Third Clean Pacific Roundtable Closes With Renewed Commitment To Cleaner Pacific

25 November 2021, Apia - The Third Clean Pacific Roundtable (CPRT) has ended with a renewed commitment to keep the Pacific clean from the host nation, New Caledonia, participants, partners and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Special Advisor to the President of New Caledonia, Mr Charles Wea, closed the biennial gathering and called on governments, private sector, civil society and every citizen of the Pacific to think about how their actions everyday impacts on the environment. The meeting adopted the Cleaner Pacific 2025 Implementation Plan 2021-2025 and the Clean Pacific Roundtable 2021 Outcome Statement, which strives for a cleaner Pacific.

“I want to congratulate you all for a successful meeting,” said Mr Wea. “We saw great engagement from the Private Sector and Civil Society Groups around the issues of technology innovations and governance. We also witnessed the great contribution from the Academia and Tertiary Institutions of the impacts of Research and capacity building to build champions in Waste Management.”

The Director General of SPREP, Mr Kosi Latu, reiterated the need for everyone to make better consumer choices.

“Choose wisely – before you produce, sell or make something, ask yourself if you can reuse or recycle it? Or will it enter the waste landfill?” he said. “Say No to single-use plastic, use your cloth bags and reusable bottles, and choose reusable food containers. Buy less, waste less – purchase sustainable products where you can and reuse as often as possible.”

He also called on people to compost their green waste and food scraps instead of sending them to the landfill.

“At the start of the Roundtable, I encouraged you all to be frank in your deliberations and to identify the immediate priorities that need addressing over the next 24 months. I had encouraged you all to be critical, adventurous and ambitious in what you want but be also realistic on what can be done on the ground. I believe that we all have achieved this goal,” Mr Latu said.

The Director General acknowledged the Government of New Caledonia for their support, namely the Minister of Environment and Chair of 3rdCPRT, Honourable Joseph Manaute.

“I would like to take this opportunity to also acknowledge all the Partners who contributed to this Roundtable,” Mr Latu said. “I would like to acknowledge the significant financial assistance of New Caledonia (Province Sud, Province Nord, ADEME and ACOTRED), Fonds Pacifique, JICA, the EU which has enabled this Roundtable to take place. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions received from UN Environment, Australian Aid, Ellen Macarthur Foundation and the University of Newcastle.”

The CPRT held biennially is the premier forum for Government Agencies, NGO’s, Community Based Organizations, Donor Agencies, Private Sector, Academia and Tertiary Institutions and Individual Experts from the Pacific Region in waste and pollution management. The purpose of the Roundtable is to initiate regional and national cooperation in the Waste and Pollution Sector and enable monitoring and progress reporting against the Clean Pacific 2025.

The seven-day meeting this year consisted of four technical sessions, three roundtables and 10 side events and Deep Dive sessions, and two consultation Sessions.

ABOUT THE 3rd CPRT

The Third Clean Pacific Roundtable is a partnership event supported by New Caledonia, Acotred Pacific, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), Australian Aid (AUS Aid), European Union (EU), Fonds Pacifique, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UN Environment Program (UNEP), Province SUD and Province NORD.

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