Pacific Island Forum (PIF)<\/a> which also acts as Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) that facilitates POA. The PIF secretary general Henry Puna (a former Prime Minister of Cook islands) acts as the commissioner as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn opening remarks to the meeting, Puna said that the PICs face both threats and opportunities due to the geo-political battle hotting up in the South Pacific\u2014he did not name countries. \u201cThese challenges impact on our ability to protect our oceans\u201d he said. \u201cIt is only by political commitment that we can capitalise on opportunities and resources the ocean provides\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PICs wiil be presenting their 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent that will develop a long-term vision for the region and it outline the steps to achieve this vision. It is a regional strategy to protect and secure the Pacific people, place and prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur fisheries resources are vital for our people and the world. We provide more than 50 per cent of the global supply (and) it is critical to look after this resource for the world\u201d Puna added, pointing out that the Blue Pacific strategy is designed to do that. He added a cautionary note saying that \u201cwe need to discuss here the sustainable management of our resources\u2014not based on other\u2019s needs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN Secretary-General\u2019s Special Envoy on the Oceans, Peter Thompson addressing the meeting here by video acknowledged that SDG 14 was adopted through the \u201cdetermined\u201d efforts of the South Pacific, and at this stage \u201cwe should not surrender to the forces of greed and exploitation\u201d. He suggested that there should be a concentrated effort to stop pollution of the oceans by plastics and climatic finance need to be targeted at goals like SDG 14. He advocates that the \u2018Blue Pacific\u2019 strategy needs to infiltrate all SDGs and the international community \u201cshould not squander this year\u2019s opportunity to save the oceans\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the 2050 Strategy for Blue Pacific is vital, Thompson believes that this needs resources and both the POA meeting and UN Ocean Conference need to address the issue of resourcing\u2014both in governance and financing \u2013 to operationalise the strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Josie Tamate, Director General of the Ministry of National Resouces from Nieu told the meeting that addressing the issue of funding is very important to realise the \u2018Blue Pacific\u2019 strategy, and she mentioned a $32 million trust fund that has been established calling out to bilateral donors to contribute. She also added another scheme of Ocean Conservation Credit would be proposed at the PIF leaders\u2019 summit in July, that would involve a 20-year commitment from international contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing the POA meeting through zoom link, Sainivadati Novoti, Chief of the SIDS department at the UN in New York, argued that while health and military conflicts have diverted the world\u2019s attention from SDGs recently, in terms of realising the SDG 14 under the \u2018Blue Pacific\u2019 strategy, a serious impediment is a lack of reliable data from the region. When asked by IDN if this is a \u201ccop out by the UN?\u201d he refuted it strongly pointing out that they are working with regional partner to overcome this \u201cdata gap\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing the WOD event indigenous community leader Adi Kolokesa Latianara from Serua Island said \u201cwith climate change effects intensifying and causing more coral bleaching, our oceans and its resources have been greatly affected. Life is getting harder as our marine resources are declining, we are catching less fish with sizes also decreasing. There\u2019s more pollution evident, and with expensive fuel prices, we now have to go further out of our fishing grounds to find a good catch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, she said they could help to implement the Marine Protection Area within their communities and encourage youth to get involved \u201cby cultivating sea urchings, mollusks and sea cucumber near the shore to promote growth and replenishment of such species\u201d. She also recommends the use of solar-powered boats. But to achieve these aims, Latianara emphasised that there needs to be regional (and international) cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main concern is whether our (international) partners are coming (to Lisbon) with open ears to listen for our call to action\u201d Semisi Seruitanoa, membership officer of the International Union for Conservation of Nature told IDN. He pointed out that the Pacific has been asking for quite a while for greater financial resources to be allocated for conserving the oceans. He believes that the Pacific has ample data but the problem is on interpreting these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are the leading region in the world that has almost completed the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) boundaries (and) one of the leading regions with the marine protection areas,\u201d added Seruitanoa. But he pointed out that the capacity to do surveillance of these areas to stop illegal activity is hampered by the lack of financial resources. \u201cChina has recently helped in providing surveillance equipment and training of naval officers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to IDN at the end of the WOD march here, young indigenous woman Maima Vaai of Uto Ni Yalo Trust said, \u201cwe indigenous people are the custodians that have been given the role to protect and care for our oceans and our land. Not only for us but also for our future generations that are to come\u201d. [IDN-InDepthNews \u2014 09 June 2022]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo: Naval Officers leading the World Ocean Day March in Suva. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji (IDN) \u2014 This week, to coincide with World Ocean Day (WOD) on June 8, South Pacific\u2019s experts and stakeholders on the Oceans met here to plan coordinated action at the United Nations Oceans Conference starting in Lisbon on June 28. Speaking at a WOD event here on June 8, Fiji\u2019s Fisheries Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5268,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sdgs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5269,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5267\/revisions\/5269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}