24 Jul 2006

Conservationists told to include Pacific grass roots in any promotion attempts

5:51 pm on 24 July 2006

Pacific conservation organisations meeting this week in Fiji have been told to place communities at the centre of their attempts to promote conservation.

The Foundation of the Peoples' of the South Pacific Internatonal is co-hosting the 10th Nature Conservation Round Table in Suva, which brings together agencies, NGOs and academics to map the way forward for regional conservation efforts.

But Executive director, Rex Horoi, told the delegates that any plans they develop will fail if the Pacific peoples are not part of it.

"I put the challenge before them that they need to look harder, they need to look lower, and they need to look wider, and this wider, harder look, the scope of which we will probably see at the end of Wednesday or Thursday this week when they will come together to look at an evaluation of what they have done over the week."