12th Pacific Roundtable for Nature Conservation Meets in

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SUVA 000330 SIPDIS BANGKOK FOR REO AND USAID COMMERCE FOR NOAA INTERIOR FOR USGS, OIA, NPS, and FWS USDA FOR THE FOREST SERVICE E.O 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID BP XV SUBJECT: 12th Pacific Roundtable for Nature Conservation Meets in Solomon Islands REF A) 07 Port Moresby 0370 (NOTAL) REF B) 08 Suva 0289 REF C) 08 Suva 0455 ¶1. Summary: The Pacific Roundtable on Nature Conservation held its 12th annual Meeting in Honiara, Solomon Islands from June 27 to July ¶3. The meeting focused on improving roundtable support to countries in implementing their national nature conservation strategies. It adopted a monitoring framework for the Pacific Regional Action Strategy for Nature Conservation (2008-2012) and endorsed additional "Principles" that will also be subject to monitoring. Participants shared their organizations' objectives as well as their plans to align those objectives to the Action Strategy. They also discussed the need to improve linkages between the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) National Action Plans and other national strategic documents and expressed concerns over reporting and other demands CTI participation is making on countries. The Solomon Islands government launched its National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan during the meeting, which was opened by Minister for Environment, Conservation and Metrology, Gordon Darsy Lilo. End Summary. ¶2. The Pacific Roundtable on Nature Conservation (RT) met for the 12th time since its inception from June 27-July 3 in Honiara, Solomon Islands (SI). The meeting was co-hosted by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment and by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and was chaired by IUCN Oceania Director Taholo Kami. The agenda focused on improving Roundtable support to countries in implementing their national nature conservation strategies. (Note: The RT now sees its role as providing a mechanism to implement the Action Strategy for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Island Region 2008-2012 [reftels A and B].) Representatives of local and international NGOs took part in the weeklong meeting together with participants from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the University of the South Pacific (USP) and officials from the SI government. Mark Fornwall, the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Pacific Basin Information Node coordinator and Embassy Suva-based Regional Environment Affairs Specialist (RES) Sandeep K. Singh also attended. Current RT members are IUCN, USP, SPREP, WWF-South Pacific, Conservation International, the Secretariat of the Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC),the Locally Managed Marine Areas Network, TNC, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS),RARE Conservation, Birdlife International and the Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI). Monitoring of Action Strategy for Nature Conservation (2008-2012) and its Principles ¶3. The meeting adopted a monitoring framework for the Action Strategy for Nature Conservation (2008-2012) and its "Principles." The Roundtable's various working groups will be responsible for the actual monitoring, which will be reported on a yearly basis. The framework has five indicators to measure progress against the Principles including, alignment of Roundtables members' programs with national conservation plans, national and local capacity development, Roundtable member accountability, coordination, and ensuring best practice in conservation program design and implementation. Members committed to report against these indicators by 2010 to establish a baseline of information. RT agrees to support Governments of Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and SI with implementation of their NBSAPs ¶4. The RT members agreed to assist three priority countries Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea with the development and implementation of their National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans (NBSAPs). The RT Coordinator will work with the Departments of Environment (DOEs) of these countries in developing NBSAP implementation "roadmaps." Participants estimated that the RT needs SUVA 00000330 002 OF 004 at least $100,000 (USD) a year to support in-country activities and the coordinator's salary. The chair asked NGOs to pitch in. SI Government makes promises and launches its NBSAP ¶5. Environmental news out of the Solomon Islands often focuses on rampant illegal logging or, more recently, dolphin sales. The Solomon Islands' Department of Environment, like that of most other countries in the Pacific, is greatly under-resourced and is currently operating with just twelve staff. Nevertheless, rising to the challenge of hosting the Roundtable, the DOE worked determinedly to launch the Solomon Islands NBSAP, which has been stalled for years, during this meeting. In recognition of the achievement, the RT chair urged NGOs to work together to assist the SI government with NBSAP implementation. ¶6. Another promising development was the environment minister's announcement in his opening remarks that the Solomon Islands Government had decided to reduce log exports to "a more sustainable level." The minister, who himself owns a logging company, spoke about the need for sustainable logging practices. Linkages between the Nature Conservation and the Climate Change Roundtables ¶7. Participants discussed how to link the activities of the Roundtable on Nature Cconservation with the newly established Climate Change Roundtable (reftel C) but were not able to identify a clear way forward. It was agreed that members need to address this issue as soon as possible. The RT chair will be presenting