A new alliance in the Pacific, between the United States Peace Corps and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), is now under way
Pacific initiative adds value to traditional knowledge
A new alliance in the Pacific, between the United States Peace Corps and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), is now under way, with a formal welcome to Peace Corps volunteers and Pacific island coordinators of SPREP’s Capacity Building for Environmental Management in the Pacific project due to be held next Monday.
Peace Corps volunteers and representatives of nine Pacific island countries are attending an introductory workshop in Apia, Samoa, to prepare for work on the CBEMP project, which aims to help communities use their resources in a sustainable manner.
SPREP Director Mr Tamari’i Tutangata, said the Peace Corps volunteers would serve as environmental educators, community organisers and trainers in Federated States of Micronesia, Niue, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tonga.
"Their aim is to work in conjunction with national officials, to help communities make the most of their traditional knowledge by combining it with aspects of modern environmental management," Mr Tutangata said. "It is our hope that this combination of the best of traditional and modern practices will produce a uniquely Pacific form of environmental protection."
Following the official opening on Monday, Peace Corps volunteers, their national counterparts and national officials will spend the next two weeks learning how to identify traditional practices that could be used to improve or enhance communities’ natural resources and the income they derive from these resources.
They will also receive intensive training in collecting, recording and protecting traditional knowledge, community training and non-formal education, income generation opportunities and other specialised skills.
Mr Tutangata said this was the first time that the Peace Corps had worked directly through a regional organisation in the Pacific. "We are sincerely grateful to the Peace Corps, and to the United Nations Development Programme, for recognising the value of preserving and enhancing the wealth of traditional knowledge in the Pacific, and making possible this collaboration between national experts and Peace Corps volunteers," Mr Tutangata said.
WHERE: IRETA Training Centre, University of the South Pacific, Alafua Campus
WHEN: 9.00 am Monday 27 September 1999
SPEAKERS:Hon Tuala Sale Tagaloa Kerslake, Minister of Lands, Surveys and Environment; Ms Neva Wendt, SPREP; Mr Fiu Mataese Elisara Lau, UNDP; Mr Steve Nagler, US Peace Corps; Reverend Lotu Uele.
For further information, contact Jan Sinclair, SPREP
Phone: 685 21 929, fax: 685 20 231.
