Islands and Oceans Net (IO Net) 1St General Meeting

Islands and Oceans Net (IO Net) 1st General Meeting

Outcome Summary

Islands and Oceans Net Secretariat

Ocean Policy Research Institute

Ocean Policy Research Institute, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI, SPF) organized the Islands and Oceans Net (IO Net) 1st General Meeting with the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong and the University of Tokyo Ocean Alliance at the Ito International Research Center, University of Tokyo from 25 – 26 May 2015.

IO Net is an international collaborative network for the organisations and individuals (called “Partners”) who support the Joint Policy Recommendations “For the Better Conservation and Management of Islands and Their Surrounding Ocean Areas” and collaborate and cooperate on a voluntary basis to implement it

190 participants including 27 from overseas attended the IO Net 1st General Meeting. At the opening session, Mr. Hiroshi Terashima, President, OPRI, SPF which serves as IO Net Secretariat underlined that the IO Net is an international collaborative network for the organisations and individuals that collaborate on a voluntary basis to promote the better conservation and management of islands and their surrounding oceans, and stated that this meeting was intended to facilitate the development of concrete projects to implement the Joint Policy Recommendations. Prof. Stuart Kaye, Director, ANCORS stated in his video message that he welcomed the launching and the operationalization of the IO Net. Prof. Toshiyuki Hibiya, Director, University of Tokyo Ocean Alliance affirmed his determination that the University of Tokyo Ocean Alliance will carry out advanced academic research and play a proactive role in promoting sustainability in the Pacific island countries.

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman, The Nippon Foundation stated in his keynote speech that the alarming phenomena that threaten human existence have emerged in the ocean and been progressing silently and steadily and the time has come now for establishing an international organization that addresses ocean issues comprehensively. As an honourable guest, H.E. Mr. Anote Tong, President, the Republic of Kiribati stated that the Pacific island countries have been greatly affected by climate change and variability and the fate of the island countries hinges upon the collaboration of international community and expressed his expectation to the activities to be carried out under the IO Net. Honourable Mr. Kazuyuki Nakane, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan welcomed the undertaking of the IO Net that can forge the close long term relationship between Japan and the Pacific island countries.

At this Meeting, Mr. Hiroshi Terashima, President, OPRI, SPF, Prof. Alistair McIlgorm, Capacity Development Coordinator, ANCORS and Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) presided the Meeting as Co-Chairs.

At the sessions, the participants had fruitful discussions on the challenges faced by the small island countries and the proposed future activities based on the presentations made by the participants from the Pacific island countries, Japan and international organisations under the agenda of the conservation and management of islands, management of islands’ surrounding oceans, responses to climate change and variability, and capacity development and institutional strengthening.

The points raised in the discussions are reflected as an indicative list in Annex I: Points of discussions.

At the wrap-up session, the participants discussed the launching of concrete projects under the operational guidelines of the IO Net and affirmed the direction of future activities. They have also confirmed that the interested partners of IO Net will discuss and materialize various project proposals for their implementation and the IO Net Secretariat (OPRI, SPF) support partners to develop and implement the projects through collecting and sharing of related information and making and circulating a list of proposed projects. The list of possible projects was discussed as shown in Annex II. The IO Net Secretariat has subsequently developed the revised list of the proposed projects shown in Annex III to be circulated to the IO Net partners for their review. The IO Net Secretariat invites the IO Net partners to submit comments on the list and also welcomes the submission of new project proposals.

The Meeting was a great success and highly fruitful as many participants have attested their enthusiasm and commitment to promote international collaboration for undertaking the proposed activities to implement our Joint Policy Recommendations “For the Better Conservation and Management of Island and Their Surrounding Ocean Areas”. The co-organisers would like to cordially express appreciation to those who attended and supported the Meeting and ask for continuous support to future activities of IO Net.

