Bionesian....Pacific Biodiversity

Friday, October 14, 2011

5 minutes with....

Nauru

Tyrone Deiye

Environment Policy Officer

Nauru.

Q. What are the key issues for Nauru at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

For us mainly it is to keep abreast with the sustainable land management issues because at the moment we are finalising our National Action Plan for this. Land degradation is a big issue for Nauru due to the phosphate mining and we need to integrate this issue in the work that is being done by the environment service to put plans and policies in place for sustainable development.

Q. Why is it important for Nauru to be a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

A key objective of the Convention is to address land degradation. That is a big issue for us we need to keep informed of the connected issues and the ways to mobilize funds for us to address this a national level.

Q. What does Nauru hope to get out of this 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?
We want to be more acquainted with the issues at this COP but we also want to unite with the Pacific and give our region a stronger voice at this meeting.

The Marshall Islands

Mr. Warwick Harris

Deputy Director

Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination

Marshall Islands

Q. What are the key issues for the Marshall Islands at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

A. This is a fine opportunity to align our National Action Plan to the UNCCD ten year strategy, for which discussions are taking place on at this COP. Yesterday we met with the Global Mechanism and talked about the integrated finance strategy process. We would like to align our sustainable finance plan for the Micronesia Challenge with the ten year strategy and the integrated finance strategy of the UNCCD.

Q. Why is it important for the Marshall Islands to be a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?

For the Marshall Islands one key cause of land degradation amongst others is coastal erosion and one of the reasons we are a party to this convention is to take advantage of every opportunity to develop our capacity to mitigate against droughts and coastal erosion.

Q. What does the Marshall Islands hope to get out of this 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification?
We’d like guidance as to how we can align our current sustainable finance plan under the Micronesia Challenge with the UNCCD Integrated Financial Strategy. I think that will be a start to us receiving financial support and assistance for this regional initiative under the UNCCD.

Notes:

The Micronesia Challenge is a shared commitment to conserve at least 30% of the near-shore marine resources and 20% of the terrestrial resources across Micronesia by 2020

The Global Mechanism (GM) is a specialised institution, dedicated to supporting developing countries to increase investments into Sustainable Land Management in order to help reverse, control and prevent land degradation and desertification.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

More scenes of the UNCCD COP 10

Changwon Korea 10 - 20 October, 2011
Photos by SPREP www.sprep.org

Fiji, Samoa - morning coffee run

Facts

Civil Society stalls

Craft making at the Civil Society Stalls

Step 1...

Step 2...

And there it is, butterfly in pot plant

FSM, Fiji, Cook Islands, Palau

Free donuts

Receiving free donuts

Samoa and Vanuatu, in line for free donuts

SPREP, Pacific delegates and Global Mechanism meet at UNCCD COP 10

Traditional Korean entertainment at the UNCCD COP 10

FSM to seek ways to access services of Global Mechanism

14 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - The Federated States of Micronesia participation in the 10th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is mainly focused on the agenda items of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) as put forthcat this COP10.

Two key items are of most interest is the future of the Global Mechanism, and the duplication at national, regional and sub-regional levels.

The Global Mechanism (GM) is a specialised institution, dedicated to supporting developing countries to increase investments into Sustainable Land Management in order to help reverse, control and prevent land degradation and desertification.

“FSM would like to receive more support from the Global Mechanism,” said Cindy Ehmes, the sole representative from FSM at this meeting.

Cindy Ehmes, FSM

“Our participation in the Conference of the Parties in Changwon, Korea this week is to seek ways for FSM can begin to access the services of the Global Mechanism.”

Another key concern for FSM is the need to align all plans to avoid duplication of work.

The UNCCD requires Parties to develop its National Action Plan as the main plan to address land degradation at the National level.

FSM is currently developing its National Action Plan however the Convention also requires the development of Regional and Sub-regional Plans.

“There are too many reports and we’d prefer to see resources or funds that might otherwise be utilised to develop plans at regional level or sub-regional levels, be made available to Parties to actually do work on the ground.”

FSM believes that much can be learned from the experience with the Global Environment Facility where principles of aid or development assistance are better applied with a focus on country priorities.

UNCCD a priority for Fiji

13 October 2011, Changwon Korea - The Government of Fiji has announced their support for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification as an important agreement at the High Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly in September, which addressed the issue of desertification, land degradation and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

For Maria Elder, the Science and Technical Correspondent of Fiji to this Convention, this is welcoming news.

