Environment
Capacity Building for Pacific Islanders
Capacity building of Pacific Islanders, has been one of South Pacific Regional Environment Programme's (SPREP) main tasks in an effort to make the people of our region more self reliant, in acquiring environmental knowledge to use in their own island homes, and to share with others.
Education is seen by Pacific Islands peoples as one of the key areas where SPREP is well positioned to help its members develop environmental initiatives from the ground up.
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Since 1999 SPREP began a series of sub-regional primary teacher workshops based on environmental education. The aim is to develop an informed group of effective teacher trainers to conduct training workshops in environmental education at primary school level, using a holistic approach, within their respective countries.
This year the programme took another step with the first joint initiative between the Cook Islands and Nauru. This dual approach is intended to try and strengthen environmental education programmes in their countries by sharing experiences and knowledge skills.
In the next few months we will build on the progress already made with a Human Resources Development Programme. With substantive funding and other support by the Australian Government through AusAID, the programme will involve using attachments and volunteers who would be based at SPREP, or seconded to various islands as required by them. Placement of volunteers in their islands will allow Pacific Islanders the capacity to go for longer term training overseas without seriously depleting the capacity of the country to continue normal work requirements.
Backing this up is our soon to be completed Education and Training Centre. Funded by the Japanese Government, the centre will provide numerous opportunities for further skills training in many environment related areas.
Despite the importance of educating tomorrow's environmental citizens, our efforts have not been confined to the classroom. With assistance from UNESCO, a series of training workshops on environmental journalism have been held in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga.
Although we live in some of the most pristine environments in the world, there is still a lack of understanding as to the impacts external influences are having upon our island homes. To pass that message to as many audiences as possible, the workshops have been designed to encourage better environmental reporting amongst journalists.
In a first for the region, the Papua New Guinea workshop in March marked a first time that print, radio and television trainers were Pacific islanders.
The need for more journalists to familiarise themselves with environmental issues of the day cannot be underestimated, as the plunder of our precious natural resources continues at an alarming rate across our island communities. The opportunity to give this assistance means more professional journalists, giving better information to their communities.
A good example of capacity building out in the field has been through the South Pacific Biodiversity Conservation Programme (SPBCP). Since 1993 the SPBCP has established 17 conservation areas covering 2.5 million square kilometres of land and marine areas in a dozen Pacific countries. Through this programme, Conservation Area Support Officers have been thoroughly trained in a variety of skills related to the management and sustainability of the reserves. Having completed what it set out to do, the SPBCP programme is due to wind down this year. SPREP estimates that up to a thousand people have been given training or have found related employment as a result of this initiative.
For capacity building to work sustainably, Pacific Islands countries and territories need to make long term commitments to ensure that initiatives that they start are given the opportunity and resources to flourish. SPREP can help such initiatives, but the main responsibility lies with Pacific Islands governments and administrators.
Tamari'i Tutangata is Director of South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) based in Apia, Samoa.
