- Administration of commitments under international agreements: Multilateral
trade and
environment agreements are administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry
of Trade and Commerce, and the Department of the Environment. Phytosanitary agreements
are the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests. The
implementation mechanism of an international/regional agreement is usually worked out
during the preceding negotiations. The proliferation of international agreements, and in
particular the requirements under the World Trade Organization (WTO), has greatly
increased the demands placed on the administrative machinery of the government. Some
demands are highly technical in nature, e.g., the WTO phytosanitary provisions require
scientific justification for quarantine measures. In some cases, a fund to which donor
countries contribute is created to finance implementation and provide technical assistance.
One example is the financial assistance sought by the government requested from the
Montreal Protocol Fund.
1. Implementing through committees: Fiji has made some use of committees
when
implementing Conventions and treaties. For example, the establishment of the National Oil
Pollution Committee to develop a national oil pollution contingency plan will also meet some
of the anti-pollution requirements of the Convention and its protocols. That approach shows
promise as it permits a wider cross-section of scarce human resources to be utilized and
allows the involvement of the private sector in the process.
2. Environmental conventions under new legislation: Several Conventions have
been
signed but remain to be implemented. For example, the obligations of Fiji to adequately
conserve representative ecosystems under the Convention on the Conservation of Nature in
the South Pacific (Apia Convention) of 1989, and to implement effective environmental
management procedures under the Convention for the Protection of Natural Resources and
Environment of the South Pacific and their Related Protocols (SPREP Convention) of 1989,
have yet to be met. However, the proposed Sustainable Development Act covers the
implementation of environmental Conventions to which Fiji is a signatory.
- Provisions of new sustainable development law: In the preparation of the
proposed
Sustainable Development Act, the obligation of Fiji to certain Conventions was assessed, and
the legal responsibilities of the country incorporated in the provisions in the new Sustainable
Development Act. According to the Fiji Sustainable Development Bill Working Draft, the
remission of sustainable development is the overall objective of the proposed Sustainable
Development Act in compliance with the obligations contained in the Rio Earth Summit and
Barbados Declarations. The preamble to the Working Draft concluded that there was a long
overdue need for an integrated and holistic Sustainable Development Act, not only ensure
that development and the environment would be perceived as complementary, but also to
establish the legal and institutional mechanisms needed to achieve sustainable development
in Fiji. The government is aware of its responsibilities regarding the treaties and Conventions
of which it is a signatory. However, since some treaties and Conventions have yet to be
implemented, the government has made provisions for the implementation of the related
obligations and those instruments yet to be signed in the foreseeable future by incorporating
them in the new Act.
1. Issues covered by a new law: Under the Bill 13 international agreements are
to be
implemented: the Convention on Biological Diversity; the Convention on the Conservation
of Nature in the South Pacific (Apia Convention), 1989; the Convention for the Protection
of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific and their Related Protocols
(SPREP Convention), 1989; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES Convention); the Convention on the Protection of Wetlands
of International Importance, Particularly as Waterfowl Habitat (RAMSAR Convention); the
Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage;
International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and Related Protocols
(MARPOL 1973/1978 Convention); the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution
by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Dumping Convention); the Convention
on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes in the South Pacific Region (Waigani
Convention); the International Convention on Oil Spill Preparedness, Response and
Cooperation (OPRC Convention); the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1989); the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change; Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration.
2. Eagerness of the government for sustainable development: Internationally,
there has
been considerable progress in sustainable development jurisprudence since the development
of the Natural Resource Act of New Zealand and the Environment Act of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the late 1980s. To some extent those two
Acts have been the model for the Fiji Sustainable Development Act. Including those
international Conventions and treaties in the Act itself demonstrates the eagerness of the
government for sustainable development to be taken seriously and for Fiji to take a leadership
role in that area.
