Workshop/Conference Reporting Template

Workshop/Conference Reporting Template

Representative details

Name (s) / Teuru Margaret Tiraa Passfield
Ministry/Organisation / Te Ipukarea Society

Meeting Details

Title / UNESCO Asia Pacific World Heritage Project: Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change Awareness Among Youth
Venue / Touho, New Caledonia
Date(s) / 7-13 April 2014
Organising institution(s) / UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels de Nouvelle Caledonie
Number of Attendees
(Countries, Organisations) / New Caledonia, Samoa, Niue, PNG, Cook Islands, Fiji, Tokelau, Kiribati, Palau, FSM, Marshall Islands, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Vanuatu. (Vietnam & Solomon Islands were absent due to visas and flooding)
Area of Specialty / World Heritage Projects, SIDS

Conference/Workshop/Meeting details

Objectives/Theme / The objective of the meeting/workshop was to create and promote awareness of Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change among youth in the Asia Pacific Region through daily activities, discussions, and group work. This was done with strong reference to World Heritage Projects, and was approached in a participatory manner.
Outcomes / Each day had different outcomes, all connected with the common theme of promoting awareness. Participants were taken to local areas and were introduced to both science and social science aspects of the impacts of Climate Change on Marine Biodiversity. By the end of the workshop, each participant was to take ideas from activities that we had participated in and discussions that we had had, and come up with a potential project to implement in our home countries.
Recommendations(s) to the Cook Islands (or UNESCO National Commission) / During the workshop, we were taught (both in theory and in practice) how to conduct biological reef monitoring surveys for both mobile and sessile organisms. The results of surveys such as these are good indicators of reef health, especially if conducted regularly. Survey methods are quite easy to learn and carry out, and it is also fairly basic to explain and understand impacts of climate change on reef health, and further consequences of these impacts. Because the outcome of the workshop was to come up with a youth-oriented project raising awareness of Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change among youth, I proposed that a simple and relevant project to carry out in the Cook Islands would be the regular monitoring of reef health through biological surveys. After being taught, youth from the ages of 12 and up would easily be able to conduct surveys in small groups. These could be done in front of the TIS office, and would take a week or 2 with very few supplies and only a small budget for feeding participants. Youth would be taught the correct ways to survey with minimum damage, and results could be organised into colourful, basic report cards for the public/interested parties. If successful, these surveys can be carried out at several sites around the island for comparison, and can even be compared with results from other pacific islands as one measure of reef health.
General Comments / The workshop was a wonderful learning and networking opportunity, and I believe it was extremely helpful for both my studies, and my future work, which will in turn benefit the Cook Islands when I am able to share the things that I have learned.
Benefits of attendance for the Cook Islands / It was great to meet other participants from New Caledonia and other parts of the Asia Pacific region, and to learn from their own experiences and their project proposals. These are contacts that will benefit the Cook Islands directly as some of the participants have their own youth and environmental organisations in their countries and are willing to provide advice and help to the Cook Islands, or even include us as members of their organisations. A lot of these are centred on SIDS, which is not too active/well-known in the Cook Islands at the moment, and is something I would like to help with when I return to my studies.
Another benefit is that I was able to have a designated week to think about a project that would be easy and relevant, to implement among Cook Islands youth.
Follow up/work plan implementation (if applicable) / Upon my return home, if there is funding for it and if it hasn’t already been done, I would like to take up a very active role among youth, getting them involved in environmental issues. One of the ways I would like to do this is through the possible implementation of regular biological reef surveys, depending on whether there is funding and interest, and whether or not it has already been done.

Signed: Teuru Tiraa Passfield

Date: July 2, 2014

Please attach any papers or presentations made by Cook Islands participants as part of the workshop/conference.