15 October 2021/Press Release - Stakeholders in the waste sector of the Pacific are preparing for the Third Clean Pacific Roundtable (3rdCPRT), scheduled for the 16 – 25 November 2021.
Close to a 100 participants from the government sector, waste and environmental practitioners, development partners, private sector, community, NGOs, academic and research institutions, will come together virtually to advance the region’s push for a cleaner future.
Facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), with members and partners, the biennial event aims to facilitate networking and dialogue, improve donor coordination, mobilise technical and financial resources and to develop monitoring and reporting methods to monitor progress of the Cleaner Pacific 2025.
This year the Third Clean Pacific Roundtable is a partnership between the Government of New Caledonia as host with Acotred Pacific, the cluster of Pacific waste collection and treatment professionals formed in 2011, and SPREP.
Partners who support good waste management practices in the Pacific are also onboard.
“The gathering is very important because it aims to drive high-impact and scalable initiatives for specific challenges relating to waste management in the Pacific region,” said Mr Anthony Talouli, SPREP’s Acting Director of Waste Management, Pollution Control/Pollution Adviser.
“These innovations should enhance the capability of Pacific countries and territories to deliver safe and sustainable waste management practices to prevent pollution-related issues that impact the health of the ocean and Pacific communities.”
The first two CPRTs in 2016 and 2018 were held in Suva Fiji. The third meeting was supposed to have been held in New Caledonia last year but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to 2021 and converted to a virtual event.
“It’s unfortunate we are not able to gather physically to talanoa on ways to deal with waste because waste as we know it has become such a critical issue for the Pacific, especially the need to manage it,” Mr Talouli said.
“The threat of increased waste and pollution is of grave concern to our Pacific People. It is a serious threat to sustainable development and we’re now faced with a major crisis. We must come together, we must act now.”
The Clean Pacific Roundtable is the regional mechanism that empowers regional and national cooperation for the implementation of the Pacific Regional Waste and Pollution Management Strategy 2016-2025 (Cleaner Pacific 2025). This year’s meeting will focus on the following key themes:
• Creating a safe Pacific Circular Economy
• Waste industry-based enterprise with enhanced public-private partnerships
• Bridging people and waste: Enhancing consciousness in managing waste
“The need to avoid, reduce, re-use, repair, recover, and recycle is now more pressing than ever. We depend on the oceans; we depend on the natural resources for survival. The impact of waste on our environment is a threat we can no longer ignore,” added Mr Talouli.
The virtual event will be held over two weeks, starting 16 November, with the Roundtable sessions occurring on Tuesday 23 November and Wednesday 24 November 2021.
Anyone interested in attending is invited to register now. Visit: https://www.cleanpacificroundtable.com/cprt3-history
ABOUT THE 3rd CPRT
The Third Clean Pacific Roundtable is a partnership event supported by New Caledonia, Acotred Pacific, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), Australian Aid (AUS Aid), European Union (EU), Fonds Pacifique, Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), UN Environment Program (UNEP), Province SUD and Province NORD.