“It is really helpful in terms of implementing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Fiji as we have been working to mainstream sustainable land management in our country. We are also reviewing our National Action Plan as part of our report due in 2012, and ultimately we need cabinet endorsement before we can take it to the UNCCD Secretariat.”

The statement made by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, outlines Fiji’s commitment to combat continuous land degradation sharing the nations role in strengthening integrated water resource management, integrated land and coastal use planning and reforestation initiatives to complement the efforts to halt land degradation.

“We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development,” he presented.

The Prime Minister of Fiji also called for a sustainable development target of ‘zero net land degradation’ and for the UNCCD to be an essential tool to achieve food security.

The full statement made is available below:

Statement by COMMODORE JOSAIA VOREQE BAINIMARAMA

PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI

at the

HIGH-LEVEL MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON

“ADDRESSING DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ERADICATION”

19-20 SEPTEMBER 2011

UNITED NATIONS

NEW YORK

19 September 2011

___________________

Distinguished Co-chairs and Excellencies,

My delegation’s participation at this first High-Level Meeting on today’s theme in the General Assembly is a testimony of the utmost importance that my Government attaches to the important global issues of desertification, land degradation and drought. Reality would affirm that without addressing these issues, the world would not achieve its internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. The Secretary-General’s Report clearly emphasises that desertification and land degradation are now pervasive problems in all ecosystems which affect us all in various ways, but has a disproportionate impact on many of the world’s poorest people.

For a small island developing State such as Fiji, the impacts of climate change pose immediate threats to our economy and our survival.

Climate variability and the effects of El Nino and La Nina further exacerbate the vulnerabilty of our ecosystems and pose a greater risk to the sustainability of our environment. The increasing occurrences of natural disasters make our land more susceptible to degradation and drought. These are challenges that we cannot escape from, the effects of which we must mitigate.

In mitigating these challenges, Fiji has put in place measures towards the sustainable management of our natural resources. We have mainstreamed sustainable land management issues into most of the key sectors of its national strategic plan, and importantly, we have put in place appropriate laws and policies that ensure an integrated and comprehensive approach towards the effective implementation of the Convention (UNCCD).

With a view to combatting continuous land degradation, not only have we focused on landuse, emphasis has also been placed on intergrated water resource management and intergrated land and coastal use planning. In line with these strategies are our reforestation initiatives which have effectively complemented our efforts to combat land degradation. We believe that we must prioritise sustainable land use, agriculture and food security as cornerstones of the green economy for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

At this high level meeting, it is important for us to recognise the urgent need of exerting our collective efforts to addressing the issues at hand in a manner that further progresses the objectives of the Convention.

As we look forward to Rio+20, my delegation wishes to submit the following points to be included in the outcome of this high level meeting:

(i) We must encourage the donor community and the United Nations system to continue to address the needs of more than one billion inhabitants of dry lands by encouraging appropriate investments to contribute to achieving the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs. In this regard, we should promote awareness and support the exchange of best practices based on lessons learned, and to mobilize adequate and predictable financial resources for these investments.

(ii) We need to strengthen our scientific capacity to understand and monitor the seriousness of the issues at hand. For this reason, we support the establishment of a panel of experts to deal solely with the issue of DLDD.

(iii) We should set ourselves a target of ‘zero net land degradation’ as a sustainable development target.

(iv) We should make UNCCD an essential tool to achieve food security.

Fiji trusts that the outcomes of this high level meeting sets the global community on track, to effectively address and curtail the peril of desertification, land degradation and drought.

Thank you.

Science valuable to combatting land degradation in Fiji

13 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - Science plays a vital role in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Recognising this, the Convention has formed a body called the Committee of Science and Technology which has a representative from each country that is a party to this convention. Their role is to assist the national UNCCD focal points to provide scientific data to support the implementation of national activities.

In the Pacific region, these activities focus on land degradation and sustainable land management.

Maria Elder, Fiji

“We help to help collect and analyze physical scientific data to assist with the policy and decision making for our countries in carrying out the convention,” said Maria Elder, of the Department of Agriculture of Fiji.

The Committee of Science and Technology are currently meeting during the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD which is a biannual gathering. This Committee also gathers every other year during a ‘special’ session.

“Our meetings are focused in terms of the types of data we need to collect on the field, the socio-economic, bio-physical and economic issues related to land degradation. This week in Korea we have had feedback from 11 countries on a pilot project that tested the new reporting cycle for the UNCCD.”

No Pacific countries were part of this project, however despite this, attending the meetings of the committee of science and technology have been valuable for Fiji.

