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The Pacific Island nation of Niue was a leading voice at the recent COP28, calling for efforts to significantly scale up investment in the management of invasive species as a key action for increasing the climate resilience of vulnerable island nations.

Managing Invasive Species to Create a Great Green Line of Defense for the Pacific. Controlling invasive species is one of the most effective tool for restoring island resilience.

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are a major threat to marine, freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity of the Pacific islands and to the people there that depend on biodiversity for their livelihoods. Invasive species are implicated in the decline of hundreds of species in the region. Participating Pacific states and the executing agency SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) recognised the need to implement the regional IAS strategy, “Guidelines for Invasive Species Management in the Pacific. A Pacific strategy for managing pests, weeds and other invasive species” (hereafter, the Guidelines) and develop and implement national IAS plans and strategies. The Guidelines were originally identified as a product under this project, but were completed in 2009 prior to writing this proposal. As envisaged during the PIF process the proposed project contributes to the implementation of the Guidelines, each country’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and helps each to meet its responsibilities under Article 8 (h) of the CBD and several other international agreements addressing IAS. The three main components (not including components related to project management) of the proposed project are designed to capture outcomes and outputs described in the Project Identification Form but they have been reorganized to follow the structure of the Guidelines.

Factsheet for the Invasive species programme management course

The PRISMSS is a regional mechanism, which facilitates the scaling up of invasive species management in the Pacific. It provides management support for on the groud invasive species actions

The Helping Islands Adapt workshop was held in Auckland, New Zealand between the 11th and 16th of April 2010 to support regional action against invasive species on islands, in order to preserve biodiversity and adapt to climate change. It arose from decisions under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) relating to invasive alien species and island biodiversity, and was hosted by the Government of New Zealand with support from a number of partner organisations and countries. The workshop focused on four major island regions: the Caribbean, Coral Triangle, Indian Ocean and Pacific, and involved participation by 82 people from 24 countries and territories, and 29 national, regional and international organisations (see participants list in Appendix 5). The workshop was specifically designed to allow for the maximum exchange of experience and support between representatives from diverse island regions working in invasive species management. It also included a field inspection of one of the Department of Conservation‘s invasive species management projects on Rangitoto Island in Auckland‘s Hauraki Gulf. The workshop built on efforts under the Cooperative Islands Initiative, a partnership launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development and the CBD 6th Conference of the Parties in 2002. Its intended outputs had been agreed by the organiser‘s steering committee and set out as a 'road map‘ that was used to ensure clarity of the workshop‘s intended purpose, outputs and outcomes. An overview of the workshop, its sponsors, participants and conclusions was developed during the workshop and submitted to the 14th ?Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice (SBSSTA 14) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nairobi 10-21 May 2010. That report is provided in full in Appendix 5 to these proceedings.

Days 1 and 2 of the workshop course exposed participants to the theory behind rodent eradications (Fig 1). The nature and importance of undertaking a project feasibility assessment was explained and the key questions that need to be answered to determine if a project is feasible were discussed.  

The Prevention and Management of Invasive Species: Forging Cooperation throughout the Austral Pacific

This review was prepared by the Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII) on request from the Pacific Invasives Partnership (PIP). It was undertaken to examine the invasive species management components within the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans of twelve Pacific island countries (PICs): Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The results of the review show that invasive species management is included as a component in eleven National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, Marshall Islands being the only country not to include invasive species management. Five countries have also developed National Invasive Species Action Plans: Federated States of Micronesia (for Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap), Kiribati (for Kiribati and Line Islands), Marshall Islands, Palau and Samoa; to support their National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans and to provide a framework for invasive species management