The 15th South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Meeting of Officials met from 13-16 September, and the fifth SPREP Environment Ministers’ Meeting met on 17 September in Pape’ete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

The meetings endorsed a new strategic approach for the regional intergovernmental organization for the period 2005-2009, departing from its previous organizational arrangement of having five key result areas and establishing two new long-term strategic programmes – the Island Ecosystems programme and the Pacific Futures programme. The former initiative seeks to assist Pacific island countries and territories in the sustainable development and management of their island resources and ocean ecosystems, while the latter aims to help the countries and territories plan and respond to threats and pressures on island and ocean systems.
The SPREP meetings also approved a new name for the organization – the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, though the organization plans on holding onto its old acronym. The meetings also considered, among others, the 10-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the sustainable development of small island developing States, the Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Forum and its draft integrated strategic action plan, and Pacific Type II initiatives.
Based in Apia, Samoa, SPREP comprises 25 members from the Pacific countries and territories and four donor countries. The intergovernmental organization works with the people of the Pacific islands on environmental problems such as waste management, pollution prevention, invasive species control and climate change. More information is available at: http://www.sprep.org.ws/15thSPREPMeeting.htm