The national reports that review country implementation of the UNCCD take place every two years. For Elder, the UNCCD COP 10 will assist with Fiji’s preparations to complete their next report which is due in 2012.

“For Fiji, I have to go back and meet with the national UNCCD focal point and really look at the reporting template and try to get the missing information that we need. Sometimes our work at national level is general so through attending this meeting it has given me the chance to look at what is needed scientifically so we can realign our activities on the field in Fiji and start collecting the important information needed for our next report”.

The Committee of Science and Technology meets during the first week of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD. Elder will be returning to Fiji tomorrow as next week the actual meetings of the parties to discuss the Convention will take place.

SPREP speaks at South-South Cooperation event on land management

12 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - The Pacific region was highlighted during a special event at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification which focused on the South-South cooperation between Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific.

Sustainable Land Management and Finance was at the core of this discussion which had presentations made sharing experiences from each of the three regions.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) shared experiences on Ecosystem based adaptation and mainstreaming land management projects from the Pacific in a joint presentation from Tepa Suaesi the Environment Impact Assessment Officer, SPREP and Bruce Jefferies the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Officer, SPREP.

The Pacific was asked as to how they would recommend synergy at the sub-regional and regional level between all three Rio Conventions which focus on biodiversity, climate change and land.

Tepa Suaesi, Environment Officer, SPREP

“For the Pacific, the regional frameworks are in place, which cover environment and development. We have the Council of the Regional Organisations of the Pacific, we have a Pacific Plan document,” answered Tepa Suaesi, the Environment Officer of SPREP.

“The challenge for our region is bringing the planning process from the regional and national level to the local level as we have the traditional structures in place, so we can increase the number of people with knowledge in the global context.”

This side event was coordinated by the Global Mechanism, the organization tasked with resource mobilization for the UNCCD

"Save the Earth" Cartoon Exhibition

13 October 2011, Changwon, Korea - 140 works of art are on display at the Changwon Exhibition Convention Center (CECO) which is the venue of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Drawn by students and world famous cartoonists, the art pieces are about combating desertifcation and protecting our environment; they have messages for us all.

By Pawel Kuczynski, Poland

Fadi Abou Hassan, Palestine

Makhmudjon Eshonkulov, Uzbekistan

Pavel Constantin, Romania

Nam Myunglae,

Pawel Kuczynski, Poland

Juli Sanchis Aguado, Spain

Fadi Abou Hassan, Palestine

Makhmudjon Eshonkulov, Uzbekistan

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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.”

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Pacific featured at climate change side event in Korea

12 October, 2011, Changwon, Korea - The voice of the South Pacific was heard amongst the African concerns at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Korea.

While 41% of the earth’s land area are drylands that house two billion people, in the Pacific region only 2% is terrestrial while 98% is ocean. Despite this land degradation is a major concern for the Pacific region under this Convention. Without the ability to grow food, protect water sources the Pacific faces major threats ranging from loss of livelihoods ecosystems and loss of food security.

Day 3 of the two week conference focused on Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change: Addressing Adaptation and Mitigation at the Rio Ecosystems Pavilion.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) was one of a panel of six that presented on the Pacific environment at a special session on Dryland Protected Areas: Ecosystem-based Approaches(EbA) to Climate Change.

Bruce Jefferies the Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Officer at SPREP provided a Pacific overview of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem based adaptation which clearly outlined that drylands are not a landmark of the Pacific, however the Pacific is utilising EbA to adapt to climate change.

“The Pacific makes up 30% of the surface area of the planet and the islands are very diverse,” said Jefferies.

“Small islands don’t have the advantages that continents have, communities can’t move to higher altitudes and they are very small so moving laterally is also unrealistic. We’re here to provide a “Pacific Voice” at this Conference and to ensure that the Pacific is back on the global radar.”

The SPREP Conservation International (CI) partnership is working on a Ecosystem-based Adaptation Project. This aims at encouraging climate change adaptation that integrates the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services into an overall strategy that will help people adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

“In the Pacific mangrove protection is valued at between US200, 000.000– 900,000.00 per hectare. Without mangroves protection the communities, would be vulnerable to storm surges and tsunamis that not only cause environment degradation, but have already caused loss of life.”

Another key point from the panel presentations was made by Ms. Kathy MacKinnon of the IUCN - World Commission on Protected Areas that are promoting Natural solutions.

“Land conversion is responsible for 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions. If we can stop habitat loss we can reduce these emissions. 12.7% of the World’s land surfaces are Protected Areas, through protecting our biodiversity and ecosystem services and good we can help people cope with climate change, desertification, drought, and land degradation.”