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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).

In recognition of the need for National Parks and protected areas in the South Pacific, the New Zealand Government hosted the First South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves in 1975, in association with the South Pacific Commission (SPC) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This meeting was at Ministerial. A second South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves, also at Ministerial level, was held in 1979 in Australia. This was hosted by the Australian Government and the Government of New South Wales, which adopted the conference as one of the events celebrating the Centennial of the Royal NationaL Park as the first national park in Australia. The 1979 Conference decided that the third Conference should be hosted by a Pacific Island country.

This is the Verbatim Transcript, Volume 2 proceeedings of the second South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves held in April 1979 in Sydney Australia

Our political and economic relations with Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the countries of South- East Asia are of particular importance. Almost half of our overseas trade is with Pacific countries, and this is growing steadily. As part of our good neighbour policy, we have tried to help in the economic development of other island states also, and to increase trade "between South Pacific countries. An important reason why New Zealand and its neighbours have become very closely associated, has been the movement of Pacific peoples to this country. Some are New Zealand citizens, and move freely back and forth. The Treaty of Friendship signed in August 1962, for instance, has maintained our long-standing association with Western Samoa, and has resulted in a steady flow of immigrants from that country.

The Sixth South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas was hosted by the Federated States of Micronesia in the State of Pohnpei from 29 September – 3 October 1997.

The proposed Conservation Area is centred on an area of mangrove forest (c75 hectares) in the customary ownership of Saanapu and Sataoa villages on the south coast of Upolu. This area is one of five Grade 1 sites identified by a 1991 survey of lowland ecosystems as the best remaining in Western Samoa (Park et al. , 1992) . It is given priority as the best mangrove ecosystem in the country, acknowledging that mangroves have a key role to play in sustaining lagoon fisheries on which many Samoans in coastal villages depend. The two villages involved have made a commitment to conservation of this area dating back to 1992 when the results of the survey were presented to them. The project also hopes to extend conservation and sustainable development principles to other lands owned by these villages, and in the long-term to the whole Safata District.

This file is the proceedings of the 4th South Pacific Conference of Nature Conservation and Protected Areas: Volume 2 - Papers, Keynotes, Themes and Case studies. Held in Port Vila Vanuatu September 1989