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The Bismarck Solomon Seas Ecoregion (BSSE) is a seascape that stretches from the Vogelkop (Doberai) Peninsula of Papua, Indonesia, across the Admiralty and Bismarck archipelagos of Papua New Guinea, to Makira Island of Solomon Islands. The area covers approximately 2 million sq km and is home to approximately 3 million people, 80% of whom rely on coastal resources for their livelihoods. In addition to being a cradle of coral biodiversity, the BSSE is home to a large number of critically endangered Western Pacific Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).
Windia Adnyana, of WWF-Indonesia, reports on a technical consultation aimed at further developing a sub-regional conservation plan to conserve leatherback turtles of the BSSE. The meeting, held in Jakarta from 10-11 July, brought together interested participants from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
The three countries involved in the initiative signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in August 2006 and established a tri-national committee to oversee its implementation.
Priorities for work within the framework of a regional leatherback action plan include:
(1) research and monitoring; (2) education and awareness and community development; (3) capacity building; (4) development of funding mechanism to implement the Memorandum of Understanding; (5) legal and policy issues; and (6) coordination and collaboration.
As noted in the minutes of the meeting, the Jakarta consultation received updates from each of the participating countries, and agreed on a number of steps towards institutionalising the trilateral framework. (See also the List of Participants.) It was suggested that a Melanesian Cetecean workshop, to be held in Papua New Guinea after October 2007, might provide a venue for a side-meeting on the tri-national BSSE.
Other documents and presentations of interest include the following:
Annex 1: Presentation on institutional developments (Herry Djoko Susilo)
Annex 2: Presentation of Papua New Guinea (James Sabi)
Annex 3: Presentation of Solomon Islands (Fred Pattson)
Annex 4: Presentation on Western Pacific Leatherback Turtles (Creusa Hitipeuw)
Annex 5: Draft Strategic Plan for the Conservation of Leatherback Turtles of the BSSE
Thanks to Windia Adnyana for forwarding this documentation for posting on the IOSEA website.
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