at the Climate Change Roundtable, which is tentatively slated to hold its second meeting in October or November in Marshall Islands. Inclusion of Northern Pacific Organizations in RT discussions ¶8. RES encouraged the inclusion of organizations working in the Northern Pacific in the RT. Paul Lokani of The Nature Conservancy supported this suggestion, and members acknowledged that the RT should encompass the entire Pacific and that organizations working in the Northern Pacific should be invited. Participants agreed that the inclusion of Northern Pacific partners will help with sharing of lessons and best practices between initiatives such as the Micronesia Challenge and the Coral Triangle Initiative and at the same time help bridge the divide between the North and the South. Members also agreed that the RT should reach out to the French Pacific territories, as well a to the private sector, churches, civil society organizations, and a wider range or regional intergovernmental bodies and that renewed efforts would be made to engage the Australian and New Zealand governments, which were not represented at the meeting. 2010 International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) ¶9. RT members agreed to celebrate the "2010 International Year of Biodiversity" as a region. SPREP circulated a paper to members and requested their commitment and support. This Roundtable decision will be presented to the next SPREP Meeting. Need to include donors in RT discussions ¶10. One increasingly apparent weakness of the Roundtable is the lack of donor engagement. Members agreed that they need to invite more donors into the RT. Consequently, they agreed to hold a separate meeting with the donor community in December in 2009. USAID, ADB and the Coral Triangle Initiate (CTI) ¶11. There was a good deal of discussion of CTI and the USAID and ADB support programs for it. Some RT members were concerned about the SUVA 00000330 003 OF 004 demands that the funding requirements of the two programs make on countries. Small countries, such as the Solomon Islands, often find it burdensome to meet donor reporting and other requirements, which can actually interfere with the implementation of projects on the ground. RT members agreed that the NGOs implementing CTI in the Pacific should get in touch with ADB and USAID to raise these concerns. RT members also emphasized the importance of linking the CTI National Plans of Action to the NBSAPS or any other relevant national plans including climate change plans. New RT Principles ¶12. Roundtable members adopted the following new Principles "to protect rich island lifestyles by investing in and banking on biodiversity." These Principles are in addition to those previously agreed to the Action Strategy (reftel A). They committed to: 7 Recognize that the foundation of national planning and growth strategies is based upon ensuring continued availability of natural resources and environmental services; 7 Protect healthy ecosystems and restore degraded ones in order to maintain ecosystem services on which our people depend for sustainable development and livelihoods; 7 Maintain populations of plant and animal species that are critical drivers of ecosystem functions in order to increase resilience to climate change, which threatens important services such as clean water, food security and storm protection; 7 Urge Pacific countries to support a responsible Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) regime in a post-Kyoto dialogue as a strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation; 7 Support major regional initiatives to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable development, such as the Coral Triangle Initiative, Micronesia Challenge, Regional Invasive Species Program, and the Pacific Ocean 2020; 7 Encourage partners to the regional initiatives, including donors, to align with national priorities, including National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs),and to ensure engagement of local communities; 7 Emphasize that most natural resources in the Pacific are owned and used by indigenous and local communities and the Pacific approach to conservation is based on sustainable resource use, community property rights and decision-making practices, and local aspirations for development and well-being. 7 Build capacity for leadership, direction and ownership within Pacific governments to enable long-term sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity and bio-capital; 7 Encourage donors to consider well-managed endowments in environmental trust funds at a national or regional level to ensure strengthening and staffing of Pacific government departments, national organizations and institutions, and community-based organizations; and 7 Encourage donors and actors in the region to adopt the nine principles of the Action Strategy for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Island Region 2008-2012. ¶13. Comment: The RT has been in existence for 11 years now. Participants commented that this meeting was the first time they left with a greater sense of optimism with regard to both the future of the Roundtable and the possibility of it making a direct positive contribution to the region's environment, in particular the direction the Solomon Islands Government is taking with its various environment initiatives. The Roundtable has secured commitments from the governments of the three countries (Fiji, PNG and SI) and all major local and international NGOs operating in the region to cooperate in NBASAP implementation. The hope is that the new monitoring framework will put in place a tool to measure the extent to which NGO partners live up to those commitments. End Comment. SUVA 00000330 004 OF 004 ¶14. This report was cleared by the USGS NBII Pacific Basin Information Node coordinator and Embassy Port Moresby. McGann