28 March 2011, Palau - Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu could become the newest Pacific island parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. All three island nations are attending the Oceania meeting on wetlands in Palau this week to learn more about the Convention and what it entails when you become a contracting party.
"Vanuatu has indicated interest in acceding to the Wetlands Convention a while ago, this interest has revived and we have been working with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to
look at options," said Ms. Rolenas Baereleo, the MESCAL Project Coordinator in Vanuatu [pictured right].
MESCAL, also known as Mangrove EcoSystems for Climate Change Adaptation and Livelihoods is a project coordinated by IUCN in five countries; Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
Crab Bay in Malekula, Vanuatu is a biodiversity hotspot. It is one of the two pilot sites of the MESCAL project and is also the nominated Ramsar site identified by the Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation.
Due to land ownership in Vanuatu, the local community must support the commitment of a Ramsar Site of Wetlands Importance; this involves community consultation which will raise some obvious questions.
"It's good to learn what other countries are doing in terms of wetlands protections, it's very interesting to follow their presentations and I am hoping that by coming here to this meeting, I can learn what are the pros and cons to having a Ramsar site as that is the first question the communities will ask – 'what are we going to get out of it?"
For the Kingdom of Tonga, acceding to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands will be a catalyst to bring stakeholders together to collaborate in caring for Wetlands, in particular the possible designated site of importance, Fanga'uta Lagoon on the main island of Tongatapu.
"We'd like people to understand more about the importance of our wetlands, Fanga'uta Lagoon has a diverse and rich marine and mangrove species," said Seini Fotu, the Conservation Officer of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change [pictured left].
"If there is greater awareness, then we'll have support to conserve and protect our wetlands."
The Oceania Wetlands Meeting in Palau this week will help provide guidance on the next steps to be taken to become parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Notes:
The 5th Oceania Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 11th Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands, hosted in Palau is from 26 to 30 March. The meeting is attended by Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
Partners that are attending the meeting are from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Palau Office, IUCN Oceania Regional Office, Palau Conservation Society, Birdlife International and the Micronesia Challenge Regional Office, among others.
The 5th Oceania Regional Meeting for Ramsar COP11 in Palau is funded by the Governments of Australia and France, with additional support from the UNEP and EU funded Multi-lateral Environment Capacity building project.