9 April 2013: Preparations for the 2014 International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are underway, beginning with a planning mission led by Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, to Apia, Samoa, where the Conference will take place.
February 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has released a report, titled “Report on Adaptation Challenges in Pacific Island Countries,” which aims to contextualize the Pacific's adaptation challenges, highlighting adaptation efforts and ongoing challenges.
March 2013: The March 2013 issue of the "Micronesia Challenge Newsletter," published by the Micronesia Challenge Secretariat, features articles on: a meeting of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Micronesia Challenge Communications Working Group; and Guam's adoption of a Micronesian Challenge logo.
26 February 2013: Representatives of Pacific island states called for regional solidarity in addressing climate challenges at a one-day consultation on post-2015 development, held in Dili, Timor-Leste, on 26 February 2013.
8 March 2013: At recent meetings, the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) Steering Committee discussed strategies for achieving GLISPA's goals for 2013, including combating invasive species, stimulating "blue-green" economic growth and accomplishing debt-for-adaptation swaps to finance ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) activities, while the Micronesia Challenge discussed its second phase.
26 February 2013: The Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) has released an update on recent progress toward the Western Indian Ocean Coastal Challenge (WIO-CC), and on plans for 2013. Plans include formalizing WIO-CC support mechanisms and communications modalities.
26 February 2013: The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has announced that La Selle, in Haiti, has been officially declared as Haiti's first biosphere reserve.
25 February 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has launched the South Pacific Ocean Ecosystem Analysis project (PACIOCEA), which aims to enhance local and regional capacity for improving conservation and sustainable ocean management through marine spatial planning.
25 February 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has announced that it has signed a funding agreement with the Government of New Zealand for NZD4.5 million. The funding package will support programmes in Pacific Countries to improve the management of solid waste, protect biodiversity and encourage economic development through ecotourism, and assist Pacific countries in responding to climate change.
20 February 2013: The Climate Change Divsion of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has launched the February 2013 edition of its "Climate Change Matters" newsletter. The newsletter highlights SPREP's and its partners' climate change activities in the region.
February 2013: The Government of Seychelles has emphasized that, despite the impact of natural disasters, progress has been made in implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact through, inter alia, the formulation and implementation of national agriculture plans.
15 February 2013: The UN Security Council held an informal, Arria formula meeting on the “security dimensions of climate change.” Tony deBrum, Minister in Assistance to the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, gave a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, US, after speaking as a panelist about the security issues faced by his country and other small island developing States (SIDS).
8 February 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has announced it is implementing an EU-funded project, titled "Improving Key Services to Agriculture Fiji," to cushion the economic and social impacts of restructuring Fiji's sugar sector.
February 2013: The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Global Mechanism (GM) has launched a revamped web-based platform titled "Sustainable Land Management (SLM) – Finance." The site will support the exchange of information on funding and finance for sustainable land management (SLM) among African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, many of which are also small island developing States (SIDS).
6 February 2013: The Natural Resources Forum, a UN Sustainable Development Journal, has issued a call for papers for a special issue on "Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)," to be published in February 2014.
2 February 2013: The February 2013 issue of the "Micronesia Challenge Newsletter," published by the Micronesia Challenge Secretariat, highlights recent support for the Awareness Campaign for Sustainable Management of the Tafunsak Marine Protected Area Project in Kosrae. It also spotlights the outcomes of a Micronesian Challenge Communications workshop, which convened in Guam.
1 February 2013: In commemoration of World Wetlands Day, David Sheppard, Director General, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), has highlighted the role of wetlands in the Pacific. In his address, he describes wetlands as the natural infrastructure for managing water, as they store and provide the water for human consumption and production needs.
31 January 2013: The Pacific Invasives Learning Network (PILN) "Soundbites" January 2013 issue highlights the Solomon Islands' $1.5 million grant to fight the Giant African Snail, and the Pacific Invasives Partnership (PIP) member contributions to the Pacific Environment and Climate Change Outlook (PECCO) report, which was released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Doha, Qatar, at the 2012 Doha Climate Change Conference.
29 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) held a workshop at the Kiribati Institute of Technology to train government officers to use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a framework to improve decision making and project quality, in particular for projects affected by climate change.
25 January 2013: The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Tuiloma Neroni Slade, has released the Pacific Plan 2012 Annual Progress Report and its associated Reporting Annex. The documents highlight challenges faced by the region, and outline progress made towards greater regional integration and cooperation in various areas, including climate change, fisheries, gender equality and disability-inclusive development.
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