Pacific Islands Environment Outlook - UNEP

vii
Preface
It is now over seven years since the Pacific
region drew up a comprehensive SOE report
and statement of policy for the 1992 Earth
Summit in Rio. That document was based on
an exhaustive regional and national process,
culminating in the best available catalogue of
development and environment issues affecting
all countries and territories in the region. The
1992 reports have been used as a baseline in
order to arrive at some reasonable assessment
of the principal trends currently affecting the
region, and to identify where those trends
require special attention and analysis, either
because of their adverse effect on the
environment or because of the progress that
has been achieved in the intervening years.
The Pacific Islands Environment Outlook
(PIEO) report is part of a UNEP project to
produce state of the environment assessments
for the countries of the Caribbean, Western
Indian Ocean and Pacific Islands. The report
was co-ordinated by the South Pacific Regional
Environment Programme (SPREP) on behalf
of UNEP and with the financial assistance of
the European Community (budget line B7-
6200 Environment in Developing Countries,
Project No. B7-6200/97-06/VIII/ENV.).
The objective of the PIEO is to provide
information on the state of the environment in
the Pacific Islands, help identify regional
environmental concerns, and highlight policy
priorities. The three reports will also
contribute to the improvement of regional
agenda-setting, sustainable development
planning and resource allocation. The
production of the Caribbean, Western Indian
Ocean and Pacific Islands Environment
Outlooks closely followed the process set up
for the production of UNEP’s Global
Environment Outlook (GEO) publication. GEO
uses a regional and global participatory
assessment and reporting process, the main
components of which are the Collaborating
Centres, regional policy consultations,
international working groups and the UN
System-wide Earthwatch (see Box 0.1).
As part of the ongoing Global Environment
Outlook (GEO) process, the Pacific Islands
Environment Outlook provides a policy-relevant
assessment of this region’s environment. It
draws on published reports, expert opinion
and interviews with a number of regional
agencies working in the resource management
field. National input has been provided
through a regional workshop and circulation of
the final draft for comment.
This report comes at a critical time for this
region, and for island countries globally, as the
international community reviews agreements
reached in Barbados in 1994 concerning the
Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States (SIDS). The trends and
emerging issues will also contribute to the
ongoing negotiations between the European
Community and the African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) States concerning the Lomé
Convention.
The Pacific Islands Environment Outlook is
an important step towards the better
understanding and management of the islands
and ocean resources of this region. It
represents attempts by this region to
implement Chapter 40 of Agenda 21, to report
on the implementation of the Barbados
Programme of Action and to fulfil our
obligations to assess the state of the region’s
environment (Agreement Establishing SPREP).
Most important of all, this Outlook represents
the first in a series of regular reviews, linked
to the GEO process, that will help guide
decision-making in this region and ensure a
sustainable future for Pacific island peoples.