Problem overview:

     International commitments: The Pacific Island countries have formed a number of regional institutions; one, which will be focused in this example, is the South Pacific Forum (SPC). The SPC looks over regional issues, such as, the issue of sustainable development in the Pacific island region.

     Meeting information requirements: Information from research findings are very important for decision making, especially when it comes to regional issues. This example is about the use of fishery information on the management decisions on migratory fish stocks in the Pacific islands.

Background in summary:

     Regional organizations of the Pacific Island countries: Regional organisations exert a powerful influence on top-level government officials. The annual meeting of the South Pacific Forum reviews regional programs, and establishes policies for the sub-region. The heads of all the regional organisations meet as the South Pacific Organisations Co-ordinating Committee (SPOCC) to discuss their respective programmes and how they might interact best to meet SPF Secretariat policy needs.

     Integration of environmental information for decision-making in regional forums: Research information is included in the reviews of regional organisations and can result in specific recommendations for sustainable development policy. Regional organisations have helped lessen internal political conflict and improved high-level governmental understanding of, and commitment to, sustainable development. Regional agreements and treaties have been important in obligating governments to sustainable objectives.

     Information on Fish stocks were presented at a high-level conference: A recent example of supra-national use of environmental assessment and monitoring data was the June 1997 Second Multilateral High-Level Conference on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific. 150 participants met in Majuro, Marshall Islands, to discuss the future sustainable management of the world's most important tuna fishery (Singh, 1997).

     Resulting in the management of migratory fish stock under Majura Declaration: Dr. John Hampton presented the findings of the Offshore Fishery Programme on the status of the Pacific tuna stocks. Based on the scientific outlook, the ministerial level meeting formulated the Majuro Declaration on the Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific. A conservation/management mechanism will be established by June 2000.

     The Declaration was considered a milestone in international fisheries: Fishing industry observers, representing Japan, the United States, and other distant water fishing nations, agreed that the plan was needed and that they would co-operate with its development and enforcement. The meeting was considered a milestone in international fisheries co-operation for sustainable development.

See also The Pacific Tuna Fishery

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	-	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		-	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
2	Socio-cultural adaptability.	2	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
3	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	2	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:   Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:   Process of decision making and implementation:      International commitments: Unfortunately, not all regional programs that rely on subsidies from metropolitan countries produce satisfactory outcome. That is because they are independently unsustainable. For instance, the Pacific Sustainable Development Network depends on UNDP policy. "A Phase II of three years was planned initially, but is under considerable uncertainty at present, with UNDP's revised emphasis now marginalising projects in information networking" (SPC 1996). The project is now dead and Phase II is still in limbo (L. Allinson SOPAC personal communication).      In other cases, environmental assessment and monitoring data helped improve governmental understanding and resulted in impressive commitments on paper. But there was little change in the behaviour of people and businesses towards the island resources.      Meeting information requirements: The regional organisations, such as South Pacific Forum (SPF), South Pacific Commission (SPC), South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), Forum Fishery Agency (FFA), South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and Pacific Regional Agricultural Programme (PRAP), act as supranational policy co-ordinators, research organisations and monitoring facilities. These organisations enable countries to improve the information gathering process and provide training for member countries. Cost efficiency: