Islands Business - Pacific islands join forces on environment

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands ----- Pacific island nations are facing critical environmental issues – pollution, habitat destruction, declining fisheries and climate change – which threaten their costal ecosystems impacting food security and wellbeing. Environmental leaders and managers are in Rarotonga to meet and discuss an innovative approach to the management of coastal ecosystems, known as ecosystem-based management, as part of a forum and training course. The two parallel events, which run for two weeks, were jointly opened on Monday by Prime Minister Jim Marurai. Ecosystem-based management is an integrated management approach which addresses the ecological aspects of resource management within the social, economic and political context. It seeks solutions in which human and natural components are part of one sustainable system. The challenge is to manage coastal and marine lands and waters with a whole-of-government approach, rather than a sectoral approach, and incorporate traditional management structures and practices. “We are seeking to combine the collective wisdom of leaders, managers and experts from across the Pacific so we can better manage and preserve the precious coastal resources that underpin the economies and societies of Pacific Island nations,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Global Change, University of Queensland. “Given the rapid degradation of these important resources, this is a particularly critical issue.” The Pacific leadership forum will focus on policy and planning for ecosystem-based management including national environmental priorities of the countries taking part and the implications of climate change and the way forward for the region. The forum is led by the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University, and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Research and Security (ANCORS). The training course will equip those taking part with tools and information to implement effective ecosystem-based management in their home countries. It will integrate contemporary and traditional management practices in managing coastal environments in the Pacific. Participants will learn from a range of case studies, in particular what has been done to improve the health of the Takitumu lagoon. Countries taking part include the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Yap, Tonga, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and the USA.