By joining PIRT, PIDF and SPC have declared their commitment to promote, facilitate and monitor progress regarding the Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Islands region 2014-2020.

The Framework which was adopted in 2013 at the 9^th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in Suva, Fiji and endorsed at the 25^th Annual Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Meeting in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, provides a guidance for the region on key priority areas for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management.

“I welcome both SPC and PIDF to the PIRT family and look forward to working closely with both organizations as we continue to address critical threats and challenges to the biodiversity of the region. No doubt 2020 will be a super-year for the environment and I am sure that with their membership of PIRT and participation at the upcoming 10^th Nature Conference in New Caledonia in April this year, both organisations will contribute immensely to the important work of valuing and conserving nature”, said Mason Smith, PIRT Chair and Regional Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for the Oceania region. 

Currently with 14 official members, PIRT was established in 1998 at the request of Pacific island countries and territories, which was voiced at the 6^th Pacific Island Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in 1997.

“The main objective of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) is to provide a mechanism for regional agencies to collaborate and coordinate nature conservation support to Pacific island countries and territories in the implementation of their national conservation priorities. Having SPC  and  PIDF join this regional coalition will have mutual benefits for the agencies and the PIRT including development of a  new Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Islands beyond 2020 as part of the  10th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas”, said Kosi Latu, PIRT Secretariat and Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

In connection with PIRT, is the Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, which has been held every four years since 1975. At this conference, government agencies, NGOs, community based organisations, donor agencies and expatriates concerned with conservation science and practice in the Pacific Islands region, meet to discuss the agenda for the next few years.

The 10th conference will be held this year from 19 to 24 April in Noumea, New Caledonia with registrations open now via the website (www.pacificnatureconference.com) using credit card, Paypal or bank transfer.

The Pacific Islands Round Table for Nature Conservation (PIRT) is a coalition of nature conservation and development organisations, governments, inter-governmental agencies, donor agencies and community groups created to increase effective conservation action in the Pacific Islands Region. Currently 14 organisations have signed the Membership Agreement: Conservation International, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Society for Conservation Biology Oceania, SeaWeb, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society of Fiji, World Wildlife Fund, The University of the South Pacific, Birdlife International, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Protected Areas Learning and Research Collaborative (PALRC), Pacific Community (SPC) and Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF).  Currently, IUCN is the Chair and SPREP is the Secretariat of PIRT.