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One of the key deliverables of the Forum Compact is to track the progress of Forum island countries (FICs) towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which is the main purpose of this report. The MDGs assessment in this report is not strictly made the global targets, as the assessments are contextualised to country realities and supplemented by proxy data and qualitative information.

Forum leaders have directed the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) to assist in improving Forum Island Countries' (FICs) access to and management of climate change resources. The assessment framework presented in this report is part of several initiatives being coordinated and/or supported by PIFS in response to this direction.

The 2011 Pacific Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Tracking Report recognises that the MDGs were intended as global targets; therefore they do not need to be, nor are they necessarily expected to be achieved in each and every country. This is especially true perhaps amongst many of the Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) which already had MDG and related human development indicators above the benchmark global averages set for 1990. Further, countries were encouraged to “localize” the global indicators to suit local circumstances and priorities. In the Pacific Papua New Guinea (PNG), which was well below global averages for many indicators at the time the MDGs were agreed, has set itself more meaningful targets for many of the Goals. It has thus given itself a realistic chance of achieving substantial improvements in human development, even if they fall somewhat short of the global targets. Other countries have added their own Goals, notably Cook Islands and Niue which have identified specific additional Goals on governance and sustainable population respectively; still others have localized the goals where some indicators have not been relevant, e.g. those PICs in which malaria is not endemic have focused on reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) instead.