UNEP will use the office to build on its existing Pacific work on ozone-depleting substances, marine and coastal management, invasive species, and waste management.
The office also will be geared to support Pacific countries' preparations for the post-2015 period and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2 September 2014: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has opened a sub-regional office for the Pacific, based in Apia, Samoa. The Host Country Agreement was signed by Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, and Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa, at the official opening of the office, on 2 September 2014.
The office’s establishment is a result of agreements reached at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in 2012, including to strengthen and establish sub-regional offices for UNEP. The office in Apia is the first sub-regional office, and is being hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
Malielegaoi remarked that the new office represents an acknowledgement that “the needs and the realities of the Pacific region are better served when viewed from perspectives on the ground and not from a distance.”
UNEP will use the office to build on its existing Pacific work on ozone-depleting substances, marine and coastal management, invasive species, and waste management. The office also will be geared to support Pacific countries’ preparations for the post-2015 period and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “as well as to make operational the decisions of Ministers at the United Nations Environment Assembly on critical issues such as chemicals and waste and sustainable consumption and production,” said Steiner. [SPREP Press Release] [UNEP Press Release]