SPREP is helping support the development of key environmental policy documents for its member countries with the aim to strengthen environmental management and planning, monitoring and reporting for informed decision-making and effective implementation.
Given this mandate, SPREP’s Environmental Monitoring and Governance (EMG) programme is helping the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the process of developing two key environmental documents - State of Environment (SoE) Report and the National Environment Management Strategy (NEMS). Recently a SPREP team led by the Environmental Monitoring and Governance Programme visited FSM to support the SoE and NEMS processes for FSM. The SPREP team was led by Mr Jope Davetanivalu, Environmental Planning Adviser, Ms. Julie Callebaut, Environment Monitoring and Reporting GIS Specialist; and Mr. Kilom Ishiguro, RMI SPREP Technical Officer.
The mission to FSM took place from 8 – 12 October, 2018 with consultations held at the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management (DECEM) in Palikir, Pohnpei.
A 3-day multi-sectoral consultative workshop was convened to develop the SoE and NEMS process and to identify key focus areas to be included in the development of the two documents. The workshop was attended by participants from the states of Yap, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and representatives from the FSM national government. The consultative workshop was led by the Assistant Secretary for DECEM, Ms. Cindy Ehmes.
“The Secretary of DECEM, Hon.Andrew Yatilman in supporting the SoE process is acknowledged, the outcome of which will guide environment protection agencies in aligning their work to other sectors and partners in FSM,” said Jope Davetanivalu, Environment Planning Advisor.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has been engaged by SPREP to assist in developing the SoE and NEMS with the guidance of DECEM Assistant Secretary, Ms. Cindy Ehmes as national focal point, together with the EPA Directors as State focal points.
The SoE report provides information on environmental and social conditions, trends and pressures and suggests appropriate practical responses to improve environmental conditions. It also provides the baseline for the formulation of the NEMS and assists the Government to meet its reporting obligations to national, regional and international agreements and instruments. FSM developed its first SoE in 1992 and while work has been done in the key thematic areas of the SoE, the current process provides a comprehensive update of the State of Environment for FSM since the 1992 SoE.
The NEMS on the other hand is the overarching environmental policy and planning framework to guide implementation actions and consolidates environmental priorities for effective integration into sectoral and national level planning processes such as National Development Plans to address SDGs. FSM produced its first NEMS in 1993 which will be updated with new information that will be compiled through the current review process.
At the consultative workshop, the GEF funded Inform project which established the national data portal for FSM was introduced and presented to the stakeholders. The FSM national environment data portal will be instrumental in the SoE process through collecting and storing information and data on the environment for use in planning and reporting. Participants had the chance for a hands-on exercise to upload data to the online FSM Environment data portal (https://fsm-data.sprep.org/).
“SPREP continues to play a lead role in assisting countries to develop capacity in environmental governance, policy and planning, monitoring and reporting. SPREP also continues to assist its Members to meet their obligations to multilateral environmental agreements including key international commitments such as the SDGs and the S.A.M.O.A Pathway,” said Easter Galuvao, Director of Environmental Monitoring and Governance Programme.
SPREP’s contribution in the formulation of FSM’s SoE Report and NEMS is coordinated through the Environmental and Monitoring Programme with funding support from the European Union- ACPMEA project implemented by UN Environment. The ACPMEA programme was instrumental in leveraging new funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which resulted in the regional Inform project, implemented through UN Environment and executed by SPREP. The two projects complement each other and take integrated approaches to their regional activities.
For more information on the SPREP EMG programme, please contact programme leader, Ms. Easter Galuvao on Email: [email protected].
For more information on the SoE reporting and NEMS, please contact Environmental Planning Officer, Mr. Jope Davetanivalu: [email protected]
To learn more about the ACPMEAs project, please visit http://www.sprep.org/Projects/acp-meas-project
For more information on the Inform Project, contact Mr. Paul Anderson, Inform Project Manager on email: [email protected].
To learn more about the Inform project, please visit http://www.sprep.org/inform/home
