Multilateral Cooperation to mitigate potential environment

security threatsRoger Cornforth

Deputy Director General - SPREP

Large Ocean States30,000 Islands over large geographical area

About SPREP

• Region’s primary intergovernmental environmental organisation

• Promotes cooperation and provides assistance in environmental protection and improvement in the Pacific islands region

• 26 Member governments (21 Pacific island countries and territories; 5 metropolitan countries (Australia, France, NZ, UK, USA)

Strategic Plan 2017 - 2026

Summary

• Climate change• Disaster Response• Marine Litter & Waste Management

Climate Change

• Advocacy

• Response to Climate Change:

• Financing

• Monitoring

• Adaptation support

• Migration

• Natural disaster response:

• Disaster waste

• Relief effort impacts

DBCP Monthly Map

Argo Float Density

Disaster Response

• Cyclone assistance and recovery• Relief effort impacts

Pacific disaster resilience

Disasters

Disaster waste Climate-Change• Sea-level rise• Severe tropical storms• Storm surges

Oil Spill

• Updating Pacific Oil Spill Contingency Plan

• WWII wrecks

Pacific Islands Regional Marine Spill Contingency Plan 2013

Aim: To provide system and framework and guidelines to assist with response

Objective: Promote and implement regional co-operation in planning and training for marine spill response and in the actual prevention of, and response to, marine spills.

WWII WRECKS

• 13 million tonnes of shipping sunk in the Pacific in WWII

• Britain (1940 vessels), Japan (3322 vessels) and the US (1022 vessels)

• Regional Strategy in place to address WWII Wrecks

•USS Mississinewa – Ulithi Atoll 9Mil Litres recovered

©photoshot.com

Marine Litter

• A Global Crisis• Pacific a minimal contributor• Pacific Marine Litter Action Plan• SPREP Marine Litter Programme

Pacific Marine Litter Action Plan

Pacific Marine Litter Action Plan

Building Policy and Regulatory Framework

Shipping and Vessel Operations

Fishing Vessel Waste Cruise Ship Waste Transboundary Waste

Take-away Food and Beverage Containers

Plastics and other waste materials generally addressed

through CP2025Awareness and Action

Tourist Focused Awareness and Action Tourist Enterprise Waste Disaster Waste

http://www.planetexperts.com/nasa-shows-how-the-oceans-five-garbage-gyres-came-to-be/

Currents and WasteTransboundary

Discarded fishing gear

Japanese Tsunami debris

Mobil Oil Tags +3000kms

Marine Sourced Leakage

Abandonned or lost fishing gear

7%

Others1%

Oil spillages and leakages

15% Metals 15%

Old fishing geat 9%

Plastics 38%

Waste oil 8%

Waste Dumped Overboard

77%

Incidents by Pollution Types2003-2018

+18,000 MARPOL Violations

Pacific Land based Sources

Other Plastic Bags19%

Plastic Shopping

Bags14% Cups, Plates,

Takeaway Boxes,

Utensils32%

Other packaging

11%Beverage Bottles &

Caps 9%

Disposable Nappies

1%

56% Plastics

Samoa Coastal Cleanup 2016

Other Plastics -includes 6-pack holders, lids, tiny plastics & foam, other plastic bottles14%

86% Plastics

Summary

• Multilateral cooperation is critical for mitigating environmental security threats

• Marine pollution• Marine debris and plastic pollution• Marine Oil Spill preparedness and response• Climate monitoring and ocean observation

systems• Disaster and climate resilience framework