<Inquiry>

Further details of the future activities for the IO Net will be posted at http://blog.canpan.info/ionet-jpn. Please address any further inquiry to the IO Net Secretariat (、Dr. Keita Furukawa, Senior Researcher and Mr. Masanori Kobayashi, Researcher, 、Ocean Policy Research Institute, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation)

Annex I: Points of discussions

Island management strategies

·  Important to understand the topographical types of islands and their socio-economic and cultural characteristics as well as their vulnerability,

·  Essential to reinforce an integrated approach to land, coastal and marine management,

·  Island vulnerability should be addressed in the island management strategies to integrate ecosystem based adaptation and resilience development in island management,

·  Interventions need to be tailored to meet the needs and conditions of various island countries,

·  Need to review existing national and regional island management strategies and initiatives (e.g., marine parks),

·  Important to support the activities to develop policies and strengthen institutions for promoting the conservation and sustainable management of islands’ natural resources and coastal areas,

·  Vital to continue and link activities to monitor islands’ change and promoting sub-regional, regional and international cooperation

Coral, mangrove and ecosystem conservation

·  Integrated coastal management is useful,

·  Sea grass should be included in the subjects with coral reef, mangrove and other ecosystems,

·  There is need to review and conduct island ecosystem assessment,

·  Important to upscale marine protected areas and regulation of activities at the terrestrial and coastal areas,

·  Useful to develop financing mechanisms for conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and natural resources at the terrestrial and coastal areas,

·  Important to facilitate and enhance impacts of capacity development activities,

·  Essential to upscale conservation of wide ranging indicator flora and fauna such as sea grass,

·  Vital to facilitate mutual learning among partners on good practices including the sharing of good practice in Japan with island countries

Renewable energy

·  Important to consider the feasibility of wide ranging renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and tidal power generation and ocean thermal energy conversion,

·  Essential to facilitate capacity development for enhancing the feasibility of using renewable energies

Sustainable inter-island transport

·  Useful to understand the current status of inter-island transport,

·  Suggested to consider measures for improving efficiency and economic viability in inter-island transport,

·  Worth trying to improve energy efficiency in inter-island transport

Waste management

·  Important to facilitate the development and implementation of policies and improve the institutions and infrastructure for environmentally sound waste management,

·  Useful to facilitate the development and improvement of national policy and implementing institutions for waste and hazardous substances in harmony with the international agreements such as the Stockholm Convention and the Minamata Convention,

·  Marine debris issues can be considered along with the waste management related issues

Setting a baseline and boundary of the territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

·  Important to develop policies and institutions in pursuance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),

·  Useful to promote international cooperation for supporting the Pacific island countries in undertaking relevant activities

Fishery and marine biodiversity management

·  Important to promote sustainable use and conservation of fishery and marine biological resources,

·  Essential to develop and implement effective management strategies,

·  Vital to integrating natural and social sciences,

·  Useful to strengthen the control over illegal, unreported and unregulated fishery,

·  Worth utilizing the criteria for the Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs)

Seabed mineral resources exploitation and marine environment conservation

·  Important to develop policies and institutions for undertaking environmental impact assessment regarding mineral resources exploration and development,

·  Useful to foster international cooperation for capacity development

Adaptation to climate change/variability and disaster reduction

·  Essential to develop effective policies and institutions for resilient land conservation and management, and disaster reduction,

·  Vital to promote sound land use and conservation by local communities with the understanding of local characteristics,

·  Useful to foster international cooperation for strengthening resilience to the natural disasters such as cyclone and others that relate to climate change and variability,

·  Important to promote international cooperation in monitoring global climatic and oceanographic conditions

Capacity development and institutional strengthening

·  Important to focus on the priority of Pacific island countries and ensuring their ownership,

·  Worth utilizing successful cases,

·  Essential to understand the linkages of sectors, policy agenda and geographical areas,

·  Indispensable to utilize the networks of NGOs, youth groups, and existing national, regional and international mechanisms,

·  Imperative to promote multi-faceted and up-scaled capacity developing,

·  There is a need to take into account additional values to be generated under IO Net,

·  Necessary to identify concrete deliverables,

·  Vital to link with international initiatives (e.g., climate change programmes, biodiversity conservation initiatives),

·  Financing mechanisms can be a useful topic,

·  The activities should be developed as a part of the strategies to operate IO Net,

·  Indispensable to promote the sharing of good practice and build partnership by engaging stakeholders including the private sector

