Project Title: Implementing the Island Biodiversity Programme of Work by Integrating the Conservation Management of Island Biodiversity
Ecosystem Based Management
Our affinity with the land and ocean and its resources is an innate bond that Cook Islanders have maintained since our ancestors arrived upon these shores; we have, and continue to harvesting land and ocean resources for cultural, subsistence and economic reasons. It is imperative that we continue to ensure that these ecosystems and the resources held within them are sustained for current and future generations.
Ensuring that ecosystems are healthy is essential for our well-being, as they provide invaluable functions and services including sustaining living marine resources. The health of ecosystems is therefore not only essential to the environment, but also important to the existence and development of human society. As components of ecosystems, human beings and their interactions have profound effects on the structure and function of ecosystems which, conversely, often have profound effects on human habitats, human health and even socio-economic development, as recognized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
In recent years, there has been increasing international recognition of the need to manage human activities that have an effect on the environment and its ecosystems in an integrated, cross-sectoral manner in order to promote the sustainable development of ecosystems and their resources.
The ecosystem approach to conservation management is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. The ecosystem approach attempts to apply appropriate methodologies focused on levels of biological organization which encompass the essential processes, functions and interactions among organisms and their environment and importantly, it recognizes that humans, with their cultural diversity, are an integral component of ecosystems.
“Ecosystem” means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit (Article 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity).
Cook Islands Integrated Island Biodiversity Project
The Cook Islands, along with Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu, are recipients of Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding to implement biodiversity conservation which utilises the Ecosystem Management Approach. The project is a 3-year programme, commencing in 2012 and expected to conclude in 2015. The project delivers on priority two components as described in the Cook Islands National Sustainable Development Plan and the Cook Islands National Environment Strategic Action Framework.
Component 1: Conservation and restoration of priority species and ecosystems as risk as identified in the Island Biodiversity Programme of Work. It is expected that the project will:
- Improve the conservation status of priority threatened species.
- Improve the conservation status of priority threatened terrestrial ecosystems.
- Improve the conservation status of priority threatened marine ecosystems.
Component 2: Sustainable use of island biodiversity through improved systems and process including resource assessment and monitoring, legislation, information management, capacity and awareness building. It is expected that the project will:
- Plans for the sustainable use of native species are developed with full stakeholder participation.
- Improved systems, processes and information management are planned for or in place for relevant agencies.
For more information contact Mii Matamaki, IIB Project Coordinator