate protection where possible, include information ment practices concurrently, the logic of biodiversity, ecologically sustain­ being that it is better to act quickly to dissemination, training attachments, able use of natural resources, and species protection and action-oriented develop effective models with the best community economic develop­ of the working knowledge available." conservation policy analysis. ment." It should be incumbent on all "The emphasis is on facilitating local 2. "To protect terrestrial and marine ecologists, systematists, resource communities, NGOs and government species that are threatened or managers, government officials and agencies to establish together viable endangered in the Pacific region." educators in the Pacific Island nations management systems for biodiversity to ensure that, after the five-year term conservation and sustainable develop­ 3. "Identification of new areas that are of this project, its initiatives do not ment. The lead facilitating role for each important for the conservation disappear over the horizon when the CAP will be held by an agency of of biological diversity, and are money runs out. national, provincial or local govern­ potential Conservation Areas in the ment, a land-holding group or local participating countries." 'Professor of Marine Studies and Director, Insti­ community, a local or international tute of Marine Resources, The University of the conservation NGO, or a consortium of 4. "Improved awareness in Pacific South Pacific. 2Extract from Project Document: August 1992. the above. There will be a bias toward Island countries of the importance Prepared by the Preparatory Assistance Team, facilitating models which achieve and means of conserving biological Iosefatu Reti, Peter Hunnam, Peter Thomas and concrete outputs and which are likely diversity. " Peter Johnson. .