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Planning for the conservation of biodiversity at the national level emerged as a key issue at the Rio Summit in 1992. It was further addressed in the formulation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), article 6 of which states: “Each Contracting Party shall, in accordance with its particular conditions and capabilities: (a) Develop national strategies, plans or programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity or adapt for this purpose existing strategies, plans or programmes which shall reflect, inter alia, the measures set out in this Convention relevant to the Contracting Party concerned; and (b) Integrate, as far as possible and as appropriate, the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies.” This Article is mandatory and creates an obligation for signatory nations to develop National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans (NBSAPs).

This review examines the current status of NBSAP development across fourteen South Pacific member nations, and assesses the scales of actionable planning and M&E protocols existing within these plans. The results of the review show that the status of NBSAP development and implementation in the selected Pacific member countries is varied; from some countries still awaiting funding to begin their NBSAP development process, to others that are busy undertaking implementation activities