The Pacific Islands Round Table for Nature Conservation (PIRT) was established in 1998 at the request of Pacific island countries and territories which was voiced at the 6th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in 1997. PIRT enables organisations working on nature conservation in the Pacific to improve their collaboration and coordination towards effective conservation action at the national, regional and international level.
PIRT is a coalition of nature conservation and development organisations, governments, inter-governmental agencies, donor agencies, and community groups created to increase effective conservation action in the Pacific Islands Region.
PIRT is the key coordination mechanism for the implementation of the Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Islands region 2014–2020 which was adopted at the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas and was endorsed at the 25th Annual SPREP Meeting in September 2014.
PIRT MANDATE
PIRT’s mandate is to maintain a mechanism for promoting, facilitating, and monitoring the implementation of the Framework. The Roundtable adopts mechanisms for making its membership accountable to jointly formulated Principles of Implementation and its work inclusive of participation by regional and national bodies.
The Roundtable mandate for the next six years is to increase effective conservation action in the Pacific islands by ensuring members:
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Actively recognise, respect and support a Pacific approach to conservation based on sustainable resource use, community property rights and decision-making practices, and local aspirations for development and well-being
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Respect and encourage national and community partner leadership for all conservation programmes and help strengthen partner capacity to exercise their leadership
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Align conservation programmes with conservation programmes of national partners
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Design conservation programmes that are of a scale and budget appropriate to the local context and that long-term strategic planning and resource mobilisation sustains conservation over time
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Actively support communication, education and public awareness
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Put systems in place to enable full accountability to and participation of the people affected by conservation programme implementation assisted by well-communicated, fully transparent operations
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Work with each other to ensure collaborative analysis, strategies, agreed priorities and coordination of political engagement to avoid duplication
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Provide timely, transparent and comprehensive reporting on conservation programmes to the Roundtable
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Mobilise resources for the implementation of the Framework
what we do
The Roundtable has a committed group of organisations and individuals that help to access funding, provide support and ideas to achieve development, while conserving our unique marine, aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity.
pirt working groups
The Working Groups are the most important tool of the Roundtable. The Working Groups are comprised of Roundtable members focused on achieving objectives of the Action Strategy. The Working Groups provide a forum for members to identify gaps in the Action Strategy and develop collaborative activities to achieve the Strategy objectives. The Working Groups select a Chair of each group, that acts as the coordinator who is responsible for liaising between the Roundtable management group and
the Group’s members.
PIRT MEMBERS
The Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation (PIRT) is a membership-based network of NGOs, Regional Agencies and Donors that is committed to support governments and civil society in Pacific island countries in their efforts to sustainably manage and conserve the regions biodiversity.
Members of PIRT declared their commitment to promote, facilitate and monitor progress regarding the Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific islands’ region 2014-2020 and the Principles for Nature Conservation in the Pacific Islands Region through increased collaboration and partnerships. Organizations wishing to join the Roundtable have to sign a PIRT Membership Agreement.
There are currently 14 official members in the Roundtable as listed below:
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Conservation International (CI)
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International Union for Conservation of Nature-Oceania (IUCN-ORO)
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Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (SCBO)
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SeaWeb
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Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
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The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
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Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
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World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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The University of the South Pacific (USP)
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BirdLife (BL)
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Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
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Protected Areas Learning and Research Collaborative (PALRC)
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The Pacific Community (SPC)
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Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF)