Our Pacific, Our Future: Pacific Island Leaders discuss what’s next after World Parks Congress

L - R Prime Minister Henry Puna of the Cook Islands, President Tommy Remengesau Jnr of Palau,
President Anote Tong of Kiribati

14 November 2014, Sydney, Australia -  Regional solidarity, committed international partnerships, education and the need to look beyond the perceived barriers to successful conservation, were at the forefront of an informal dialogue between Pacific island leaders at the World Parks Congress in Sydney today.

The Prime Minister of Cook Islands, Mr Henry Puna; President of Palau, Mr Tommy Remengesau Jr; and President of Kiribati, Mr Anote Tong, highlighted these issues in the context of effective leadership for ocean conservation and protection of Pacific island fisheries.

The informal talanoa (talk) session, co-hosted by the IUCN Oceania Regional Office and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), aimed to encourage open conversation and sharing of leaders' perspectives on conservation. All three leaders are well respected for their commitments to protected areas and sustainable resource use. The country leaders shared inspirational stories on how they had been driven to make their conservation commitments and decisions and what this means for the future of their island nations.

President Remengesau, who is a recent recipient of the Champions of the Earth award from the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP), explained his country's decision to restrict commercial fisheries in its entire 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. He outlined food security, equitable resource sharing and the obvious need to address the depletion of ocean resources as Palau's main reasons for this decision. The President noted that currently only six percent of the region's six billion dollar fishing industry actually makes its way back to the region, and added that Palau also relies greatly on tourism for its economic security.

He added that protected areas provide a safe haven where marine life can thrive and reproduce. The benefits from this "rest area" or safe haven have spill-on effects to the non-protected areas of the ocean. Mr Remengesau noted that recent research suggested that setting aside one-third of an area for conservation had positive effects on the rest of the area.

President Tong noted that the Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA), an area of 408,250 square kilometres, is a major spawning ground, which will contribute to the long term sustainability of the country's ocean resources. He shared his own perspective on the challenges of bringing climate change issues and the needs of small islands to the international arena. He noted with great satisfaction the recent accords between the United States and China over greenhouse gas emissions, calling it a milestone in the negotiations with clear ramifications for the upcoming UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Paris. He reiterated the fact that advocacy on climate change should continue.

Prime Minister Henry Puna said that while his country depends more on tourism economically than fisheries, there is a need for Pacific solidarity. The government had further responded to the calls of its people to establish a marine protected area as part of efforts to ensure better management of ocean resources. The Cook Islands Marine Park spans over 1,065 million square kilometres – an area more than twice the size of Papua New Guinea.

On the theme of solidarity, the Prime Minister spoke on the "Polynesia Promise" - an initiative to be presented to the Polynesian Pacific Leaders to build synergies around marine protected areas in Polynesia extending from Aotearoa New Zealand to Hawaii. This has potential to be the most significant partnership on protected areas and will build on recent initiatives around conservation.

Overcoming barriers to effective management of these protected areas will be the major challenge for all the leaders as they strive to meet their conservation goals. The call for significant and lasting partnerships was a resounding theme throughout the discussions and resonated with the call for a particular focus on passing on the message to the children and young adults. Great support from the three heads of State was given for the vakas and their young crew to be champions of this message.

It is expected that these discussions will feed into the Sydney Promise declaration document, a draft of which is available on the World Parks Congress website.

For more information, contact: 
SPREP - Seema Deo seemad@sprep.org ph: 61 4511 09052
IUCN - Fei Tevi Feiloakitau.Tevi@iucn.org    ph: 61 4504 39490

Remembering Tania Temata, Cook Islands

Tania Temata at CBD COP 10 Pacific prep Meeting

8 October 2012, CBD COP 11, Hyderabad, India - Tribute was paid to Ms. Tania Temata, the former representative of the Asia Pacific Group to the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, during the Pacific briefing in Hyderabad, India today.

Tania served as the Deputy  Director for the Cook Islands National Environment Service and held positions on various panels and boards, including the Bureau Representative on the CBD COP 10.

Tania on right at the CBD COP 9 in Bonn, Germany with fellow Cook Islanders

Pacific colleagues were saddened by her passing after a long battle with cancer, many remember her for her dedication and commitment to environmental management both at community, regional and international level.

Her legacy can be seen at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in India this week, with fellow Pacific islanders engaging at the conference, many of whom have been fortunate to work with Tania, and have received support and guidance from Tania over the years.

Tania will be missed by all including partner Tavake Manuel Karika and her three sons, Iaveta, Temata and John Jeremiah.

Aere ra Tania.


Tributes to Tania Temata during the CBD COP 11:

Tania, an accomplished climate change negotiator also, at the Climate Change COP 17 in Copenhagen

 

Nenenteiti Teariki-Ruatu, On behalf of former Director and staff of Environment & Conservation Division - KIRIBATI

"It is with heartfelt and great sadness that those of us from Kiribati, who have known Tania, joins and shares this great loss. Staff of Environment & Conservation Division with former Director (Mrs. Tererei Abete Reema) joins and pays tribute to Ms. Tania Temata and her family in this sad time of sorrow and our prayers are with her and her family.

Those of us from Kiribati who have had the privilege to work alongside her in all the regional and international meetings and negotiation meetings, Tania has always proven herself to be the inspirational leader of the Pacific region, guiding and leading those of us, who are new and inexperienced and a great ally and colleague at the same time. It was also through her that the Pacific region has received great respect from prominent negotiators outside the Pacific region, whom have always looked upon for further guidance where the Pacific matters, may have concerned. 

We share the great loss to Tania's family and colleagues at her office in the Cook Islands and she will be greatly and sadly miss by us all. The great things she has set for the Cook Island and the Pacific region through her great dedication and passion shown in her work and love for the environment, will always be with us forever.

With all our prayers."

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Tania at the CBD COP 10 Pacific Prep Meeting

Tyrone Deiye, Nauru

"I had  flashbacks thinking of the times I managed to share with my good friend Tania those times to me seems very valuable now and I feel very privileged to have shared those  spare moments with my friend which I will treasure forever.  If there is anything missing with our causes in our endeavours this COP11 it is truly my good friend Tania.  I remember during COP 10 in Nagoya she was always online on Skype guiding us and sharing her valuable experiences.  My friend is truly missed by all that she has touched and known her and her fond memories will always be a treasure in our hearts. The Lord has chosen to take her away from us and to my friend and mentor Tania may you rest in peace.

My deepest condolences to Tanias family and also to all who are close to her she will be truly forever missed"

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Tania Temata

Joe Aitaro, Palau

"My dearest colleagues of the Cook Islands, no words can truly truly express my sincere emotions on the passing away of yours and one of the Pacific's icon environmental and conservation champion.

Our friend, Tania has be called by our Lord but her teachings still remains unfulfilled and its our destiny to ensure safeguard, teach and advance her teachings.

These are teachings I want to share.  By sharing we can never forget!

As a leader, Tania always provided the "chance" and guided others to improve or better themselves!  Although viewed by many including myself as one of the Pacific true iconic leaders and top negotiators, Tania never acknowledged herself to be that. She remained calm and met each daunting challenge with humility thus making the world embrace the "Pacific Way" of professionalism.  It's this skillful art form, Tania lead the Pacific in achieving small accomplishments that grew into Pacific milestones and in doing so raised the confidence of her Pacific peers to ensuring, we the Pacific do have a voice and we do matter.

Tania, I was blessed to have met and worked with you.  You shall always remain my heart!  Rest in Peace my Sister."

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Tania on Right with Simpson Abraham of FSM at the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable in Niue, 2011

 

Kate Brown-Vitolia, GLISPA

"Farewell to a wonderful woman who was an inspiration. Deepest sympathy to Cook Islands and pacific colleagues and most importantly her family. An island champion and biodiversity battler - farewell Tania Temata."

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Easter Galuvao, SPREP

"You will always be remembered my dear friend for your passion for the environment; a true champion; and an inspirational leader. My deepest condolences to Tania’s family, partner, children and colleagues in the Environment Service. May you rest in peace my dear friend."

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Rest in Peace Tania Temata, Te Atua te Aroa

"Requiescat in pace Tania.  You have touched the lives of many in the Pacific and we all mourn your loss. Goodbye my friend and mentor,"

Joseph Brider, Cook Islands

Please add your your tributes to Tania Temata in the comments box below,
Kia manuia.

Negotiating at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD

21 October 2011, Changwon Korea - One of the issues followed closely by the Pacific at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 10) has been that of the Global Mechanism. 

This is a specialised institution dedicated to mobilising resources to support developing countries to increase investments into Sustainable Land Management in order to help reverse, control and prevent land degradation and desertification.

Negotiations at the UNCCD COP 10 have revolved around the operation of the Global Mechanism as well as the location.  The headquarters of the GM is currently hosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, based in Rome.  The Secretariat of the UNCCD is based in Bonn, Germany.

We interviewed Louisa Karika of the Cook Islands Delegation who has closely followed this thread of negotiations over the past few years.

L - R Louisa Karika Cook Islands, Maria Elder Fiji

Q.  Tell us about the negotiations process on this particular issue, how has it been?

“For me this whole process started at the last Conference of the Parties in Argentina in 2009, it was there that an agreement was not reached so I took this up again during these negotiations in Korea.  Negotiations can last all day and night, and go on like this all week, and you often end up cold, hungry and frustrated by the lack of progress! 

It has been nice to see a lot of familiar faces and renewing friendships with negotiators for other regions and groups, we spend so much time in one room together during negotiations that we end up friends, even if we are opposite sides of an issue, and we always find a way to have a laugh.”

Q.  How have the negotiations been this time?

“This year we actually started on the second day of the conference and I think it was good as it allowed for discussions over what the issues and viewpoints were before we actually went into text negotiations.  I think this helped as we were able to agree in principle on what kind of outcome we wanted to see from our negotiations earlier on.  We then started negotiating text after that and since then we have been working pretty much day and night, that’s a lot of hours!”

Q. So for someone who doesn’t know about negotiations, what happens inside the negotiating room?  What happened with this particular issue?

“We negotiate text and concentrate on the language of a decision to make sure it says what we mean. We will work this way until it is agreeable to everyone and we reach consensus on different parts of the text.  You can come across what we call ‘sticky points’ which are those that we can’t agree on but you can’t move forward we have to overcome these sticky points.   For example during the last two days we were really stuck on an issue and we basically spent one full day negotiating on one paragraph.  In order to make progress through the text, especially since we had already spent so long trying to find a compromise, the Chair of our contact group called a smaller informal group made up of representatives from each party and we basically sat in a small group on chairs and talked about our issue.  By doing this we were able to negotiate in one hour what we could have spent a whole day trying to achieve – and that was an agreed text.”

Q.  So you finally reached a consensus on this issue?

“We agreed on a number of governance and institutional issues of the Global Mechanism which includes  a revision of the Memorandum of Understanding between the host of the GM – the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD.  We have agreed to a process for implementing these changes and tabled the decision on the location of the GM until the next Conference of the Parties. 

We also agreed that during the intercessional period (the two years in between each COP) the Executive Secretary in consultation with the COP Bureau will review proposals for housing the GM based on costs, synergies, operational modalities, governance efficiency etc so that come the next COP we are recommending that a decision on this issue be made as all the information will be before us.”

The draft decision prepared was approved by the Committee of the Whole to go before the Conference of the Parties for a final outcome on Friday evening.  It was expected that the final meeting of the 10th Conference of the  for the UNCCD was to start on friday night.  This interview story was completed early Friday evening.

For more on the final outcome of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD please visit: http://www.unccd.int/cop/cop10/menu.php

The Cook Islands at UN Convention on land degradation

12 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - There is a delegation of two representing the Cook Islands at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, in Korea.

Land degradation is of major concern to the Cook Islands, as it can have a major impact upon local communities in the island nation.

“Land degradation issues are so closely tied to our lagoon areas, any development or unsustainable practises that happen on our lands can impact upon our lagoons including through sedimentation in our lagoons,” said Louisa Karika the Sustainable Land Management Project Coordinator of the Cook Islands National Environment Service.

Louisa Karika interviewed by a Korean radio station at the UNCCD COP 10

She began her involvement with the UNCCD negotiations on behalf of the Cook Islands in 2007.

“It is hard to separate land degradation concerns from biodiversity and climate change issues on small islands like the Cook Islands because our environment is so interrelated.  Our land management is so closely tied together with other environmental concerns that we cannot manage them in isolation.” 

As a party to the UNCCD there are conditions and indicators which the Cook Islands must report against.  It is at this Conference that support for activities to stop land degradation is being sought by the Cook Islands.

“We have a lot of problems in terms of funding these activities and at times, it can be seen as an additional burden.  At this meeting we are looking to find ways to support the implementation of this convention to stop land degradation through activities that are relevant to us in the Pacific.”

Science is a major part of this UN Convention, as it is through science and research that the progress of the convention in each of the parties can be determined.  It has been said that more than 12 million hectares of productive land is lost due to desertification every year the equivalent of losing an area the size of South Africa every decade.

Tavake Manuel-Karika

Tavake Manuel-Karika the Agriculture research officer of the Ministry of Agriculture is also at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD to contribute towards the scientific aspects of this Convention.  He is the alternate science and technology correspondent to the Convention on behalf of the Cook Islands.

For the Pacific region, strengthening land quality to support livelihoods and biodiversity is vital. 

“Agriculture is an important part of ensuring sustainable land practices, it is through working with local growers in the Cook Islands to promote sustainable land management to reduce land degradation can take place.”

“We work closely with the ministry of agriculture, they are one of our partners for this convention and they are fully supportive of allowing Tavake to take part in these meetings.”

The Cook Islands, Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific region at the UNCCD

10 October, Changwon, Korea - The Cook Islands has been elected as the Vice Chair for the Asia and Pacific  region at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.  The position of Chair is held by Iran.

“This was a bit unexpected,” said Louisa Karika of the Cook Islands.



Louisa Karika (Center) with delegates from Bhutan

“Our Chair was nominated however he will not be here for the full Conference so I was asked to fill in his place for next week.  In that process while getting the concensus of the group, it was amended into the Cook Islands becoming the Vice Chair for the regional Asia annex.”

The Pacific is recognised as one of the 6 sub regions under the regional annex of Asia at this UN Convention for which land degradation is a key concern for the region.  However the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD has labelled this group as the Asia and Pacific Group.

There are 14 Pacific island countries and territories that are a party to this UN Convention which was formed out of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

It was acknowledged that this is the first time the Pacific region has held such a position.

“Over the next two years I will be supporting the Chair when he is not available in terms of coordinating in the region, this position is more a supportive role.”

Lessons learnt by the Pacific

16 May Nadi Fiji - In 2010 the One Pacific Voice was heard loud and clear at the International Biodiversity Conference which brought 18,000 people together to forge a path forward to help save and strengthen global biodiversity.  This week in Fiji, the Pacific region has regrouped to reflect on what was learnt while at the CBD COP 10 in Nagoya.  Day one of the meeting today, heard from five different Pacific representatives’ share their experiences with others.

“I gained personally and professionally.  Planning and prioritising on a daily basis is crucial when you attend the COP, you always need to be in good health as it’s a lengthy and can be a stressful process.  You need the energy to attend discussions during the days and nights.  It is a good experience but gruelling and you should try to be in all aspects of the COP – working groups, side events, plenary sessions and ministerial level meetings.” – Eleni Rova Tokaduadua, Fiji

“It was good to see that we had synergized issues so that what is said not only benefits your country, but the Pacific islands region as a whole.  It was also helpful that everyone shared information and resources – I was glad that we had people attending who were willing to share information with you on what happened at meetings in case you missed out so you can be kept up to date.” – Fale’afaga Tony Tipama’a, Samoa

“I think having at least one week for negotiations training would be helpful for the Pacific delegates so we can be confident and prepared at this level.  I also think we in the Solomon Islands should have a national workshop like Fiji so when we come together we can feed the results into the Pacific region.” – Joe Horokou, Solomon Islands

“I was fortunate and happy to represent my country, I learnt the value of a side event and how you can use it to raise your country profile.  We also found the half day meeting just before the COP where we learnt about the processes very helpful.  Another highlight for me was how once we had made the Pacific opening statement - it opened the door for support of our position from other regions.”  Solomona Lotoala, Tuvalu

“I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the pre-COP information, package so you are really well prepared for the COP meeting.  It’s also good if you look for the media for updates, visit the SPREP media releases and the Earth Negotiations Bulletin is also helpful to keep you updated.  There is also a wealth of information within the Pacific delegations, there are a lot of experienced people, it’s good if you can learn from them” – Joseph Brider, Cook Islands

"Talking the Biodiversity Talk":  COP = Conference of the Parties

Notes:The meeting is held from 16 – 20 May at the Tanoa Hotel in Nadi, Fiji.
Participants are from the Cook Islands, Timor Leste, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI), IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), WWF South Pacific Programme, University of the South Pacific.