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Western Samoa possesses a considerable wealth of natural and cultural resources from which many generations of Samoans have been able to derive benefit. However, appre- ciable areas of natural vegetation are being lost annually to agricultural, housing and communication development, or modified by logging and life styles and cultural values of the Samoan people are changing in response to mounting pressures imposed by a rapidly increasing human population and aspirations for higher living standards. In the foreseeable future, exponential increase in these pressures and consequent speed of change seem inevitable. In recog- nition of these circumstances the Government of Western Samoa sees the creation of a system of National Parks and Reserves as a means of conserving representative samples of Western Samoa's natural and cultural heritage in perpetuity.

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.