About the Conference

About the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas

Nature conservation programmes in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) are guided by this regional conservation conference that has met every 4-5 years since 1975 (see Table 1: list of past conferences). It has become the principal gathering of government agencies, NGOs, community-based organisations, donor agencies and individual experts concerned with conservation science and practice in the Pacific Islands region. It is an opportunity to set a Pacific based and initiated agenda for Pacific conservation for the next five years.

Each conference has generated an Action Strategy for Nature Conservation (Action Strategy) as a guiding framework for the next 4-5 years. The subsequent conference has reviewed progress achieved against the Action Strategy before considering outstanding issues and priorities for the years ahead.
 

The Action Strategy is the key over-arching or crosscutting strategy for biodiversity conservation in the Pacific Islands Region. The current strategy, 2008 - 2012, is a product of the 8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas at Alotau, Papua New Guinea in October 2007. The current Action Strategy has taken the lessons articulated in the review of the 2003 – 2007 Action Strategy including the outcomes of the 8th Conference to formulate a new approach which is centred on 8 core principles for nature conservation in the Pacific. It is basically a code of conduct to guide the work of all those involved in nature conservation in the Pacific. It is important to note that the Action Strategy is significant because it provides a regional framework for conservation that guides Pacific island countries and territories, donors, NGOs and regional organisations. It also provides an additional resource lever and it is a document which Governments, NGOs, donors and regional organisations can commit themselves to implementing.
 

Since the 8th Conference in 2007, many accomplishments have been achieved in the Pacific such as the Micronesian Challenge, the Phoenix Island Protected Area which is one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, the expansion of the Locally Marine Managed Areas, the political support and commitment from the Pacific Forum Leaders to the Pacific Oceanscape Framework, and many other key accomplishments that have been widely recognised.

Table 1: List of Past Conferences: