The Pacific Voyage

 

 

“The Pacific Voyage” will be the central theme of Pacific islands attending the World’s biggest biodiversity conference this year. The 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP10) will be meeting in Nagoya, Japan this month bringing together thousands of participants from around the globe to discuss international biodiversity issues.

Our corner of the planet intends to have a strong presence with representation from the Pacific region and a raised united voice which has been embodied in a campaign launched by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) called “The Pacific Voyage”.

“We want to highlight to the World that the Pacific has some great success stories in nature conservation, and that we would do more with even stronger support from the international region,” said Seema Deo, SPREP’s Education and Social Communications Adviser.

“The Pacific island people have traditionally valued and respected their biodiversity. In our region our biodiversity is our livelihood, it has brought us our cultural heritage and helped carve our identity as Pacific islands people. We have plans to do much more with conserving our natural environment and we’d like to raise this with our global community.”

 

 

 

The Pacific will be hosting several side events to showcase nature conservation successes in the region, as well as have the opportunity to display materials and promotional products in an exhibition over a week. “The Pacific Voyage” has covers the themes of “One Ocean”, “Many People”, “Unique Plants and Animals” to raise visibility at this conference.

One of the main features of the region’s campaign is the launch of a case study on whales titled: “Ocean Voices, Lessons from the Whales for the CBD”, this case study outlines the threats to whales in the Pacific region, the status and trends of humpback whales in Oceania and the collaborative conservation measures taken by Pacific island countries and territories. This case study is a collaborative effort of partners from throughout the region.

 

“It’s important that we highlight our region’s conservation successes and identify opportunities for upscaling or building on these. At the same time we need to take stock of what isn’t working and seek assistance to address these challenges. The CBD COP is the ideal opportunity to share our experiences.”