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Powerpoint presentation on priorities emerging from the IUCN World Parks Congress 2014

As environmental problems continue to increase at an ever more rapid rate, exacerbated by the major threat of global climate change, the need for widespread remedial action is becoming ever more pressing. Scientific consensus on both the root causes of these problems and the measures required to tackle them is growing, while mass media and public interest has reached fever pitch. Of course, while this has put pressure on decisionmakers to take positive action, the realisation of the gravity and extent of the environmental problems has encouraged all those concerned about the state of our world to search for partners around it: one such significant partnership to e­merge in recent years is between those concerned with the conservation of nature –and of its biodiversity– and the custodians of sacred sites, representing both indigenous beliefs and mainstream faiths.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

Protected areas are areas of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources, which are managed by government or nongovernmental agencies. Protected areas include, but are not limited to: National Parks, National Reserves, Game Reserves, Forest Reserves, Forest Parks, Marine Reserves, Marine Sanctuaries, and Nature Reserves.

The Fifth South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas held in Nuku'alola. Kingdom of Tonga, on 4-8 October 1993, continued the series of conferences held in Now Zealand (1975), Australia (1979), Western Samoa (1985) and Vanuatu (1989). Until the conference in Western Samoa, the series was known as the 'National Parks and Reserves' conferences. At the Western Samoan conference the name was changed to the present one, to better reflect the importance of the wider issues of biological diversity conservation to the region.

The vast South Pacific region consists of twenty two island states and territories scattered over a 29 million square kilometre area, roughly the size of Africa. Oceanic areas are vast and land covers only 5,50,000 square kilometres, or a mere 87 000 square kdometres if the largest country, Papua New Guinea is excluded. The majority of sUtes and territories have land areas of less than 1000 square kilometres aod several less than 100 square kilometres.