Streamlining environmental reporting in the Pacific region
Jane Thomas ·
2 April 2012
| Environmental Report Cards |
In March, Bill Dennison, Heath Kelsey, and I traveled to Nadi, Fiji to facilitate a workshop aimed at streamlining environmental reporting in the Pacific region. The 2010 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ and Forum Economic Ministers’ directive on reporting acknowledged the need to streamline global, regional and national reporting to reduce the reporting burden at the national level. The workshop outcomes are being summarized in a publication that will provide a vision for approaching a more effective and streamlined reporting for the Pacific region.
Sponsored by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the workshop began by covering the current (and onerous) reporting requirements to various global, regional, and national organizations. By the end of the two-day intensive workshop, the following recommendations were agreed upon:
- Strengthen the Pacific Plan as the regional framework for sustainable development and to facilitate streamlined reporting.
- Promote national level ownership of reporting, to drive an effective reporting process at regional and international levels.
- Develop indicator frameworks that address national priorities while facilitating streamlined reporting using existing and accessible databases.
- Increase capacity (build or supplement) at a national level to better deliver streamlined reporting.
- Present a case for differential reporting strategies for Pacific small island nations.
- Seek opportunities to harmonise donor reporting requirements.
Stay tuned for the workshop summary document, which will be produced in the usual IAN science communication style:
