Background

The countries of the Pacific, both the small island states and their larger neighbours such as USA, Australia and New Zealand, have over recent decades developed strategies to set up networks of marine protected or managed areas at the sub-regional and regional levels in order to improve the effectiveness of these sustainable management tools for coastal regions and resources.

Meanwhile, the first (French) National Congress on Marine Protected Areas for mainland and overseas France, which took place in Boulogne-sur-mer in November 2007, emphasised the need to strengthen overseas marine protected area networks and to merge them into regional settings by developing regional integration strategies both between French territorial entities and also as part of groupings with neighbouring English-speaking countries.

The geography of the Pacific and various relevant current issues would therefore suggest there is a need to strengthen coordination and cooperation between French territories and English-speaking partners on this issue without delay. It is in this context that the representatives of French Polynesia have issued an invitation, as organisers and host country, to a regional meeting on marine managed areas (MMAs - a category that also includes marine protected areas).

The Pacific regional conference on MMAs will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to dialogue on the status of existing marine protected area networks, to identify managers' needs and to develop a regional action and cooperation programme. This major objective will encompass two mutually supporting themes:

• the needs of Pacific Island communities in terms of sustainable resource management; and
• the issues around the necessary conservation of marine biodiversity.

This conference also follows on from the 2nd International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC2), which was held in Washington from 19 to 24 May 2009. The results of the exchanges on regional networks stressed the usefulness of the 'social and technical' tools that the marine area networks represent.

Whatever their scale (local, national or regional) or nature (based on the regional seas conventions, initiated by an NGO or initiated by a manager), these networks make it possible to capitalise on acquired experience, pool efforts and develop exchanges. These results have made it possible to set the groundwork for cooperation, which must be further developed.

Announced at the France-Oceania Summit (31 July 2009, Noumea), the Pacific Regional Conference on MMAs will also contribute to preparations for future international events such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Oceans Conference in 2010; the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2012, which will review the results of action undertaken to protect marine environments; and the 3rd International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) organised by the French Agency for Marine Protected Areas (AAMP) in 2013 in Marseille.

This conference, which is part of an international and regional timetable, demonstrates French Polynesia's commitment to playing a major role at the regional level in the management and conservation of marine biodiversity.

Objectives

The main purpose of the conference is to pool efforts and develop synergy for the sustainable management and conservation of coastal and marine environments in the Pacific, through a regional network of MMAs.

This regional conference will give priority to bringing together the managers of French MMAs (in the region) and their counterparts from the Pacific Islands and major countries in the region such as Australia, the United States and New Zealand, but also scientific experts and representatives of national and regional institutions, in order to:

• exchange experience

• identify difficulties and needs in terms of management, monitoring and knowledge at the local as well as the regional level

• with the stakeholders concerned, identify the action required to meet these needs in order to:

  • strengthen existing initiatives and develop synergy;
  • review the status of existing MMAs and the tools available;
  • clarify the availability of financial resources;
  • establish the status of knowledge on coastal and marine environments;
  • capitalise on the results of the various eco-regional analysis exercises (knowledge, uses, priorities);
  • develop a regional network of MMAs; and
  • work with all stakeholders to produce a coordinated regional action and cooperation programme.

The conference will also make it possible to share the outcomes and proposals emerging from the UNESCO Pacific Workshop and the eco-regional analysis for French Polynesia taking place over the same period. The action plan from the conference can in this way be determined in a synergistic process with the new UNESCO Program for World Heritage in the Pacific 2010-2015 and in particular its marine component.

Themes

Three themes will form the architecture for exchanges and action proposals in order to respond to the following questions: Which realities? Which needs? Which tools?