Last week the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP) went live with their new website and resources pages to accompany the 2020 State of Environment and Conservation Report for the Pacific Islands, which was featured at the 10th Annual Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation held virtually from Noumea.

“In this assessment of the state of the Pacific environment and conservation using endorsed regional indicators, we seek to lay the groundwork for sustained monitoring that supports action and measures Pacific success as well as our shortfalls in achieving environmentally sustainable development.”

This report is the first of its kind with coverage for the entire Pacific region, and it uses regional environment indicators to assess the status, trends, and data quality and availability for the endorsed Pacific environmental priorities. It also includes an update of the State of Conservation in Oceania report produced in 2013, which was endorsed and published in 2017. Viewers can use the interactive report website to navigate through the thematic sections of the report, which include up-to-date snapshots on land and marine resources protection, biodiversity, climate change, and the built environment. Scorecards and trends evaluate and present the level to which the region was meeting, exceeding, or failing to meet the state of the environment indicators.

During a virtual panel hosted by SPREP in April, 2021, island leaders said they were excited to use the report and its resources because it gives them a way to track their country’s progress toward meeting environment and conservation goals. By comparing achievements through time, and with their neighbors, they can set better targets for the future and set policies in motion to ensure that they meet them. Under the resources page, users can download a media kit with factsheets, interactive GIFs, and charts and graphs that are included in the report. Individual country reports are also available on this page, along with core data resources and monitoring tools for the region and worldwide.

Explore SPREP’s excellent resource today.

Featured image: Conducting forest research in Papua New Guinea as part of a carbon credit program. Credit: UN REDD.