Pacific Islands Forum 2012

All that money, what’s it worth?
Conservation commitments ‘unprecedented’

It seems that last week, leaders from donor nations announced major multimillion dollar investments on a daily basis, in an ostensible bid to outdo other donors.

The Forum has come and gone, and the question remains: how much of that aid will translate into real benefits for this little nation? What tangible impact will the Forum have on the Cook Islands?

The Australian government pledged AU$320 million over 10 years to Pacific nations in the interest of achieving gender equality within the region.

The idea is to increase the proportion of women in leadership roles, improve economic opportunities for women, and improve access to justice for abused and victimised women.

The US earmarked US$25 million to enable low-lying islands to cope with climate change and the resultant rising sea levels.

Still, US carbon emissions continue to comprise a lion’s share of the global total. The Polynesian Leaders Group issued a statement after their meeting last week calling it “morally unconscionable” that wealthy nations continue to derive energy from dirty sources, as island nations are disproportionately burdened by the effect.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton also announced US$3.5 million in new funding to properly and cautiously remove unexploded ordnance the US left behind after World War II.

New Zealand announced an investment of NZ$50 million over three years to support fisheries surveillance and management in the region.

Prime Minister John Key said the funding will go toward sharing of New Zealand’s intellectual property, strengthening the science that underpins management and policy decisions.

The US also indicated it intends to expand its shiprider programme, though Clinton did not name a specific cost or figure.

The Chinese, Cook Islands and New Zealand governments pooled resources to announce the biggest water project ever to be undertaken in Rarotonga. The project will involve the laying of reticulated water mains across the island, with a view to making potable water accessible for all households by 2015, and will cost NZ$60 million. New Zealand is putting up $15 million, China is loaning $32 million and the government is picking up the rest of the tab.

Australia committed AU$58 million over four years to improve data on weather, climate and sea levels to inform climate change conversation and strategy in Forum countries.

It also earmarked AU$85 million over four years to strengthen tertiary education institutions and infrastructure in the region. The investment covers 2000 new places in tertiary bridging programmes and 2300 new places in engineering, construction, maritime transport, education and health institutions.

• Rachel Reeves

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks with Prime Minister Henry Puna at the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands. PHOTO OLA THORSEN / US GOVERNMENT 12090425

Conservation International CEO Peter Seligmann and President Harold Martin of New Caledonia. PHOTO MICHAEL DONOGHUE 12090424

For the third consecutive year, the Pacific Islands Form has provided historic international commitment to sustainable ocean management and conservation.

These included the launch of the world’s biggest marine park by the government of the Cook Islands, plans to create an even larger marine protected area by the government of New Caledonia, plans to create the world’s largest transboundary protected area collaboration in the Phoenix Islands between the United States and Kiribati governments, and the announcement of a Pacific Islands oceans investment package by the World Bank.

This year’s Forum was unprecedented in terms of the amount, magnitude, and the sheer volume of ocean commitments made to the Pacific Oceanscape. Summing these together gives a total of over three million square kilometers of ocean pledged to the Pacific Oceanscape.

The most immediate and ground breaking announcement was from the host country, the Cook Islands, which launched their new marine park which at 1.2 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles), is equal to the size of Egypt, half of the nation’s territory, and the largest marine park in the world.

However, the Cooks may not hold this position for long as the government of New Caledonia also announced its intention to establish a 1.4 million square kilometer (540,500 square mile) marine protected area in their portion of the Coral Sea, adjacent to Australia’s newly protected one million square kilometers of their portion of the Coral Sea.

The protected area includes the world’s largest lagoon of approximately 24,000 square kilometers (9300 square miles). New Caledonia’s MPA is also a milestone pledge as this is the first contribution made to the Pacific Oceanscape from Melanesia and French overseas territory.

Another groundbreaking announcement came from the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an observer at the Forum, who pledged to deepen the US relationship in the region by strengthening the conservation commitment between the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) and form the Phoenix Ocean Arc across the archipelago. With an area of 800,000 square kilometers (308,880 square miles), it will be the largest, whole archipelago, trans-boundary conservation partnership in history.

In support of such substantial government commitments, Conservation International also applauds the World Bank announcement of a Pacific Islands ocean investment package which is to be supported by a number of partners from the Global Partnership for Oceans (GPO). This package will build on existing ocean activities in the region such as the Pacific Oceanscape Framework and target priorities where financing gaps have been identified, or where innovation and private sector engagement can help to transform markets for ocean goods and services toward greener and sustainable production.

“These excellent results for the Pacific Oceanscape show the world that the leaders here understand the urgency needed to protect this huge swath of the Pacific,” said Dr Greg Stone, chief scientist for Oceans and executive vice president for Conservation International. The commitments from the Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Kiribati, the United States as well as the World Bank serve as a validation to all those who have been working so hard on this extraordinary initiative.”

Covering over 10 percent of the world’s ocean area, the Pacific Oceanscape provides a framework for the integrated conservation management of the Pacific Ocean and islands, including ocean health and security, governance, sustainable resource management, increased research and knowledge investment and facilitating the partnerships and cooperation needed to support the conservation this vast ecosystem.

Conservation International has worked closely with Pacific islands leaders, their regional intergovernmental agencies, and civil society to develop the Pacific Oceanscape Framework which was endorsed formerly in 2010.

• Release