Pacific Regional Environment Programme

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme

Abbreviation	SPREP
Formation	16 June 1993
Type	independent inter-governmental organization
Legal status	Agreement Establishing SPREP
Purpose	promote cooperation in the South Pacific Region and to provide assistance in order to protect and improve the environment and to ensure sustainable development for present and future generations (Art.2).
Headquarters	Apia, Samoa
Region served	Pacific
Director General	Kosi Latu
Main organ	Intergovernmental Meetings (IGM), SPREP Meetings (SM) and Regional Convention COPs
Staff	90+
Website	http://www.sprep.org/

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is an intergovernmental organisation based in Apia, Samoa with more than 90 staff members. The organisation is held accountable by the governments and administrations of the Pacific region to ensure the protection and sustainable development of the region's natural resources. The organisation actively promotes the understanding of the connection between Pacific island people and their natural environment and the impact that these have on their sustenance and livelihoods. The organisation was established in 1982.^[1] Previously "South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)", the word "South" was replaced with "Secretariat" in 2004, in recognition of the Members north of the equator. The French equivalent name is PROE, Programme régional océanien de l’environnement. ^[2]

Members

SPREP Members comprise 21 Pacific island countries and territories, and five developed countries* with direct interests in the region:

American Samoa	Australia*	Cook Islands
Federated States of Micronesia	Fiji	France*
French Polynesia	Guam	Kiribati
Marshall Islands	Nauru	New Caledonia
New Zealand*	Niue	Northern Mariana Islands
Palau	Papua New Guinea	Samoa
Solomon Islands	Tokelau	Tonga
Tuvalu	United Kingdom*	United States*
Vanuatu	Wallis and Futuna

SPREP Values

SPREP approaches the environment challenges faced by the Pacific guided by four simple values. These values guide all aspects of our work.

1. We Value the Environment

2. We Value our People

3. We Value high quality and targeted Service Delivery

4. We Value Integrity

OUR WORK

SPREP is guided by its Strategic Action Plan (20117 - 201526). and has created and established four strategic divisions within the organisation: It prioritises four regional goals with supporting objectives. Together these define the core priorities and focus of SPREP for the next ten years:

• Climate Change Resilience

• Ecosystem and Biodiversity Protection

• Waste Management and Pollution Control

• Environmental Governance

REGIONAL GOAL 1:

• Pacific people benefit from strengthened resilience to climate change

For Pacific island Members, the economic, social, and environmental costs of climate change and disasters are high and forecast to increase. As coordinator for climate change action in the region, SPREP continues to lead the region’s response to climate impacts. SPREP promotes integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management through capacity building and within an ecosystembased approach. SPREP is a key conduit for our Members to make effective use of the UNFCCC and Conference of the Parties processes, the Paris Agreement, and other global climate initiatives. At the regional level, SPREP promotes the Framework on Resilient Development in the Pacific: An Integrated Approach to Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (FRDP) to guide our collaborative approach with regional organisations, donors, and the United Nations to strengthen resilience to climate change. Increasing the access to climate change fi nance is a high priority for Pacific island Members, and SPREP will support Members through its role as an accredited entity to the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund and through other sources. As host of the Pacific Climate Change Centre, SPREP will deliver on its mandate as coordinator of Pacific climate change action.

REGIONAL GOAL 2:

• Pacific people benefit from healthy and resilient island and ocean ecosystems

Healthy ecosystems are foundations for sustainable development and adaptation and resilience to climate change. Pacific environments also support globally signifi cant levels of biodiversity that form part of our critical ecosystems and support signifi cant tourism economies. Under its vision and mandate, SPREP provides regional leadership and technical guidance and serves as a conduit for Member states in optimising the implementation of several global MEAs and regional environmental frameworks. These include the Noumea (or SPREP) Convention, the Framework for a Pacific Oceanscape, and the Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Islands Region.

The ocean is a key regulator of the global climate and a medium for major climate drivers. The ocean has absorbed about 30% of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial era and currently absorbs over 90% of the heat generated by climate change. Changes in the ocean as a consequence of climate change are long-term and potentially devastating for vital ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide, in particular, tropical Pacific coral reefs, which constitute more than 25% of the world’s reefs.

REGIONAL GOAL 3:

• Pacific people benefit from improved waste management and pollution control

SPREP has the lead responsibility for regional coordination and delivery of waste management and pollution control action and uses the strategic management framework, Cleaner Pacific 2025, in guiding regional cooperation and collaboration. SPREP promotes evidence-based strategic planning within countries to develop strategies that address emerging priorities and opportunities in locally appropriate ways. In assisting Pacific island countries and territories to build capacity to implement waste, chemicals, and pollutants programmes, SPREP continues to focus on in-country human resource support, technical cooperation, and a learn-by-doing approach for longer-term self-sufficiency. SPREP also works with key international and regional partners to achieve greater integration of sustainable funding and support mechanisms for waste, chemicals, and pollution management programmes.

REGIONAL GOAL 4:

• Pacific people and their environment benefit from commitment to and best practice of environmental governance.

SPREP plays a lead role in assisting countries to develop capacity in environmental governance, policy development, planning, monitoring, and reporting for sustainable environmental outcomes and to keep pace with socio-economic development. This includes strengthening and supporting political leadership on environmental issues in the region through initiatives such as the Framework for a Pacific Oceanscape and assisting leaders and their delegations in their advocacy in international fora. SPREP continues to provide key support to Members in planning for implementation of their multilateral environmental agreement requirements and other enabling frameworks, development of legislation, training and capacity building for environmental impact assessment, and spatial planning. This support includes responsibilities to develop regional standards for monitoring and reporting environmental change at both national and regional scales.

SPREP Secretariat Role and Focus

The SPREP Secretariat has a unique role within the regional architecture defined in the SPREP mandate: to promote co-operation in the Pacific region and provide assistance in order to protect and improve its environment and to ensure sustainable development for present and future generations.

In carrying out its role, the Secretariat draws upon its long-term experience in the Pacific, including through established relationships with governments and key stakeholders, to add value, complement, and strengthen the environmental management functions of our Members. The Secretariat will:

1. Provide responsive high quality technical and capacity backstopping to Members 2. Lead and support coordination and advocacy 3. Broker partnership and collaborations 4. Provide regional services and access to resources 5. Act as a repository and manager of data information and knowledge

SPREP Organisational Goals and Objectives

The future directions outlined in this Strategic Plan will require the SPREP Secretariat to strengthen and realign its institutional capacities, competencies, and systems to best support Members by delivering more integrated, responsive, and cost-effective services to Members and partners and by better coordinating regional efforts. The need for sustainable funding continues to be a key challenge that requires immediate focus. SPREP will embrace new and bold approaches to other significant challenges including structural reorganisation, capability building, and ongoing change management to capitalise on new opportunities and maximise available resources. Over the next ten years, we will adapt, respond, and develop to ensure the trust and confidence of our Members, partners, and stakeholders.

ORGANISATIONAL GOAL 1: • SPREP has information, knowledge, and communications systems that get the right information to the right people at the right time and influence positive organizational, behavioural and environmental change.

ORGANISATIONAL GOAL 2: • SPREP has multi-disciplinary processes in programme delivery and in supporting Members to develop national and regional policies and strategies.

ORGANISATIONAL GOAL 3: • SPREP has a reliable and sustainable funding base to achieve environmental outcomes for the benefit of the Pacific islands region and manages its programmes and operations to stay within its agreed budget.

ORGANISATIONAL GOAL 4: • SPREP is leading and engaged in productive partnerships and collaboration.

ORGANISATIONAL GOAL 5: • SPREP has access to a pool of people with the attitudes, knowledge, and skills to enable it to deliver on its shared regional vision.

ENABLING PRINCIPLES FOR PRIORITISATION

In the delivering of its key tasks, SPREP will operate according to the following principles:

1. SPREP mandate for improved environmental management and sustainable development

2. Relevance to regional and national contexts and priorities

3. SPREP’s strategic environmental technical expertise, experience, and regional relationships

4. Return on investment

IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING

Implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the Strategic Plan will be the responsibility of the Secretariat, in collaboration with Members

1. Performance Implementation Plan 2. Results Planning, Performance Reporting and Learning Framework 3. Governance

Conventions

SPREP oversees the following agreements, conventions and protocols, each of which is enacted by International treaty:

• Agreement establishing the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme Apia, 1993^[3]
  • Convention on Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific (Apia Convention) 1976^[4] (Suspended in 2006)^[5]
  • Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (Noumea Convention) 1986^[6]
    • Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of the South Pacific Region by Dumping (Dumping Protocol of the Noumea Convention) 1986
    • Protocol concerning Co-operation in Combating Pollution Emergencies in the South Pacific Region (Emergencies Protocol of the Noumea Convention) 1986^[7]
  • Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (Waigani Convention) 1995

Governance

The SPREP Annual General Meeting is the main governance mechanism of the organisation. SPREP Members meet once every year to discuss the workplan and budget and other matters relating to administration and corporate affairs. The 25th SPREP Meeting was held in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in October 2014.^[8]

SPREP began life in the late 1970s as a joint initiative of SPC, SPEC, ESCAP and UNEP - eventually functioning as a component of UNEP's Regional Seas Programme. The Programme received further impetus as a result of the 1982 Conference on the Human Environment in the South Pacific. Following a period of expansion and long deliberations, SPREP left SPC in Nouméa in 1992 and relocated to Samoa. It achieved autonomy as an independent inter-governmental organisation with the signing of the Agreement Establishing SPREP in Apia on 16 June 1993.

SPREP (the Secretariat) is the region’s key inter-governmental organisation for environment and sustainable development, and is one of several inter-governmental agencies comprising the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP). Under the Agreement Establishing SPREP, the purposes of SPREP are to promote cooperation in the South Pacific Region and to provide assistance in order to protect and improve the environment and to ensure sustainable development for present and future generations (Art.2). SPREP's vision is: the Pacific environment - sustaining our livelihoods and natural heritage in harmony with our cultures. SPREP also functions as the Secretariat of 2 (formerly 3) regional conventions: the Nouméa Convention, the Waigani Convention and the Apia Convention (suspended).

David Sheppard, Director General (term ending December 2015)

Senior Management Team

• Kosi Latu, Director General
• Roger Cornforth, Deputy Director General
• Stuart Chape, Director Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management
• Director Climate Change (Vacant)
• Easter Galuvao, Director Environmental Monitoring and Governance
• Vicki Hall, Director Waste Management and Pollution Control
• Clark Peteru, Legal Adviser
• Petra Chan Tung, Finance & Administration Adviser
• Simeamativa Leota-Vaai, Human Resources Adviser

Membership Decline

All of SPREP's five northern Pacific members have withdrawn from SPREP.

Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands have all withdrawn from SPREP.

Thus they do not pay dues, attend the annual membership meeting, or participate in any SPREP functions or activities.

References

External links

• SPREP