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The Pacific Ocean has always been an intrinsic part of life for the people from the 21 island states and territories of the Pacific.
The Pacific Ocean provides food, transport, and a source of pride and identity for her five million Pacific Island inhabitants. Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian cultures have all traditionally emphasized wise resource use and environmental stewardship.
However, industrialization, urban drift and rapid population growth threaten our many ecosystems that were once largely unspoiled and sustainable. Habitats are being destroyed at a rate of knots by logging and agriculture.
The marine environment is being polluted from both land- and sea-based sources, fish and wildlife are being over-harvested, invasive species are pushing out native biota, and climate induced sea level rise threatens to drown our low-lying islands and coasts.
The 1976 Convention on the Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific called the Apia Convention, came into force in 1990.
The 1986 Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific region entered into force in 1990.
The 1995 Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (Waigani Convention) entered into force in 2001.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is the primary regional organization concerned with environmental management in the Pacific, and serves as the Secretariat for three Conventions.
Key challenges include: challenges of trade liberalization, globalization, tourism development, population growth, the impact of genetically modified organisms, urbanization and settlement patterns. |
Appropriate policy and legal frameworks for action at national and regional levels are being developed and SPREP continues to work hard to strengthen environmental education and awareness raising, so that all the people, who are both resilient and have fortitude, can be empowered to safeguard their natural resources, lifestyles and economic development.
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