The Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF) secretary general Feleti Teo has called for more inclusiveness in discussions on sustainable development issues in the Pacific.
He made the call at the recently concluded Pacific Bêche-de-mer and the Future of Coastal Fisheries Meeting held in Nadi.
Speaking to fisheries ministers and officials from Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, Mr Teo said changing global and regional environment requires new approaches to problem solving.
“It is accepted that current development models have not worked. Global and regional challenges are complex and interconnected and they require the expertise and resources across multiple sectors. Sustainable development is no longer the sole responsibility of governments; it is a whole of society responsibility,” Mr Teo said.
He reminded participants that leaders from the public and private sectors & civil society need to be brought together to address regional sustainable development challenges like coastal fisheries management, through mutually beneficial innovative partnerships.
“We need to catalyse, mobilize and mainstream action on sustainable development through a green economy which is the alternative development pathway.
“PIDF can provide the space for interactive discussions involving all stakeholders of society on sustainable development issues like coastal fisheries management,” Mr Teo added.
Mr Teo also briefed the meeting on the partnership that PIDF had established with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature to collaborate in the area of fisheries in the Pacific.
“The inaugural PIDF summit agreed on “The Ten Things” that must be done to achieve green-blue economies in the Pacific.
“These Ten Things now form the core of the strategic underpinnings and the work programme of the PIDF Secretariat. One of the Ten Things is fisheries which is pursued in terms of Food Security for the Pacific,” Mr Teo said.
“The PIDF is now collaborating with the WWF on a major fisheries event for the Pacific for 2015.”
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