SPREP Samoa: Pacific Environment Forum 2011

11/10/2011

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is the organization set up by the Pacific governments with its offices in Apia, Samoa, to be responsible for protecting and improving the regional environment.

The Honorable Afioga Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa giving the opening statement at the 22nd SPREP annual meeting.

On 12th September, SPREP organized a ‘Pacific Environment Forum 2011’ in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) or Rio+20, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2012. The discussions focused on three main topics, the Green economy, environmental governance and adaptation to climate change. The key messages that came out from these discussions were then used to draft the Outcome Statement [PDF] which was presented to the 22nd SPREP annual meeting that took place immediately after the Forum, for consideration as input to the Rio+20 preparations.

Lake Lanoto’o’ Ramsar Site

The Honorable Afioga Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi (Prime Minister, Samoa) and David Sheppard (Director, SPREP), opened the 22nd SPREP annual meeting (13 – 15 September) and many of the 21 SPREP members and partners attended . The meeting heard updates on the various SPREP programmes of work, including that on the conservation of species, such as Dugongs and the Oceania Humpback Whale, as well as ecosystems, such as coral reefs and mangroves. There were also updates on SPREP’s work to address climate change in the region, as well as way to deal with electronic waste and asbestos. The 2012 work programme and budget were also approved.

During the visit by the Ramsar Senior Regional Advisor for Asia – Oceania to Samoa, he also held initial discussions with SPREP officials about the renewal of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ramsar Convention Secretariat and SPREP in 2012. Under this MoC, Ramsar provides support for a Ramsar Regional Officer (Mr. Vainuupo Jungblut) to be based in SPREP to promote implementation of the Ramsar Convention in Oceania. The SRA Asia-Oceania and Vainuupo Jungblut also provided assistance to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) in Samoa for the completion of the Ramsar Information Sheet for the Lake Lanoto’o’ Ramsar Site, as well as their Small Grant Fund project which included the preparation of a wise-use framework and management plan for the site.


	The Lake Lanoto’o’ Ramsar Site, and the Forest officers working at the site	Lake Lanoto’o’ Ramsar Site

More on SPREP:

SPREP: www.sprep.org
SPREP Info on Ramsar site, MOU: http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-documents-mous/main/ramsar/1-31-115_4000_0__
Articles: http://www.sprep.org/article/pr_list.asp
Factsheets: http://www.sprep.org/factsheets/index.htm

The Convention today

Number of » Contracting Parties: 167 Sites designated for the
» List of Wetlands of
International Importance: 2,122 Total surface area of designated sites (hectares): 205,366,160

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