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| L - R Jill Key SPREP, Therese Yarde CARICOM |
11 August 2012, Rotorua, New
Zealand - Empowering Pacific islanders to meet their
commitments under the different international environment agreements has been
the focus of a special four year project coordinated by SPREP.
It has helped Pacific island
delegates undergo negotiations training so they are confident to sit at the
table with other contracting parties when discussing agreement text. It has also helped to mainstream the
environment into the national planning process of the Pacific islands.
This week the Secretariat of
the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has coordinated a
preparatory meeting to help countries organize their approach to the 11th
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
This is an activity in
partnership with the Project on Capacity Building related to Multilateral
Environmental Agreements in African Caribbean and Pacific Countries, better
known as the ACP-MEA’s project.
“I am happy to see that the
ACP-MEAs project has been able to provide a continuum of support specifically
on the negotiation and consultation for Pacific country delegates to better
understand and prepare for the CBD COP as a region,” presented Ms. Haruko Okusu of the United Nations
Environment Programme.
“The upcoming CBD COP11 will
be a significant one. It takes the first
step in looking at how the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 – 2020 and the
Aichi Biodiversity Targets are being transformed into national instruments, and
effectively mainstreamed into national planning processes which links to the
second area of support provided by the project.”
At this particular meeting
the links between the Caribbean and Pacific hubs of the project are
strengthening with two representatives from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat
in Guyana attending.
“These two island regions
share many issues and challenges and we have a lot to learn from each other,
both as partners for international negotiation and in designing activities to
build capacity at the national level,” said Jill Key, the ACP-MEA Pacific Hub Project
Coordinator at SPREP.
“We welcome the
participation of our Caribbean colleagues and look forward to exchanging
experiences and lessons learned in Phase II of the project.”
Ms Therese N. Yarde Project
Coordinator, Caribbean Hub Capacity Building ACP-MEAs, CARICOM has found this a
valuable experience, having learnt from the Pacific planning process as the
world leads up to the CBD COP 11, with thoughts as to how this project can work
closer together in the future.
“We both address common
issues differently, issues such as mainstreaming, target setting and
indicators. Having spent time here I
have learnt how these different approaches can work together and complement
each other.
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| Ms. Anya Thomas, CARICOM |
Her colleague from CARICOM,
Ms. Anya Thomas the Senior Project Officer, Sustainable Development is also learning
how the Pacific form regional positions and agree upon priority areas to be
addressed collectively at the CBD COP 11.
“There is a lot I can take
back there in that regard, it has also been a learning experience for me in
terms of getting a feel for what the issues are in terms of the biodiversity,
what are the priorities, challenges and how they intend to address them.”
The Pacific Regional
Preparatory Meeting for CBD COP 11 is held in Rotorua New Zealand from 10 – 13 August. Participating countries are from Cook
Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Also attending are NGO’s and other partners.
The meeting is funded by the
European Union through the African Caribbean Pacific Multi-lateral Environment
Agreement Capacity Building Project in partnership with the CBD Secretariat.
