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This is a newsletter about what has been happening lately around the globe. From bushfires in Australia to COVID-19 pandemic and then to Tropical cyclone Harold that hit our neigbhouring countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and Solomon Island). Mainly these problems are caused by climate change around the world which affects the health of people and their environment that they live in.

This island nation contains many marine eco-systems, from globally significant coral reefs to mangroves, seagrass areas, seamounts and deep-sea trenches supporting at least 769 fish species, including sharks and rays, as well as whales, dolphins and sea turtles.

To formally launch the second phase of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme, a regional inception workshop for the Pacific was held at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Apia, Samoa from 11th to 15th June 2018. The aim of the inception workshop was to ensure that all 15 countries in the Pacific ACP Group of States were engaged for the second phase of BIOPAMA. The working title of the workshop was ‘Regional Workshop on Improving Information and Capacity for More Effective Protected Area Management and Governance in the Pacific’. The invited participants primarily centred on people who are directly involved in work relating to marine, coastal and terrestrial (including inland waters)protected areas including: national government staff, NGO project officers; staff from national, regional and international agencies and institutions, and; resource persons with special technical skills and experience. The ACP Secretariat was represented by Mr Edmund Jackson. The full list of workshop participants can be found in Annex B

Access to safe drinking water is a basic need and is one of the most important contributors to public health and to the economic health of communities. Pacific island countries have yet to overcome the challenge of providing a safe and adequate supply of drinking water to its populations. Infectious, waterborne diseases, such as Typhoid and Cholera and newly emerging pathogens are a major cause of morbidity and mortality within the Pacific region. The World Health Organization (WHO) report that about 2 million people in the world die each year due to diarrhoeal diseases, most of them are children less that 5 years of age. The worst affected are the populations in developing countries. Lack of access to safe drinking water is one of the main contributors to this situation. Traditional approaches that rely on sampling and testing water have failed to achieve extensive improvement in access to safe drinking water. Pacific island countries are committed to achieving targets specified in the Millennium Development Goals (2000), including halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. A new strategy is now being promoted globally that is based on risk management principles – drinking water safety planning.

The importance of safe drinking water for health and development in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) has been reflected in many regional action plans and policies. Through the Regional Action Plan on Sustainable Water Management (Sigatoka, Fiji, 2002) Pacific Island Countries outlined actions that were needed to achieve sustainable water management through collaborative efforts by water sector authorities and inter-sectoral partners. The WHO workshop on Drinking Water Quality Standards and Monitoring in Pacific Island Countries (Nadi, Fiji, 2005) developed a Framework for Action on Drinking Water Quality and Health in Pacific Island Countries, designed to support the implementation of drinking water quality actions envisioned in the Regional Action Plan. The Pacific Island Countries embraced the Water Safety Plan concept during the workshop and this was reflected in the Regional Framework. It was recommended that PICs should use Water Safety Plans to better manage their water supplies to ensure safe quality drinking water for Pacific communities.

In 2010, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2010-2020 and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It has since been endorsed by multiple Multilateral Environmental Agreements as a global framework for biodiversity. In 2015, the members of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. These constitute two of the most important environment and sustainable development commitments ever made by governments in the international fora, and both recognize the important role of protected areas as a key strategy for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the targets they contain, for example, Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, SDG goals 14 and 15. The global protected areas estate is therefore an important contribution to achieving these commitments. The Protected Planet Report 2016 assesses how protected areas contribute to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and relevant targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, and highlights current research and case studies as examples of the role protected areas play in conserving biodiversity and cultural heritage.

Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas (GLPCA) Global Standard – for review

At the World Conservation Congress, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004, the IUCN Membership requested “a worldwide consultative process to agree a methodology to enable countries to identify Key Biodiversity Areas”. In response to this Resolution (WCC 2004 Res 3.013), the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) established a Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas. The Joint Task Force mobilised input from experts in the IUCN Commissions, Members and Secretariat staff, other conservation organisations, academia, governments, donors and the private sector to consolidate the criteria and methodology for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) as sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity.

Primer on the IUCN GLPCA Standard for Review - September 2015

Improve baseline knowledge about biological, economic, social and cultural aspects of mangrove resources and uses in each country and the link between healthy mangroves and disaster risk reductions, for informed adaptation to climate change at national and community level.