16 May 2024 - Pacific voices were given the lens to magnify their concerns when it comes to waste management on the global stage.  Over a two-day period, Pacific Islands have undergone consultations for their input into the Pre-Zero Draft Declaration on the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and Circular Economy.

Known as the Sustainable 3R and Circular Economy Goals for Achieving Resource Efficient, Clean, Resilient, Sound Material Cyloe and Low-Carbon Society in Asia and the Pacific (2024 – 2034), this Declaration can play a significant role in helping our Pacific Islands address their waste challenges.

With limited resource availability and adequate infrastructure development, Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) have an average waste generation of approximately 2.3 kg per day, which is significantly higher than the global average of 1.55 kg per day. 

At the same time, the blue economy of SIDS and the Pacific Islands is adversely affected by plastic pollution as more than five trillion pieces of plastic pollution are afloat in the oceans.  

“The triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and plastic pollution is primarily the doing of polluter states and economies, so let us not add more problems for ourselves for we are already on the forefront of these impacts,” stated Hon. Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Government of Samoa, addressing the Pacific Islands that participated in the consultation process.

“Samoa, like all Small Islands Developing States, is grappling with escalating levels of waste and in response is support initiative geared towards transitioning to a circular economy.  A key focus on these efforts is on combatting plastic waste which constitutes a signification portion of our waste output.”

It is crucial that the challenges faced by the Pacific Islands, and the support to address these, are reflected in the final Declaration to be formalised at the Twelfth Regional 3R and Circular Economy Forum in Asia and the Pacific late this year.  The two-day consultations will also help enhance Pacific Voices in the new Declaration to stem from the 4th UN Small Islands Developing States Conference to be hosted in Antigua and Barbuda next month.

“We in the Pacific have done a lot already on plastics in our countries and within our region.  What we need now is to ensure that our global partners follow suit because a lot of the solutions we follow in the Pacific are because of problems that have drifted toward us,” said Mr Sefanaia Nawadra, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).  

“We must address this problem at the production stage before it reaches us here in the more remote areas and in the Small Islands Developing States.” 

Preserving the health, productivity, and resilience of oceans and marine life ecosystems is imperative for our Pacific Islands, also known as Large Ocean States. These ecosystems are crucial for ensuring food security, nutrition, and livelihoods for our Pacific Islands people.

“Transformational change in sustainable consumption and production patterns are indispensable for leading waste generation climate mitigation and resilient societies.  The new declaration aims to integrate consumption production patters in our policy and developmental strategies,” said Mr Kazushige Endo, Director of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development. 

The two days of consultation have been described as a unique opportunity to enrich the draft declaration from the perspective of Small Islands Developing States, including the Pacific, acknowledging our unique challenges and vulnerabilities such as the existential threat of climate change.

“Alongside these challenges and our abilities, we recognise the potential and enormous opportunities here in the Pacific at halfway point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals.  Only 12 percent of the SDG’s are on track to be made by 2030 due to multiple challenges including chronic and the financing of sustainable development,” said Mr Themba Kalua, the United Nations Resident Coordinator to the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tokelau.

“Small Island Developing States face greater gaps in achieving the SDGs than the rest of the world with the Pacific SIDS being furthest behind.”

The Small Islands Developing States (Pacific Island Countries) Consultation Meeting on the Pre-Zero Draft of New Declaration on 3R and Circular Economy ~ Sustainable 3R and Circular Economy Goals for Achieving Resource Efficient, Clean, Resilient, Sound Material Cycle and Low-Carbon Society in Asia and the Pacific (2024-2034) was held in Apia Samoa from 14 – 15 May 2024.

The Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna attended the event with Niue participating virtually.

The consultation meeting was coordinated in partnership by the United Nations Centre for Regional Development -Division of Sustainable Development Goals/UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The meeting will be supported by the Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific (SWAP) Project, Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries Phase 3 (JPRISM III), and EU SWITCH-Asia.

Photo credit: Wrecks, old cars and waste along Pacific coastlines by Stuart Chape