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The Sixth South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas held in Palikir, Federated States of Micronesia, on 29 September – 3 October 1997, continued the series of nature conservation conferences held in New Zealand (1975), Australia (1979), Western Samoa (1985), Vanuatu (1989) and Tonga (1993).

The Sixth South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas held in Palikir, Federated States of Micronesia, on 29 September – 3 October 1997, continued the series of nature conservation conferences held in New Zealand (1975), Australia (1979), Western Samoa (1985), Vanuatu (1989) and Tonga (1993).

The Fourth Pacific Islands Round table United by an overarching goal to increase effective conservation action in the Pacific islands region, some thirty-five conservation professionals joined together in Honolulu, in early November, 1999 for the Fourth Pacific Islands Roundtable. Senior representatives from 26 regional and international conservation organizations and donor agencies attended three days of plenary meetings and breakout sessions on the campus of the East-West Center in Manoa Valley. Nearly half of the attendees were first-time participants in the Roundtable. Exciting ideas were advanced and new partnerships were formed. Most importantly, participants volunteered to take actions (both modest and ambitious) to help the Roundtable progress towards meeting its goals

Partnerships shall be highlighted as one of the overarching themes in the revised strategy, in much the same way the concept of community-based conservation was treated in the 1994-1998 Action Strategy. Amendments to the Action Strategy's regional and international actions were made (Refer to Attachment 4 for details). The Drafting Committee shall have full editorial flexibility to polish the text received from the Working Group representatives.

The Fifth meeting of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation was held at the Museum Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand from 7-10 November 2000, and hosted by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Meetings of the Capacity-Building, Roundtable, Sites, Conservation Trust Fund, and Conservation Area Networks Working Groups were held on Monday 6 November. The Pacific Islands Conference, Capacity-Building, and Polling Working Groups met on the morning of Tuesday 7. The Roundtable and Sites Working Groups also met on the afternoon of Friday 10 immediately following the main Roundtable meeting.

To complete the development of Objectives indicators, the Roundtable decided that a small Working Group on Indicators comprising of Audrey Newman, Peter Hunman, Roger Cornforth and SPREP representatives be assigned this task and to repol1 to the next Roundtable II. Meeting on progress made.

The Action Strategy for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands Region for 2003-2007, arose out of the 7th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas which was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in July 2002. It was then endorsed by the member country representatives of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) at the September 2003 SPREP Meeting and it was meant to represent a consensus on the priority concerns for conservation and ways in which these can be addressed.

The question of how much conservation is enough is one that is almost impossible to answer. There must first be some on basic principles or goals, such as the desirability of preserving the diversity of life on this planet, but even then the specific application of these principled to local situations can raise many complex issues (Is feeding hungry children more important than saving an endangered Land snail?). Adequacy of protected area coverage, may seem very different viewed from a world scientific perspective or from that of a local decisionmaker who seek to balance many different demands, Ultimately decisions on adequacy must be made by each country, although hopefully the needs of the world community will be taken into account. This paper looks at the principles by which adequacy of protected area coverage must be judged, evaluates the present status of conservation action in Oceania, and then develops some goals for protected area development in the region.