Pacific Island countries and territories may soon be able to reap the benefits of having better access to improved varieties of the region’s tree species.

These improved varieties, and wild tree varieties, are becoming increasingly important in efforts to adapt to climate change, especially for food security and protection of coastal areas and watersheds.  However, the exchange of plant material between countries is hampered by the difficulty of ensuring efficient and safe movement of the material, mainly seeds.

Regional government officials from forestry, agriculture and quarantine departments in Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu will meet next week in Nadi to identify and assess risks and constraints in the movement of plant material of wild and improved tree varieties between countries.

During the meeting, government officers will also learn more about identifying potential pathways for pests in moving plant material across national borders. A better working relationship between biosecurity and forestry services can help address this issue.

A new advocacy brief entitled Transforming Power Relations: Equal Status of Women and Men at the Family Level in the Pacific is designed to raise awareness of an often under-addressed sphere of power dynamics between women and men. It ties into the broader theme of this year’s International Women’s Day celebration: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.  

The brief is based on a range of existing research and illustrates the extent of household and family level inequality between men and women and the adverse impact such inequality has on all other spheres of women’s lives. It also looks at the links between violence against women in the home and women’s ability to make important decisions including about their own health care, household finances and social life. It provides policy recommendations for lawmakers, the health sector, educators, land authorities, customary bodies, religious institutions and the media. These are based on international commitments to gender equality such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) will host the 11th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women at its headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, from 16 to 20 August.

The Triennial provides the opportunity to gauge progress in gender equality in the region, and serves to identify gaps in progress and measures necessary to address them.

The theme for the 11th Triennial, Progress and prospects: National level implementation of the Pacific and Beijing Platforms for Action, ties in with the main theme of the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 54) in New York.