The development of two key environment planning and reporting documents – the State of Environment (SoE) report and the National Environment Management Strategy (NEMS) for the Federated States of Micronesia will further strengthen the country’s capacity to protect and conserve its pristine environment.
Planning for the two documents first started in October 2018 under the leadership of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management (DECEM) with the active engagement and input from the FSM States representatives. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) through the Environment Monitoring and Governance Programme with technical support from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) supported the SoE and NEMS processes in FSM.
A second round of consultations took place from 28 February to 1 March in Pohnpei with the participation of 40 representatives from environmental agencies of the four States plus DECEM officials.
The main focus of the second consultation was to review and validate the draft copies of the two documents and which subsequently confirmed the trend status of the indicators for each SoE thematic area. The trend shows whether the state of an environmental indicator is improving, stable or deteriorating. A deteriorating trend is a red flag that highlights the need for improved environmental management.
The process also developed timelines and identified agencies’ responsible for the actions and recommendations that are in the NEMS and aligned to the SOE.
State representatives and DECEM officials were actively involved in the review and improvements to the content of the two documents. Additionally, draft Project Concept Notes were developed from findings of the SoE and NEMS development process. The Project Concept Notes will guide the FSM Government and the States to secure funding opportunities from donor agencies and partners to address specific needs and gaps identified in the SoE and NEMS.
In addition, the new and enhanced FSM data portal was launched, and a detailed national data governance structure was discussed and prepared. The FSM data portal, established under the regional Inform project collates and stores environmental data for use by decision-makers and prepare reports including the SoE, reporting to MEAs, and national reports. Participants at the workshop were enthusiastic and motivated with the data portal and were keen to continue using the portal to support improved environment data management for decision making.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Secretary of DECEM, Hon. Andrew Yatilman thanked SPREP for helping FSM pursue the development of the two key documents which will guide FSM in addressing important environment issues and better livelihoods.
The SPREP team acknowledged the commitment of the FSM States representatives, DECEM and TNC to the development and successful completion of the key environmental documents.
SPREP’s contribution in the formulation of FSM’s SoE Report and NEMS is coordinated through the Environmental and Monitoring Programme with initial funding support through the European Union- ACPMEA project implemented by UN Environment and additional funding support leveraged through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) regional Inform project, implemented through UN Environment and executed by SPREP.
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] or Ms. Julie Callebaut, Environmental Monitoring and Reporting – GIS Specialist: [email protected]
To learn more about the ACPMEAs project, please visit this link.
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 Pacfic-data.sprep.org
The FSM national data portal can be accessed here.