6 September 2024, Apia Samoa - The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme’s (SPREP) Fourth Executive Board Meeting held to discuss strategic, programme and governance issues pertaining to the organisation ended on a high in Apia today.
The three-day meeting held at the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) at the SPREP Campus in Vailima was guided by the theme: “A Resilient Blue Pacific Continent Free of Plastics.”
The theme is aligned to the 2050 Strategy of the Blue Pacific Continent, and the theme of the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga – ‘A Transformative and Resilient Pasifiki: Build Better Now’. Conducted via a blended platform, the meeting was chaired by the United Kingdom with Tuvalu as the Vice Chair.
“SPREP plays a very vital role in building a resilient Pacific environment sustaining our livelihoods and natural heritage in harmony with our cultures,” said the Chair, Ms Billie Selby, who is the United Kingdom’s Pacific Climate and Energy Counsellor at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
“The United Kingdom has been delighted to chair this meeting and to see all that hard work laid before us in great detail. So I want to thank the Director General, the staff of SPREP and all members of the Executive Board for their active participation.”
SPREP’s Executive Board includes the Troika of past, present and future chairpersons of the SPREP Meeting, and representatives of Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Metropolitan, and French speaking Member countries of SPREP.
SPREP’s Director General, Mr Sefanaia Nawadra, acknowledged the Chair and members of the Fourth Executive Board Meeting for their hard work during the past three days.
“The successful conclusion of our meeting this week reassures all of us that the Executive Board works well for SPREP. It allows us to free resources for implementation and I thank the SPREP membership for giving us that dispensation,” said Mr Nawadra.
“During the past few days, we discussed a lot of pertinent issues with regards to the governance of SPREP and we look forward to working with the Troika on these issues to improve the service we provide to our members and our Pacific communities.
“To all our Members, Partners and Donors, thank you for the continued investment to the work of SPREP, this is a joint effort and it encourages all of us at the Secretariat to do our very best for the Pacific communities we are here to serve.”
The Outcome Report of the Fourth Executive Board Meeting was duly endorsed by the Meeting with the full records to be circulated to all the Members before it is finalised and approved.
The Executive Board Members also agreed that the 32nd SPREP Meeting will be held in Apia, Samoa in 2025 with dates to be confirmed. The 32nd Meeting to be attended by the full Membership of SPREP, will include a Partnership Dialogue and a Pacific Environment Ministerial Meeting.
The 21 Pacific Island Member countries and territories of SPREP are: American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna. The five Metropolitan members of SPREP are: Australia, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
In our efforts to fulfil our vision of ‘a resilient Pacific environment, sustaining our livelihoods and natural heritage in harmony with our cultures’, SPREP is extremely grateful to our valued Members, development partners, donors, our CROP family, and stakeholders.