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The trade in Hawksbill Turtles Eretmochelys imbricata, medium-sized cheloniids with a pan-tropical distribution, has been recognized as a key threat to their conservation in the wild, and has greatly contributed to the species being listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List (Milliken and Tokunaga, 1987; Groombridge and Luxmoore, 1989; Meylan and Donnelly, 1999; van Dijk and Shepherd, 2004; TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Indo china, 2004; Bräutigam and Eckert, 2006; Mortimer and Donnelly, 2007; IUCN, 2009). Sought after for its thick keratinous shell plates (often referred to as bekko or tortoiseshell), eggs, and sometimes meat, unsustainable harvest levels have endangered the Hawksbill Turtle throughout its distribution. Declines in populations in the Pacific have been widely reported (Hirth, 1971; Witzell and Banner, 1980; Pritchard, 1982; Balazs, 1983; Witzell, 1983; Johannes, 1986; Groombridge and Luxmoore, 1989; Miller, 1994; NMFS and USFWS, 1998; Meylan and Donnelly, 1999; Mortimer and Donnelly, 2007). Hawksbill Turtles and their eggs are widely used in Papua New Guinea for a variety of purposes, including subsistence, sale, barter (Spring, 1980, 1981, 1982a,b,c; Pernetta and Hill, 1981; Wright and Richards, 1983; Kinch, 1999, 2002, 2003a; Koczberski et al., 2006) and for celebrations at Christmas and the end of the school year, which coincide with the peak turtle nesting period in the austral summer months (Kwan, 1994; Kinch, 1999, 2002, 2003a). In many areas of Papua New Guinea, Hawksbill Turtles are also opportunistically taken as ‘by-catch’ by fishers out on the reefs targeting lobsters, shellfish and sea cucumbers.

Niue as a Party to the Rio Conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Combating Desertification, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, is preparing its National Capacity Self Assessment Report to identify the capacity gaps on the implementation of the Conventions. The thematic assessment component of the National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) Project reviews the status of implementation for each of the three Rio Conventions at the national level. It further analysis the capacity constraints on the implementation and proposes potential opportunities for building the three levels of capacity development at the country level.