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The Pacific islands of Oceania cover almost 15% of the world’s surface and are characterised by a high degree of ecosystem and species diversity. The region is characterised by thousands of isolated small coral atolls and higher volcanic islands, which has led to the high diversity of species found today. In fact, the number of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth (endemic species) is extremely high - often up to 90% for particular groups. Often, these rare and endemic species are adapted to specialised habitats and limited to small areas of a few islands. With economic and cultural dependence on the natural environment very high in the Pacific islands, along with a rapidly expanding human population, there are ever increasing demands on the region’s natural resources. Plant and animal species are therefore vulnerable to extinction from climate change, competition from introduced (invasive) species and human impacts such as habitat destruction, over-harvesting of species and pollution.

The Pacific islands of Oceania cover almost 15% of the world’s surface and are characterised by a high degree of ecosystem and species diversity. The region is characterised by thousands of isolated small coral atolls and higher volcanic islands, which has led to the high diversity of species found today. In fact, the number of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth (endemic species) is extremely high - often up to 90% for particular groups. Often, these rare and endemic species are adapted to specialised habitats and limited to small areas of a few islands. With economic and cultural dependence on the natural environment very high in the Pacific islands, along with a rapidly expanding human population, there are ever increasing demands on the region’s natural resources. Plant and animal species are therefore vulnerable to extinction from climate change, competition from introduced (invasive) species and human impacts such as habitat destruction, over-harvesting of species and pollution.

The Pacific islands of Oceania cover almost 15% of the world’s surface and are characterised by a high degree of ecosystem and species diversity. The region is characterised by thousands of isolated small coral atolls and higher volcanic islands, which has led to the high diversity of species found today. In fact, the number of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth (endemic species) is extremely high - often up to 90% for particular groups. Often, these rare and endemic species are adapted to specialised habitats and limited to small areas of a few islands. With economic and cultural dependence on the natural environment very high in the Pacific islands, along with a rapidly expanding human population, there are ever increasing demands on the region’s natural resources. Plant and animal species are therefore vulnerable to extinction from climate change, competition from introduced (invasive) species and human impacts such as habitat destruction, over-harvesting of species and pollution.

There is a perception within forestry circles that the Rio Summit spawned two parallel concepts for forest conservation and management. One has been that of Sustainable Forest Management, developing from classical forestry and pursued through the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and organizations such as FAO and ITTO. The other has been that of the Ecosystem Approach, developed primarily within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). International fora on forests have discussed the two concepts and governments have committed to implementing them. Yet there is still a good deal of confusion about how the concepts relate to each other. This is more than just an esoteric problem of definitions. There is a risk that national agencies charged with implementing international commitments will get lost in pointless polemics.

This paper contributes to the current review of regionalisation and decentralisation that aims to improve the performance of the Secretariat and the governance of the Union. The current distribution of Secretariat presence is uneven throughout the world, and appears to be based more 011 historical accidents than a matching of resources with needs to achieve the goals of the IUCN Programme. The absence of any Secretariat presence 111 Oceania may be part of this accident of history, or does it reflect instead the absence of need? To answer that question we analyse the situation in the region, comment on regional capacities to address conservation needs, describe the current status of IUCN components in Oceania, identify where IUCN input would be most effective, and conclude that there is a strong case for establishing an IUCN Secretariat presence based in the Pacific islands subregion.