Regular Process Southwest Pacific Regional Workshop, 25-27 Feb. 2013 in Brisbane (AUS)

On 25-27 February 2013, Australia will host (in Brisbane) a south-west Pacific workshop of the United Nations Regular Process of global assessment and reporting on the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects (the Regular Process).

The workshop will bring together experts from across the region initiating this effort towards the production of a regional state of the marine environment assessment, and to collate and analyse key oceans-related data. This assessment is explicitly synthetic and will therefore build on previous assessments and regional efforts.

The Southwest Pacific workshop will support practical implementation of the Pacific Oceanscape Framework endorsed by Pacific Island Forum leaders as well as contributing to and enhancing oceans management goals, such as country endorsed targets within the SPREP strategic plan.

Outputs of the workshop include;
Enhanced dialogue between marine experts within governments, intergovernmental organizations, Civil Society and regional initiatives.
Development of an inventory of environmental and socio-economic marine assessments for the Southwest Pacific, which will be catalogued and made electronically available.
Identifying marine assessment capacity-building needs of the Southwest Pacific and considering the means to address those needs, specifically related to data gathering, collation and maintenance.
Facilitating the integration of current marine ecosystem assessments in the region.

Invitations to the workshop have been circulated. We encourage participation by SPREP, SPC, FFA and PIF members in this effort that will build on current and ongoing efforts, building capacity for future work related to assessment of marine environmental condition within Pacific Island nations and the Pacific region.

As the impacts of human activities and climate change are affecting the state of our marine environment, the formulation of sustainable, ecosystem-based policies and measures for oceans and coasts need to be supported by sound scientific assessments of ecosystem condition at national, regional and global scales. The Regular Process is an important mechanism that can build capacity, alongside ongoing efforts, for sustainably assessing the Pacific marine environment.

Purpose
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, States agreed to "establish by 2004 a regular process under the United Nations for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, both current and foreseeable, building on existing regional assessments" (the "Regular Process").

More about the Regular Proces: http://www.un.org/depts/los/global_reporting/global_reporting.htm

Contact for more information
For all queries related to the Regular Process Workshop, please contact us at regularprocessSWPAC@environment.gov.au .