An informal group with a primary objective to provide environmental advice to the National Environment Service is now considering regulations ‘necessary for the protection of biodiversity in the Cook Islands’.

Speaking to Cook Islands News following their quarterly meeting at The Edgewater Resort and Spa on Thursday, National Environment Service (NES) director Halatoa Fua said there were two key steps for NES which came from the Kopapa Ao Ora Natura workshop.

“Consider environment regulations that are necessary for the protection of biodiversity in the Cook Islands and start the work in producing an updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), the last one was done in 2002.”

Fua said no specific regulations had been planned yet, but provided the newspaper with a list of current regulations in place. 

He said multiple stakeholders in government and civil societies were briefed on national biodiversity planning and international collaboration.  

It was about highlighting national biodiversity plans to” building better protection and conservation of biodiversity in the Cook Islands, as well as the National Environment Policy which addresses all environment impacts in the country”, Fua added.

Another key talking point was accessing funds and projects through the Global Environment Fund (GEF).

“Funding will be sourced in the 2022/23 financial year.

“This is an important step to align the NBSAP to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) post 2020.

“Biodiversity finance, monitoring systems and policy is important to strengthen the work on biodiversity conservation.”

Fua said there are funding options under the GEF programmes and that NES is the official focal point.

Both regional and international conventions the Cook Islands is a party to were also discussed.

They include the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, which address waste and pollution.  

The benefits among multilateral environment agreements for Cook Islands included improved use of available resources through more coordinated national frameworks, institutional mechanisms and capacity dealing with chemicals and waste, raised profile of issues at national and international levels which can result in increased resources to support chemicals and waste programmes, and better coordinated technical assistance activities, Fua said.   

Kopapa Ao Ora Natura is an informal group with the primary objective to provide advice and guidance on the conservation of the natural biodiversity and ecosystems of the Cook Islands to the National Environment Service.

The committee also provides input and consider issues related to our environment, and facilitates exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices through a coordinated approach among biodiversity related initiatives.