Environment
Challenges Continue at Breakneck Speed
As 2001 winds down the amount of pressure placed on the world's natural resources continues at breakneck speed on land and sea. Our Pacific region is no exception, as environment issues continue to expand SPREP's (South Pacific Regional Environment Programme) work. Recently a State of the World Population 2001 report said that increasing population and consumption will continue to alter the planet on an "unprecedented scale", degrading soil, polluting air and water, melting ice caps and destroying natural habitats.
The world's 49 least-developed countries - already the most severely challenged by soil and water degradation and food shortages - will nearly triple in size from 668 million to 1.86 billion.
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One of the approaches SPREP has taken to try and arrest the problem of erosion and exploitation of our natural resources is through the establishment of Conservation Areas right across the region. Since 1993, one of our programmes, the South Pacific Biodiversity Conservation Programme (SPBCP), has played a leading role in establishing conservation areas in 12 Pacific island countries. The combined land and sea area covered is 1.5 million square kilometres.
As the first phase of the programme winds down this month, the progress that has been made has been very encouraging. Much of the enthusiasm about the sustainability of this approach could be attributed to the attitude of the communities themselves. From the outset, one of the primary objectives was for the programme to be driven as far as practicable by local people. By and large this notion has been embraced with the results speaking for themselves.
In this sense the programme has provided positive spin-offs for both locals and conservation.
Conservation Area Support Officers (CASOs) have been thoroughly trained in biodiversity. They have also been given training in an array of related fields such as business and conflict management. Project manager Muliagatele Joe Reti believes the emergence of the South Pacific Biodiversity Conservation Programme coincides with a mood of change amongst Pacific islanders towards the way their resources are being treated. "Pacific island countries were ready for conservation. For many years foreign companies especially, exploited the resources of Pacific islands and countries, which are now coming to realise that they have lost so much for very little. People were turning their backs on things like quick cash although there are still a lot of areas that need protection, (and) are now coming under threat from development." The pressure on our environment is not merely confined to our immediate land resources. There are relics of our past that lurk beneath the waves, in the undergrowth and buried in the very soil we live on. Pacific island countries, which were part of the Pacific theatre during the Second World War, may well continue to pay the price of that war. There are a large number of World War Two vessels sunk all over the Pacific naval war arena of the Micronesia sub-region, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Many of these vessels still have fuel, and other hazardous materials on board. All will have deteriorated due to natural corrosion from the elements and like the United States Navy oil supply tanker, USS Mississinewa, sunk fully loaded at Ulithi Atoll in Yap, have the potential to pollute the surrounding marine environment. Countries have to date addressed the issue at national level and on an ad-hoc basis. Palau was assisted by the United States Navy Seals to secure some of their wrecks. The Solomon Islands requested SOPAC to map the wrecks in Iron Bottom Sound which has 111 wrecks alone. A number of other countries have raised the issue at various regional and global fora. We believe that this is a regional environmental issue that would be best addressed on a proactive rather than a reactive basis. The most effective assistance that regional agencies such as SPREP can give to address the issue, is to focus international attention in order to source and mobilise resources to eliminate the hazards resident in these wrecks. The protagonists in the Pacific war needs to be made aware of the pollution risk, the inability of our governments to deal with this alone on a national or even regional basis, and to be persuaded to become an active partner in addressing the issue. We will need to put in place a regional mechanism to put this process into action.
Our members have given us the mandate to do this and through our Pacific Ocean Pollution Prevention Programme (PACPOL). SPREP is developing a draft regional strategy for next year's SPREP meeting for our members to consider. We hope to work with our counterparts to eliminate these ticking environmental time bombs.
Tamari'i Tutangata is Director of South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) based in Apia, Samoa.
