(Don Stewart)
This programme identifies, establishes and manages a series of diverse conservation areas in which important ecological features are protected while encouraging the sustainable use of the areas' natural resources by local communities. This US$ 10 million programme is funded over a five-year period by the Global Environment Facility and the Government of Australia. The second phase began in April 1993. The programme is administered by the United Nations Development Programme and is executed by SPREP under the control of a Programme Manager.
Funded by UNDP and implemented by SPREP. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of the peoples of the South Pacific and their formal and informal institutions to achieve sustainable development of a form suited to Pacific island circumstances. The project activities are undertaken under four components: national frameworks for sustainable development; sustainable development planning and financing; land and sea resources management capacity; contribution of customary landholding people's organizations to sustainable development.
NEMS began in April 1991 and concluded in April 1994. NEMS programmes addressed basic environmental issues for the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Samoa. Strategies for Nauru, Palau and Tokelau are in their final stages of preparation. Tonga already had an Environmental Plan, and similar projects were undertaken in recent years in Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea with bilateral funding. The NEMS state each country's environmental principles, and a detailed plan for realizing their long-term environmental goals. These strategies were coordinated in-country by a task force, comprising senior representatives from government departments, NGOs and the private sector. Each country developed then its own strategies, unique to its own economic, physical, cultural and social situation. The existing knowledge on the environment has been summarized in State of Environment Reports, which outline major environmental issues for key sectors in each country, such as forestry, fisheries, agriculture, tourism and conservation. Such reports have been produced for the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Samoa. Implementing the NEMS will involve relevant Environment Departments or Sections working closely with other governments' departments, NGOs, community groups and the private sector.
This project began in July 1993 and was supported by UNFPA. It aims to help Pacific island governments and communities use information on population composition, growth, and distribution in decisions they make concerning their environment. It also ensures that population concerns are well considered in SPREP's other technical programmes.
The programme provides a broad range of assistance to member countries. The objectives are to: produce coastal habitat surveys that often involve training; develop coastal management plans; commission urgent studies on coastal issues, which emphasize developing appropriate guidelines; hold in-country and regional workshops and meetings on issues important to member countries; and develop and promote proposals for long-term coastal planning and management in the Region. This programme is closely linked with the other SPREP programme areas, especially climate change and biodiversity, and cooperates with other regional agencies active in coastal and marine areas such as FFA, SPC, SOPAC and USP.
The SPREP Climate Change advisory group has produced a revised work programme for 1995-2000. Upcoming activities in this programme area include: implementing recommendations from the regional meeting of meteorological directors, especially in training and technical advice; coordinating Atmospheric Radiation Measurement activities; running workshops for the South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring project; conducting public awareness on climate change in selected member countries; carrying out impact and response studies in six member countries; and assisting governments in implementing activities under the framework Convention on Climate Change, including national greenhouse gas inventories.
This programme aims to prevent and control pollution, to manage wastes and to present strategies for preventing pollution in land and marine environments. Specific objectives for this programme are to: develop plans to manage wastes on land, in freshwater, sea and the air, including transboundary movement of hazardous wastes; monitor studies to prevent and control pollution on land, in fresh and coastal waters, and high seas; maintain a regional database on sources, levels, amounts, trends and effects of contaminants and pollution; and develop a regional programme on pollution, awareness, training, education and information. The programme was finalized by August 1994.
It aims to communicate knowledge and improve the understanding of important environmental issues in the Region (e.g. population growth, urbanization, climate change, environmental degradation and conserving biodiversity), in order to communicate the way in which the environment serves the need of present and future generations of Pacific islands.
