Island Life Update August Issue

August 2007

Keynote speaker – Willie Kostka, Executive Director of the Micronesian Conservation Trust

FSM’s Willy Kostka is the keynote speaker for the 8th Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas. He is a recipient of the world's most prestigious award in marine conservation-the Pew Fellowship and is the first Executive Director of the Micronesian Conservation Trust (MCT). He joined MCT after seven years as founder and Executive Director of the Conservation Society of Pohnpei. The MCT is committed to developing long-term, sustainable funding for biodiversity conservation in Micronesia. Chartered in the Federated States of Micronesia, MCT attracts seed money for core trust funding, as well as pass-through grant money such as that from the Packard Foundation and the Global Environment Facility.

Agenda

The agenda will be distributed to Roundtable members and registered participants in August, as well as on the Roundtable website (www.sprep.org/roundtable).

Call for Facilitators and Rapporteurs

Accommodation

Alotau offers a range of accommodation from village bungalows to hotels. Please liaise with Eimi Kilogena, info@milnebaytourism.gov.pg, to organize your accommodation.

Please be advised that all accommodation options (village bungalows, hotels, lodges, guest houses) at this time have been booked by the organizers and bookings can only be made through Eimi.

The Registration Booklet will provide more information about the range of accommodation options available during the Conference. Registration Booklets will be distributed in August.

Visas

Transfers and transits in Port Moresby

Delegates will be met by PNG officials upon arrival and will be guided to the domestic terminal. For overnight transits in Port Moresby, hotels will provide airport transfers, and should be organised as part of your accommodation requirements (see Accommodation options above). Please advise PNG officials to assist you with identifying hotel buses or vans. For SPREP funded delegates, we will advise on accommodation options in Port Moresby. The best website for Port Moresby accommodation information is www.pngtourism.com.pg.

Registration booklet –  August

A detailed Registration Booklet will be distributed to all registered participants, SPREP national focal points and Roundtable members in August and also available from the SPREP website at www.sprep.org/roundtable.

Side events
Several side events are scheduled to occur between 19-27 October, during lunchtimes and during the freeform sessions. The side events are an opportunity to showcase or highlight your work in a particular area. Registering your side event now will ensure inclusion in Conference material and ensure the venue and appropriate material. We are also keen to ensure that side events relate to the theme and substance of the conference.

Side events: sessions organised in advance that we will work to promote. Side events will occur at lunchtimes and during freeform sessions.

Freeform sessions: Time in the agenda has been given for conference participants to have side bar type discussions where they would like to discuss particular issues with others attending the conference. The freeform sessions (other than those that are scheduled side events) will be identified on day 1 of the conference and will be scheduled from there.

There are currently 12 registered side events and a number of side meetings. More information will be provided with the Registration Booklet in August and also available at www.sprep.org/roundtable.

If you are interested in coordinating a side event, but have not yet registered, please contact Vainuupo Jungblut at vainuupoj@sprep.org as soon as possible.

Conference meetings
There are a number of conference side meetings during the Conference:

1. NBSAP Implementation planning Meeting Friday 19 October
SPREP and CBD Secretariat

2. Regional Bird Conservation meeting Saturday 20 October
SPREP and Birdlife International

3. Pacific Protected Areas Database Planning Meeting Saturday 20 October
PBIF, WCMC, IUCN-WCPA, SPREP etc

4. Building a more Collaborative and Systematic Saturday 27 October

Biodiversity Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Pacific Region Conservation International, PBIF

5. One week media scholarship program journalists 22-26 October

and/or editors held concurrently with the conference Communications Training Programme

Seaweb and SPREP

The UNDP Equator Initative is also planning a regional community dialogue for Friday 19th and Saturday 20th of October with participants then integrating into the main conference and will be bringing in a group of 50 community representatives from across the Pacific.

‘Snapshots of island life’ competition

SPREP is calling for snapshots of island life – photographs, pictures, drawings or digital images – that show how people relate to and with their natural environment to celebrate the rich biodiversity of the Pacific.

Biodiversity – the variety of life on Earth – underpins every element of Pacific island life.

The ‘Snapshots’ can be photos, drawings, paintings, or digital images. We are also asking that each ‘snapshot’ is accompanied by a brief 200-500 word story.

‘Snaphots of Island Life’ will be on display at the SPREP Annual Meeting from 11 to 14 September and at the 8^th Pacific islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas taking place in Alotau, Papua New Guinea from 22 to 26 October 2007.

Please send your entries by 1 September 2007 to:

‘Snapshots of island life’ competition

SPREP

PO Box 240

Apia, Samoa

For more information visit www.sprep.org/roundtable or contact Kate Brown, kateb@sprep.org

Contacts

For all conference enquiries please contact Conference Coordinator, Ruth Pune, ruthtp@sprep.org

More information

www.sprep.org/roundtable

www.milnebaytourism.gov.pg

SPREP launches conservation conference

The 8^th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, will take place in Alotau, PNG from 22 – 26 October 2007. The Conference’s theme, ‘Conservation serving communities, in a rapidly changing world’ highlights the inextricable link between Pacific islanders and the natural environment, and the importance of strengthening networks in the climate of global change.

Meeting Documents - 8th Conference

Conservation Serving Communities in a rapidly changing world

8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas

22-26 October 2007 Alotau, Papua New Guinea

Background

In 1977, SPREP (then a programme within the South Pacific Commission) with the support of partner organizations including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and IUCN, organized the first region-wide forum for discussing nature conservation issues of interest to the Pacific Islands. This initial meeting has since developed into the five yearly conference.

The sixth of this series of conferences was held in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia in 1997. It was organized around the theme “Tools for Conservation” and it brought together more than 150 delegates from all levels of civil society including regional and international organisations. Community leaders, scientists, policy makers, donor representatives, NGOs and government representatives interacted and shared experiences, lessons learnt and best practices for achieving nature conservation objectives.

The success of this Conference reaffirmed the importance of having such mechanisms for the sharing of ideas and knowledge, for debating current and emerging issues and for setting regional priorities.

Papua New Guinea volunteered and was unanimously supported to host the 8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in 2007. The Conference venue is Alotau, Milnebay Province.