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This report is the outcome of the technical group's effort. This subject is vast and the report necessarily lengthy and in some places somewhat technical.

Twelve years ego the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 5-16 June 1972) adopted the Action Plan for the Human Environment, including the General Principles for Assessment and Control of Marine Pollution. In the light of the results of the Stockholm Conference, the United Nations General Assembly decided to establish the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to "serve as a focal point for environmental action and co-ordination within the United Nations system"(General Assembly resolution 2997(XXVII) of 15 December 1972). The organizations of the United Nations system were invited "to adopt the measures that may be required to undertake concerted and co-ordinated programmes with regard to international environmental problems", and the "intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that have an interest in the field of the environment" were also invited "to lend their full support and collaboration to the United Nations with a view to achieving the largest possible degree of co-operation and co-ordination". Subsequently, the Governing Council of UNEP chose "Oceans" as one of the priority areas in which it would focus efforts to fulfil its catalytic and co-ordinating role.

Marine litter poses serious environmental, health, and economic threats to oceans and coastal ecosystems. It also presents a unique legal and regulatory challenge for many nation States (hereinafter States), as it can originate from diverse land-based and sea-based sources both within and outside of a State. While the full magnitude of the problem can be difficult to ascertain, some estimates suggesting that an average of 8 million tons of plastic waste entered the ocean in 2010, and this figure has been projected to increase.

Information sheet on the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML).

Across the world, multiple drivers of change are causing the degradation, fragmentation and loss of natural habitats on land and in the world’s oceans. As a result, important conservation areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services are becoming increasingly isolated within a matrix of human dominated landscapes and seascapes. This isolation can prevent the movement of organisms essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and disrupt ecological processes necessary for the provision of vital ecosystem services. Fragmentation and degradation also reduce options for adapting to global change, thereby undermining resilience of ecosystems and people.

Recognizing the value of large marine ecosystems (LMEs) and other transboundary water systems (open ocean, groundwater aquifers, lakes and reservoirs, and river basins), their continued degradation, the fragmented approach to their management, and the need for better prioritization of interventions, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) embarked on the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) from 2009 to 2015. TWAP objectives were to undertake global assessments of the five transboundary water systems to assist GEF and other international organizations set priorities for interventions; and develop formal institutional partnerships for periodic assessments of these systems.

This fourth National Report to the CBD describes the measures taken by PNG to implement the various Articles of the CBD and especially through implementation of the NBSAP and the progress it has made towards the 2010 target and implementation of its Strategic Plan.

In decision X/2, the Conference of the Parties adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. In the same decision, the Conference of the Parties urged Parties and other Governments to develop national and regional targets, using the Strategic Plan as a flexible framework, and to review, update and revise, as appropriate, their national biodiversity strategies and action plans in line with the Strategic Plan and the guidance adopted in decision IX/9. The Conference of the Parties also urged Parties and other Governments to support the updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans as effective instruments to promote the implementation of the Strategic Plan and to use the revised and updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans as effective instruments for the integration of biodiversity targets into national development and poverty reduction policies and strategies, national accounting, economic sectors and spatial planning processes.

The Technical Group on Radioactivity in the South Pacific Region was established in November 1982 with 1 spot for " study of radioactivity and its regional inpact The project been greatly motivated by the concern , expressed in the hegion , the possibility of the Night act , vites existing and future liberate radioactive materials into the environment . l’attention on nuclear explosions, currently conducted in Polynesia , and proposals d’inclure 1'ocean Pacific in the strategies adopted for * the management of radioactive waste.

La Confdrence de I'environnenrent oc6anien srest tenue en mars 1982 A Rarotonga (Ileg Cook)r sous les auspices du Progrmne r6gional ocdanien de lrenvironnenant (PR0E). Les participants b la Conf6rence ont 6labord un Plan draction pour la gestion des reeeources naturelles et de Itenvironnernent du Pacifique Sud. Dene Ie cadre du plen de travail 6tabli pour la phase No 2 du Progranrme sur la base du Plan d'actlon, le Conitd de coordlnation du PR0E a denand6 b llorld Informetion Svstens une 6tude drensenble sur le stockage et lt6limination des ddcheto danqereux (A l'exclueion des ddchets radioactifs) dans la r69ion du Paciflq.re Sud.