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PACINET LISTENS TO REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

In September 2006, PACINET was very pleased to be invited, as part of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Land Resources Division to actively participate in their 2nd regional Heads of Agriculture and Forestry (HOAFs) meeting held at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi from the 18th-22nd September.

HOAFS fieldtrip

Regional Heads of Agriculture and Forestry delegates and SPC/LRD staff, visit a furniture factory that caters exclusively to local hotels and businesses

The meeting was attended by representatives from almost all of the 22 member countries and territories of SPC and provided a wonderful opportunity for PACINET to listen to its island member countries and territories present to SPC their individual and collective needs and priorities associated with agriculture and forestry. Delegates reported individually over the first 2 days and then smaller thematic discussion group provided more informal listening opportunities.

One of the highlights of the meeting was hearing about so many positive "grass roots" activities occurring within the region. One of these activities is the Pacific Ant Prevention Programme (PAPP) which is a regional plan to address invasive ants in the region (http://www.issg.org/cii/PII/PAPP.htm.). PAPP Partners are:

  • The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)
  • The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
  • The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)/Pacific Invasives Initiative
  • Biosecurity New Zealand
  • The Hawaii Ant Group (HAG)

Via PAPP Coordinator Simon O'Connor of SPC, PACINET has been asked to assist this program where possible with the development of multi-media user friendly ant identification keys for easy use by quarantine officials.

Another more established program for which identification key assistance was also requested was the SPC/GTZ Regional Forestry Project, which in partnership with the University of the South Pacific is already producing very valuable keys of Fiji's tree fauna but is interested in making its keys even more user friendly and also more accessible to the public.

The HOAFs forum presented a very welcome opportunity to make face to face contact with many relevant people from the 21 countries and territories covered by the PACINET program and to raise awareness of the importance of taxonomy to the sustainable development of the region.