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The Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) Planning Meeting was convened in Suva on the 30th of March 2016. The main objective of the Planning Meeting was to discuss priority activities of PIRT and plan towards key events and activities commencing in 2016 and early 2017. The meeting was attended by: Taholo Kami (Chair, IUCN), Stuart Chape (SPREP,) Easter Galuvao (SPREP), Etika Rupeni (IUCN), Scott Radway (SeaWeb), Crissy Canlas (SeaWeb), Bridget Kennedy (CI), Jan Steffen (GIZ-MACBIO), Donald Stewart (Birdlife), Mark O’Brien (Birdlife), Eleni Tokaduadua (DOE-Fiji), Aminiasi Qareqare (DOE-Fiji), Prof. Elizabeth Holland (USP), Sangeeta Mangubhai (WCS) and Payal Maharaj (SPREP).

The 17th Annual Meetiig of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation was convened in Madi on the 15th May, 2014. The meeting object ves were to: Discuss PIRT core business which included membership, secretariat support, working groups and administrative operations of PIRT Report Dack on outcomes of the 9th Pacific Islands Conference including follow up actions. Discuss and agree on process for endorsement including implementation of the Framework for nature conservation and orotected areas in the Pacific Islands region 2014-2020. Priorities and oppo-tunities for PIRT including key events in 2014

The 16th Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation Annual Meeting was convened in Suva, Fiji from 13th to 14th August and the meeting as an extraordinary annual meeting to specifically prepare for the upcoming 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areasto discuss and make decisions on PIRT support to the conference. Provide PIRT members and partners an update of the conference update in relation to conference agenda, support by the Fijian Government on conference logistics, special events such as environmental awards and high level meeting. PIRT members and partners to make decisions on the following PIRT related agendas; (i) selection process of new chair, (ii) hosting of PIRT secretariat, (iii) annual membership sponsorship, (iv) PIRT annual meetings and (iv) role of PIRT in the next conference.

The Chair and host of the 8th Conference, Papua New Guinea, officially handed over the Chair to Fiji, the host of the 9th conference. The representative of Papua New Guinea, Mr Gunther Joku, noted that people benefit from conservation activities and stressed the importance of promoting conservation in support of government development initiatives such as roads, health and education. He also noted the importance of a whole of government approach in conservation and establishment of protected areas, including working with private sector and non government agencies. He raised the issue of resource mobilisation to support these initiatives including looking at the way donors are organised and how international funds are used to support conservation and protected areas establishment.

The 15th Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) Annual Meeting was planned to be down sized to focus on a preparatory planning meeting for the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas planned for mid 2013. The meeting was held from April 23th to 24th in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The meeting was focused on 2 streams the first being the Lessons Learning Learned and the second Conference Committee Preparatory Meeting The Conference Committee Meeting will focus on planning the next conference objectives, themes, agenda, hosting arrangements and funding. The Heads of Organisation meeting will be convened to discuss the roundtable business, next conference and new regional opportunities for roundtable engagement.

"Failures to manage the environment and to sustain development threaten to overwhelm all countries. Environment and development are not separate challenges; they are inexorably linked. Development cannot subsist upon a deteriorating environmental resource base; the environment cannot be protected when growth leaves out of account the costs of environmental destruction. These problems cannot be treated separately by fragmented institutions and policies. They are linked in a complex system of cause and effect."

The Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) is a coalition of nature conservation and development organizations, governments, inter-government, donor agencies and community groups created to increase effective conservation action in the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Region. It was formed in 1997 at the request of Pacific Island countries and territories. The forum enables those organizations working on nature conservation in the Pacific to improve their collaboration and coordination towards effective conservation action. It is the key coordination mechanism for the implementation of the Action Strategy for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Island Region 2008-2012. These are the final outcomes statement of their 13th Meeting which was held in Samoa 5-9 July, 2010.

Biodiversity is more than just the number of animal and plant species in the world. Biodiversity is who we are, what we eat, where we live, what we do and, most importantly, how all of these things come together to form a whole. The preoccupations of our daily lives often blind us to the dangers threatening fragile ecosystems around the globe. But we ignore these threats at our peril, for we are all connected to the many facets of the planet’s diverse ecosystems. Biodiversity is the fabric that binds us all together, allowing healthy environments to flourish, economies to develop, and humanity to grow and prosper. Whether we realize it or not, the story of biodiversity is our story.

Action Strategy Reporting: The reporting for the Action Strategy for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands Region 2008 – 2012 was discussed and it was decided that reporting will be done under the four objectives of the Action Strategy. The roundtable working groups will be reporting their activities under the relevant objectives annually and a consolidation report at the conference. Working groups are will be approached to decide on which objectives that best link to their work and the following were recommended

The South Pacific region is vast and consists of eome twenty-two island gtateg and tenitorisg ecattersd over a 29 million kmr area mughly the size of Africa. Oceanic arsaa are vast and land @vers only 660 000 l.-t or a mere 87 000 kmr if the largest country, Papua New Guinea, is excluded. The majority of states and tenitories have land areas less than f m0 kmt and so\toral less than 100 kmr. Although often viewed as a 'trcpical paradise', the South Pacifrc today is a rugion beset with envirormental pr',obleme. Forests are being deared for agricultur.e and timber, e:cposing aoilr which are emding and degrading, reefs ale being polluted and destroyed beaches mined riverg da-med or polluted and mangroves and egtuaries cut or filled. The degradation of natural eystems which is feldng place, together with the over-e:rploitation of commertially valuable resounces and popular food species suctr as the marine turtle, coconut crab and grant slnm, i8 resulting in the rapid loss of the region's natural biological diversity and is undernining the ability of the island environments to support their human populations.