Results for SPREP

Invasive species such as rats are the leading driver of biodiversity loss in the Pacific. In Tonga, a proposed rat removal project on Late Island aims to conserve one of the most important sites for biodiversity in the kingdom. Removal of rats from Late will allow the island’s ecosystems to recover, a community consultation was told last week.

A team from the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience program to assist Tonga’s disaster resilience information and enhance community awareness on the harmful impact of climate change.

The Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) highlighted efforts to support the Pacific to access climate innovative solutions. The exhibition saw 400 registrants and 640 virtual exhibition booth visits at the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, in Egypt, held as a side event at the COP27 meetings of the parties on climate change.

As the Pacific Islands consider ways to build back economies severely struck by the CoViD-19 crisis, the environmental impacts faced worldwide highlight the opportunity we now have in our hands to build back a ‘Bluer Pacific’, said Kosi Latu, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on World Environment Day.

Representatives from 15 Pacific islands are meeting in Apia, Samoa, from May 27-29 for the PacWaste Plus Inception Meeting, looking at ways to reduce the production of, and improve the management of, hazardous wastes, solid wastes and related aspects of waste water in their countries, aiming for a Cleaner Pacific by 2025.

In the Pacific region many of the natural disasters experienced are related to water and climate, Hon. Samuel Manetoali told the opening meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council on August 14 in the Solomon Islands, saying "We are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change... and climate variability". By Linny Folau in Honiara.

Tonga will host a regional "Whales in a Changing Ocean Conference" to discuss whale conservation in the Pacific.The three day event will run from April 4-6, to be attended by delegates from around the Pacific as well as conservationists.

Tonga is among Pacific Islands countries that have identified important marine areas that are ecologically or biologically significant, and Vava'u is one area that has sites that need protecting. “There is an urgent need for follow-up activities to manage and mitigate threats on 22 sites identified as priorities. Seven of these sites are awaiting to be gazetted as conservation areas, with different levels of protection,” said Tonga's representative at the global biodiversity conference (CBD COP13) in Cancun, Mexico this week.

The new Pacific Ecosystem Based Adaptation to Climate Change project (PEBACC) has set up an office in Suva, Fiji.