Island and Ocean Ecosystems
6 June 2016, Auckland, New Zealand - The Pacific Invasive Ant Toolkit, being developed by Pacific Biosecurity under a project funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is one of the topics discussed during the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Invasives Partnership this week. Close to completion, this toolkit will be available through the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Pacific Community (SPC) to help Pacific island countries and territories manage invasive ant species.

The Pacific Invasives Partnership (PIP) is the invasives species Working Group of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation which aims to coordinate the many different agencies working with the Pacific islands to address invasive species.

The meeting held at the University of Auckland in New Zealand is reviewing the current PIP Action Plan and developing a new one for 2016/17, focusing on the common activities the PIP will undertake to progress invasive species commitments and actions within the Pacific region. Along with an overview of the Pacific Invasive Ant Toolkit, a session is also being held on opportunities for biological control of invasive plants in the Pacific. Landcare NZ and Biosecurity Queensland play an important role in assisting Pacific island countries and territories with biocontrol solutions which have particular relevance for widespread invasive plants at the landscape level where they offer the only realistic solution to minimising the impact of the plants.
20160608 102212Participants of the PIP Annual Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Organisations represented at the PIP Annual Meeting are: Birdlife International, Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Island Conservation, International Union Conservation Nature, Invasive Species Specialist Group, Landcare NZ, NZ Department of Conservation, NZ MFAT, Pacific Biosecurity, Pacific Invasive Initiative, Pacific Invasive Learning Network, Pacific Community (SPC), SPREP, United States Department of Agriculture and US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The PIP is coordinated by SPREP with the newly elected Chair from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The meeting is held from 6 to 10, June, 2016