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Environmental training needs assessment endorsed
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Posted on Oct 17 2000
GUAM –– Pacific Environmentalists are looking at better ways for Pacific islanders to manage the natural resources on their island homes. SPREP has been given a mandate from its member countries to use national development plans, to develop people skills for better management and use of their natural resources in a more effective manner.
“Pacific islanders have always been practitioners of sustainable management, but over the years a growing dependence on imported goods, and the arrival of industrialization has changed many of our long held perceptions”, says SPREP Director, Tamari’i Tutangata.
Their concerns were raised during talks on the Environmental Training Needs Assessment (TNA) at the 11th annual meeting of the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) in Guam.
The Environmental TNA identified high priority needs for further training and support in seven environmental areas; biodiversity and conservation of natural resources; climate and meteorology; coastal management; waste and chemical management; marine pollution; environmental management and planning and institutional strengthening; and, environmental education, information and training.
“We are now trying to show our people other methods to combat the erosion of traditional methods through environmental education”, says Tutangata.
Mainly coastal in nature, the thousands of tiny islands dotted across the world’s biggest ocean are facing mounting problems of fragile economies and dwindling populations, coupled to the mounting threat from waste pollution and sea level rise. The TNA will be the basis from which environmental education and training initiatives could be formulated to help address priority environmental concerns of the Pacific.
The TNA was conducted for the following countries and territories with funding provided by the New Zealand Official Development Assistance (NZODA): American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu.
