Carving out our own identity

Asterio Takesy
Navigating by the stars on their course into the future, our Pacific ancestors drew upon their traditional knowledge and inner strengths not only to survive, but to carve out their own identity.

Pacific islanders are no strangers to challenges, having ingrained in us a skill to adapt and respect our surroundings.

It is this respect that we need to foster as our island way of life is threatened by dramatic loss of biodiversity.

Globally, some 35 percent of the world’s mangroves have been lost in just 20 years. Over the past eight years, an average of 36 million hectares of primary forest is lost each year.

Hard coral cover has declined in some areas by 80%, and around the world 23% of mammal species, 12% of bird species and 31% of amphibian species are threatened. 

In the Pacific, our coral reefs are home to 3000 different species and for some islands over 80% of the species are endemic. But our region has more rare, endangered and threatened species per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Half of the total biodiversity in the Pacific is at risk. We have approximately 30% of Pacific birds currently threatened with extinction, Pacific native forest cover is being removed at rates of up to 4% each year with less than 30% of the forest cover remaining in a natural state. Now, more than ever, our biodiversity and environment needs our respect and consideration in the Pacific, for without a healthy biodiversity we have a bleak future.

Our environment gifts us our way of life: our cultural traditions are based on biodiversity, our traditional diet is based on diversity and the livelihoods of many Pacific communities are supported by biodiversity.

We join the rest of the world in the fight to save our planet, a battle that was made stronger during the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany in June.

One Nature. One World. One Future. That was the theme for the gathering of over 6000 people from 191 countries, as they met over two weeks to pave the way forward for saving the world’s biodiversity.

The Pacific islands countries participated at the conference, supported by a team of advisers from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD).

The conference ended with many positive outcomes for the Pacific region as we sail closer to the 2010 biodiversity targets which, if implemented, should halt the current rate of biodiversity loss around the world.

The world’s biggest conference on biodiversity firmly established a link between climate change and biodiversity.

Conservation and sustainable use of resilient ecosystems is one of the best strategies for the Pacific in adapting to climate change.

The Islands Biodiversity Programme of work adopted by the CBD COP8 in 2006 is to be reviewed within the next two years.

This is a significant bulk of the work that SPREP has undertaken along with the Pacific islands countries in order to formulate national systems to conserve biodiversity.

The review underscores the importance of such a programme and the fact that we in the islands are an important focus of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

An international regime for access and benefits sharing is to be completed by 2010, and over the next two years work will be undertaken to determine the shape it will take.

In the Pacific this regime will be of special significance, as it will serve to help protect the Pacific islands from exploitation of its genetic resources.

These are several of the positive policy outcomes for the Pacific from the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), however, one of the most significant events for our Pacific region was administrative—the acceptance of Tania Temata of the Cook Islands to the CBD Bureau.

Her selection to the board on behalf of the Asia Pacific region will bring new attention to Pacific biodiversity issues between now and the next Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010.

The Pacific may have had a small combined delegation at the 9th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity, but in true Pacific spirit the delegation came together in the best interest of the region.

Having armed themselves with a strategy to promote the Pacific perspective at the international conference, the Pacific delegates worked well at the conference to ensure our region was remembered in the negotiations and our corner of the world was not overlooked.

The 10th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity is particularly important since it marks the next stage of work towards the 2010 targets to reduce biodiversity loss. We as a Pacific people will be doing our part to protect our environment and way of life for generations to come.

Our attendance to the CBD COP9 has taught us that together, we can achieve much for our region. Let’s work on honing and sharpening our negotiating skills for the next international biodiversity gathering as we sail towards the 2010 biodiversity targets.

Let’s work with our elders and our future generations to protect what is ours, now. Let’s bring our Pacific family together and save our biodiversity. Our island way of life depends upon it.