Sythesis of National Capacity Self-Assessment Reports (NSCA) in the Pacific Region

UNEP established the NCSA program with the goal of identifying “country level priorities and needs for capacity building to address global environmental issues, in particular biological diversity, climate change, and land degradation, with the aim of catalyzing domestic and/ or externally assisted action to meet those needs in a coordinated and planned manner” (http://www. unep.org/dgef/NCSAs/tabid/1900/language/en-US/Default.aspx). This report synthesizes NCSAs written between 2007 and 2010 from the following 10 governments: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu (see Appendix I; NCSAs were not available for other SPREP countries). The report’s first section identifies the major themes that these NCSAs document with respect to vulnerabilities, sources of threats, and incapacities. The report’s second section builds on this information to identify strategies that would assist national governments and SPREP in more effectively addressing the gaps that the NCSAs document. These strategies are intended to help SPREP use its unique institutional position and resources to facilitate member state efforts to remedy their incapacities, address their vulnerabilities, and enhance their ability to achieve their commitments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention on Desertification. The strategies are intended to help SPREP, at the request of and in collaboration with national governments, develop policies and programs that can be usefully applied in all countries while respecting and reflecting the diverse situations of each.