The Inform Project

The Inform Project

The Inform project is the unified response for the need of data-driven decision making in the Pacific thanks to the strategic partnership between Pacific Island Countries, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the UN-Environment Programme to increase the availability of environmental data.

The key challenges the Inform project addressed are to; (1) increase data availability as evidence of the environmental resources, trends and drivers of environmental change, (2) Improve information management  and interpretation as well as standard procedures for environmental data and (3) Easy access and timely information for decision making, planning and reporting.

In order to achieve these challenges, the Inform project has the following six goals;

And these goals have been addressed under three key deliverables;

1. A network of national Environmental Data Portals: online data repositories that provide an easy way to store, share, access and reuse national environmental data.
2. A set of environmental knowledge management tools to improve data monitoring and reporting capabilities.
3. National and regional capacity building to monitor, review and report on national development plans such as the State of Environment Assessment and Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

The Project has been executed in fourteen Pacific Island Countries during a four-year regional project (2017–2021) including the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

To learn more please watch this video about the Inform project and its key results:

As part of key deliverable 1, the Inform project has created a Pacific island network of national and regional data repositories and reporting tools has been established to support environment data managers help their leaders in the decision-making process, limiting the human bias and subjectivity. 

Click below to download the latest Inform Project Brochure:

Download Brochure

Environment Data Portals

The environment data portals are a new platform that supports the monitoring, evaluation, and analysis of environmental information in environmental planning, forecasting, and reporting requirements at all levels, helping Pacific island countries access to their own national environment datasets as well as tools and guidance that serve their environment information needs. 

You can find out more about the environment data portals at our InformDocs site at https://docs.pacific-data.sprep.org/docs/dataportal/quickstart

Thanks to these tools and platforms, the Inform project has greatly improved the availability of data and reporting capacity in the region and pacific countries can now access to their own environment data repository

For more information visit the specific section on Environment Data Portals

State of the Environment Reports

As part of key deliverable 2, the Inform project has supported member countries with their environment management and reporting, producing SoE’s in 14 countries as well as a Regional SoE to reflect on the individual country environment reports. These reports are later used by the Regional Nature Conference which provides regional guidance and contributes to the CBD’s objectives.

To learn more about the SoE reports watch the talanoa session below that celebrated the launch of the reports.

In addition to the physical copy, each of the State of the Environment reports and the regional report is available online as an interactive web page for easy access and navigation. 

To learn more about the SoE reports watch the below video on the SOEC 2020:

To increase standards and support member countries produce their own SoE reports, the Inform project has also developed the Indicator Guidebook in 2021. presenting 34 core environmental indicators divided into 6 Themes.

The key to consistent monitoring and reporting is tracking change over time. To this end the project team developed 34 Indicators and indicator guide books to support Pacific Island Countries with this process.

Download Indicator Guidebook

To learn more watch this video about the Environmental Indicators Guidebook: 

Thanks to these reports and the new Environmental Indicators Guidebook, the Pacific Island Countries have now better understanding of their environmental status and also strengthen their environmental standard indicators.

For more information visit the specific section on State of Environment Reports

Capacity Building

In 2021 an e-learning platform was launched to increase regional capacity in data management and the use of newly developed tools. 

The Inform project has built a series of online courses and GIS expertise peer to peer trainings that is free to join, is open worldwide and includes a certificate issued by SPREP upon completion. 

The online courses are an ideal and cost-effective learning method that brings our geographically disperse Pacific countries closer together. An e-learning platform to ensure the full scalability of the courses in line with our partner’s evolving learning needs while ensuring content’s consistency across all our member countries. 

You can learn more about these new online courses by watching the video below: 

Thanks to this new platform users can now learn at their own peace and own comfort of their offices or home.

For more information visit the specific section on Capacity Building

News and Media Resources

The Inform project has produced a number of communication products ranging from brochures to videos, social media posts and advertising for their online courses to make sure Pacific Island Countries are aware of the new platforms and content available to them. 

The example below is a social media post that highlights the key findings of the regional environment reports with a though provoking message to engages with the users while giving them easy access for read more information:

To learn more about the communication products under the Inform project, go to section News and Media Resources

Inform Plus

Thanks to the Inform project we now have the most effective way for decisions makers to make adequate and timely action but we have only scratched the surface. 

The Inform project has also forged new partnerships between BIOPAMA and PAC Waste Plus project, contributing to significant data sets to national portals and the publication of special GIS datasets. It has also established partnerships with the private sector such as Sky Eye in Samoa, civil society, IISD, and international organizations like UNESCO, UNDP or OIH.

We have listened to our partner’s their request for the continuation of the project and since Environmental Monitoring and Governance is one of key focus areas of SPREP, Inform will continue supporting PIC’s in 2022 to ensure the gains from this project can be sustained over time and be strongly rooted at the country level

To learn more about this new phase of the project go to section Inform Plus