Annex II: List of Possible Projects

As of 26 May 2015

Area / Project Proposal
2-1 a. Development and Implementation of Management Strategies
(1) Island Classification and Long-term Monitoring for Building Island Management Strategies
-  Assessing characteristics, vulnerability and risks involved in different types of islands
-  Developing integrated island management strategies in the pilot countries, case studies will be undertaken, need to fill gaps between islands and national policy, regional strategies, global initiatives and disaster risk reduction
-  Appling ecological engineering in revising land use plan and implementing long-term monitoring
-  Improvement of national ocean policy / strategies
-  Objects: Reversing coastal degradation, improving catchment water quality, reducing impact on ocean, avoiding sectorial approach
-  Filling gaps between science and implementation
-  Important to take into account;
-  that SIDS already have strategies, but ICM
-  a need for better implementation
-  a need to advance strategy development in concurrent with its implementation
-  a need to avoid duplication of what is already there
-  socio-economic and anthropogenic factors in implementing projects
Proposed partners: OPRI, ANCORS, Island states, U of Tokyo Ocean Alliance, U of Auckland, SPC, PIFS, USP, SPREP
Area / Project Proposal (cont.)
2-1 e. Coral Reef, Mangrove and Ecosystem Conservation
(2) Coastal Ecosystem (Coral Reef, Mangrove Forests and Seagrass bed) Conservation Project using ICM Package
-  Selecting case study sites (can be local, sub-national and/or national)
-  Reviewing existing management systems and problems in the targeted area (conservation of ecosystem, disaster prevention, waste management, landowner system etc.) through including evaluating local conditions and interviewing stakeholders
-  Implementing local ICM strategies, organizing ICM committees and compiling ICM plans with modification along with local ecological, social situations
-  Capacity building for community organizers
-  Networking study sites (regional workshop?)
-  Consider;
-  that the naming of “ICM” can be adjusted in accordance with locally popular terminology,
-  a need to think “what should be done”,
-  socio-economic and anthropogenic factors in implementing projects,
-  2-1 a.’s Eco-engineering can be relevant,
-  scales and boundaries of ecosystems
Potential partners: OPRI, ANCORS, National and local government of island states, SPREP
2-1 c. Implementation of Waste Management
(3) Community Based Waste Management using ICM Package
-  Appling ICM approach for waste management
-  Reviewing specific national /regional waste management strategy
-  Filling gaps between strategies and community based management
-  forming a local committee with local community members
-  drawing up a suggested work plan
-  advocate national policy changes
-  Capacity building for community organizers
Networking study sites (regional workshop?)
with: ISACI, National Environment Service of the Cook Islands, OPRI
Area / Project Proposal (cont.)
4-1  e. Coral Reef, Mangrove and Ecosystem Conservation
(4) Networking Coastal and Marine Ecosystem and its expansion
-  Strengthening MPA network from land to sea (ridge to reef)
-  Need to start from assessment
-  Need evidence based consideration e.g. ICRI will make a meeting and has protocol to be followed
-  Livelihood of local people also should be included
-  Stakeholder participation should be already built in national action plan of CBD
-  Sustainability of MPA should be addressed include financing issue
-  Exploring varieties / types of large ecosystem conservation and sustainable use
-  Exchanging idea and extracting best practices to share (Series of regional workshop(s)?)
Proposed partners: Island states, PICRC, ICRI, SPC, PIFS, USP, SPREP ANCORS, OPRI,
Area / Project Proposal (cont.)
2-2 c. Improvement of Transport among Islands
(5) Trial for enhancing sustainable transport between islands
-  Reviewing marine transport problems in and between Island States
-  From socioeconomic, heritage and cultural viewpoints
-  Planning restoration strategies and its implementation action plan for specific cases
-  Implementing economical and eco-friendly sustainable transport systems
-  Wind supported vessels
-  Optimization of shipping route and operations
Proposed partners: USP, IC Net, OPRI
Area / Project Proposal (cont.)
3 Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening
(6) Information sharing and Training workshop for IO Net Partners
-  Consider;
-  that there are already many on-going initiatives for capacity building,
-  that capacity development can be associated with specific projects,
-  that problem identification should be done to set a clear target of each project.
-  area / location identification is also important,
-  a need to build capacity at the national level,
-  there are formal and informal style for training / information sharing
-  that a first step can be to identify a problem through dialogues with stakeholders and to report it back to IO Net
Possible themes for capacity development;
-  Networking marine protected area
-  Scale of management
-  Variation of conservation and sustainable use
-  Sustainable Fisheries Management
-  Coastal small fisheries and offshore commercial fisheries
-  Enhancing monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS), Market based management etc.
-  Interaction of Science (Natural, social and economic)
-  Response and adaptation to climate change and variability
Proposed partners: All?

Annex III: Revised list of the proposed projects