What the conference decided

The 21st South Pacific Conference was held in Port Moresby late in October. Here’s a summary of the main issues discussed and the resolutions adopted, starting with an outline of the South Pacific Commission budqet for next year: a

Financial reports were adopted, and the SPC budget for 1981 was fixed at a balanced income and expenditure of SA3.B million. The biggest single source of revenue will be $A3.5 million in assessed and voluntary contributions from participat ing governments. The biggest revenue contributor will be Australia, providing 33.6% of the assessed contributions. The other major contributing governments will be USA 17%, New Zealand 16.3%, France 14% and UK 12.3%.

Under an established formula the new nations of the Pacific will each provide 0.85% of the SPC revenue. However the conference decided there should be an early review into the possibility that the smallest Island nations should be conceded a lower rate of contributions.

Australia, France, New Zealand and USA announced special voluntary grants which will provide nearly half a million dollars in the 1981 budget revenue and will be directed to consultancy services, the tuna fisheries assessment programme, the skipjack tuna lagging programme and for the provision of rural water supply and sanitation projects. Some of the grants include promises of continuing funds for later budgets.

The biggest single expenditure heading in the 1981 budget will be 5A662 thousand for SPC community services, followed by $592 thousand for information services. Executive manage ment will cost 5A263 thousand, and awards and grants valued at 5A256 thousand will be made available. Other major amounts will be spent on technical services involving food production, materials, marine resources, rural management and rural technology. Practical training schemes for Pacific islanders will be included in this expenditure.

Status And Role Of Women

The conference took note of problems faced by Island women in taking an equal place with men in the society, politics, economy and general life of their countries. As a result, delegates decided to seek external funds to pay for a major conference of South Pacific women.

The women’s conference will be held in French Polynesia next year and its recommendations for improving the position of women will go to next year’s South Pacific Conference. A decision was also made to seek outside funds to re-establish the former Women’s Resource Centre in Fiji.

Attitude To Nuclear Waste

In a debate marked by subtle sensitivities from UK and France, the conference ‘noted the grave concern’ which Island governments had expressed towards Japanese plans to dump nuclear waste in the Pacific. The conference also ‘noted’ that Island governments were urging the use of other methods or other areas for the disposal of nuclear waste.

The wording of the resolution was significant, and arose from a watering down by UK of a proposed resolution. In its final form the resolution simply took note of Island protests without expressing an opinion of its own. It also did not refer specifically to Japan, confining itself to ‘the intention of some countries to dump radioactive waste in the Pacific’.

Merger Recommendation Deferred

The contentious recommendation for amalgamating the South Pacific Commission and the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation into a single new organisation was discussed and deferred to next year’s South Pacific Conference.

The recommendation comes from a special committee on regional institutional arrangements. The special committee

included members of both organisations and independent members.

Png Requests Alliance

Papua New Guinea made an impassioned plea to the conference for the formation of a Pacific Islands political alliance which could speak with one voice on matters of common interest. Such a body should then seek observer status in United Nations, PNG proposed, and could become a powerful lobby. PNG offered to convene an informal meeting to discuss the proposal, but some of the smaller nations showed hesilance and for the time being the PNG proposal has made no headway.

Stabilisation Plan For Study

Discussion was re-opened on proposals to establish a South Pacific regional stabilisation scheme for agricultural products, and a commissioned feasibility study was examined. Delegates believed however that the matter was so complex and highly technical that further research was needed before any establishment decision could be made. Further studies and inquiries were authorised, with particular reference to the degree of finance which would be available from international and other agencies and to the general costs involved. The conference decided to convene a meeting of technical experts from SPC countries, to ask the technical experts to make comprehensive recommendations and to discuss the recommen dations at next year’s South Pacific Conference.

New Name For Arts Festival?

The South Pacific Festival of Arts may get a new name possibly the Pacific Festival of Arts following recommen dations from the conference. Delegates said the present name failed to recognise the significant contributions to the festival i which came from Island cultures north of the equator. The conference congratulated by applause ‘the magnificent manner’ in which Papua New Guinea had hosted this year’s festival. The conference approved an annual fund of SAS6 thousand from the next four SPC budgets to help finance the next festival in New Caledonia.

Reports On Fishing Projects

The conference received wide-ranging formal reports on the progress of new and proposed fisheries projects in Island countries, but made no formal policy recommendations. Some delegates expressed concern at what they described as the continuing illegal presence of foreign fishing ships in Island marine resource zones.

Year Of The Pacific

A proposal for the SPC to sponsor a ‘Year of the Pacific’ was discussed by delegates as a means for promoting development and interest in Island countries and to increase international awareness of the Pacific community. The proposal will receive a detailed study from the planning and evaluation committee preparing the agenda for next year’s South Pacific Conference.

Appropriate Education Plan

The conference endorsed a proposal from the SPC secretariat to examine existing education programmes aimed at develop ment for Island communities. During the first phase a detailed survey of education programmes will be carried out. In the second phase future developments will be planned at conferences of education and agriculture officers and teachers and parents from rural communities.

Four New Nations Admitted

Four new Island nations were admitted to full participating rights in the conference by virtue of their political status and under the rules of the conference. They were the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Republic of Vanuatu.

It was also announced that the governments of the Cook Islands and Niue had filed their instruments of accession to the Canberra Agreement. The Canberra Agreement is the formal arrangement under which the South Pacific Commission is constituted, and is named after the Australian capital where the conference which founded the SPC was held.

Next Conference In Port-Vila

The conference accepted an invitation from Vanuatu to host the 21st South Pacific Conference in Port-Vila next year, but the date has yet to be fixed in negotiations between the Vanuatu government and the SPC secretariat. The conference also accepted an offer from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to be host in 1982 or subsequent years.

Help For Atoll Communities

The conference reaffirmed the intentions of the SPC to take wide-ranging steps to increase the self-sufficiency of small atoll communities throughout the region. The problems of remote and isolated atoll communities were first raised in detail at the 18lh South Pacific Conference two years ago, and suggestions were made that aid donors, universities and other interested countries and organisations should be approached in the interests of increasing self-sufficiency in food, energy and water an the atolls of the Pacific.

The SPC secretariat reported to this year’s conference that considerable progress had been made in defining the practical requirements of such a project and in estimating what would be entailed. It referred to earlier discussions on the problems of atoll communities, some going back more than 25 years. The costs of establishing and applying a suitable programme were estimated at SASOO million. The conference was told that an approach had been made to the European Economic Com munity, through Lome Convention channels, for finance.

New Media Centre Suggested

The conference received reports and recommendations on a move which could lead to the establishment in Vanuatu of a media training centre to serve the Island countries of the South Pacific. A detailed examination of the proposal will be left to the SPC Planning and Evaluation Committee.

At present the SPC operates a media training and resource centre in Fiji, but the conference was told that there are increasing pressures from member governments and organis ations to expand the facility because of the growth of publishing, newspapers, magazines, publicity material outlets, radio and some television in the region. In a preliminary proposal to the conference the secretariat suggested that an expanded media centre, which would train people from all over the Pacific, might benefit from being newly established in another country. Vanuatu was tentatively suggested, particu larly because French and English are both widely used there.

The preliminary proposal indicated that external funding would be needed for major expansion of the media centre.

Warning On Fishery Plans

The conference took note of a caution from the SPC secretariat that social and political factors could be expected to play an increasing role in plans for the development and management of fisheries. If fisheries were to be the economic success that Pacific governments expected, it was therefore essential that the highest standards of consultation and development should be followed, the secretariat warned. ‘Bad advice is not cheap at any price’ the report said.