Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Pacific Prepares For World's Biggest Biodiversity Gathering

Saturday: April 26, 2008

(SPREP)

The Pacific has come together to develop a united strategy in preparation for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) 9^th Conference of the parties to be held in May this year.  A three-day retreat saw nine Pacific islands countries meet to outline their priorities and how they will work together at the CBD’s Conference of the parties.

“Basically we just want to make sure the Pacific is not disadvantaged.  We need to make sure as much as possible that our priorities and concerns are reflected in the discussions that take place at the CBD Conference of the Parties. If we don’t, we could miss out on benefits like technical support and possible financial assistance to advance biodiversity conservation in our region.”  Said Ana Tiraa, SPREP’s Islands Biodiversity Officer.

Member countries at the last SPREP inter-governmental meeting requested the preparatory meeting.  SPREP’s role at the CBD’s 9^th Conference of the Parties will be to advise and support the Pacific islands countries present.  The preparatory meeting also identified priority agenda items for the Pacific region.

The Global Environment Facility; financial resources; and the financial mechanism; agricultural biodiversity; forest biodiversity; invasive alien species; access and benefit sharing; Article 8(j) and related provisions; biodiversity and climate change; protected areas; marine and coastal biodiversity and island biodiversity were identified as priority items for the Pacific. 

SPREP will be sending briefs on the above agenda items at the end of April.  These were developed from the working groups at the preparatory meeting with the help of our partners that were present. SPREP will also inform the Pacific countries of the different meetings that will take place.  A number of different side events will take place, along with parallel meetings such as the high level segment.  Many of the side events are very important for the Pacific Islands Countries, as they are often a forum for discussion of new initiatives, and in some cases where funding opportunities are launched.

According to Tiraa, “Biodiversity is a rapidly changing area.  SPREP is in frequent contact with the CBD Secretariat to keep apprised of new developments so that we can inform the countries of those of potential interest.  SPREP will continue to work with countries in the lead up to the Conference of the Parties.”