Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SUVA330
2009-08-11 00:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Suva
Cable title:  

12th Pacific Roundtable for Nature Conservation Meets in

Tags:  SENV EAID BP XV 
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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

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