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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.

There are opportunities to capture more experience from initiatives at the local level, which can support objectives of the NBSAP and strengthen national reporting. Further research on gender and biodiversity can usefully build on the knowledge base on gender and environment themes, and gender and climate change in particular. Research and sharing of experience are also needed to promote and strengthen understanding and awareness of the relevance of gender to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in the nation context.

Protected areas for Pacific Island Communities - Managing natural resources now and for the future (Poster)

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.

Nauru is taking action to improve the safety of asbestos removal work around the island, and now has 12 fully-trained officials to keep an eye on safety standards. The government has been removing asbestos from households since late last year, but there has been concern that workers were not being protected from dangerous asbestos fibres, and that the discarded material was not being disposed of properly. The safety training was delivered by SPREP's PacWaste project, and manager Stewart Williams says the Nauru government deserves credit for its efforts.

New asbestos discovered after a hospital fire in Solomon Islands has sparked a call for a Pacific-wide ban on the toxic substance. The call from the regional environmental body SPREP comes because the Gizo hospital in the Western Solomons had been cleared of old asbestos in a regional study conducted prior to the fire. Local inspectors however identified asbestos materials at the site in the aftermath of the fire on the 22nd of July. This was confirmed by experts from the Pacific Hazardous Waste Management Project (PacWaste) who helped to clear the site. The team identified new building materials used in recent renovations at the hospital as the most likely source of the contamination. PacWaste project manager Stewart Williams told Koroi Hawkins the cost of cleaning up old asbestos in the region is already daunting without more being imported.

Until the old Gizo hospital in Solomon Islands caught fire in July, no-one knew that the building contained asbestos. A hazardous waste watchdog in the Pacific is warning that moves to rid the region of asbestos must be a priority. SPREP's PacWaste project is aiming for an asbestos-free Pacific by conducting an inventory of existing asbestos from so called legacy products that were used in cladding in the 1970s - 90s Stewart Williams, the PacWaste project manager, says it's evident the substance is turning up in new building materials and efforts to rid the region of asbestos are continually set back.

One of the ongoing problems that Fiji faces in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston is the disposal of large amounts of disaster waste, and more than 17 months after Cyclone Pam, Vanuatu is still struggling with the same problem. It's an issue that's high on the agenda of the inaugural Clean Pacific Roundtable, and another post-disaster gathering that's going on in Fiji this week. Stewart Williams says it's important to act early, and in a more co-ordinated way than after Winston and other recent extreme weather events in the Pacific.

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.