PROJECT IDENTIFICATION FORM (PIF)
PROJECT TYPE: Full-sized Project
THE GEF TRUST F
UND
Submission Date:
PART I: PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
INDICATIVE CALENDAR*
GEF PROJECT ID1:
PROJECT DURATION: 60 months
Milestones Expected
Dates
GEF AGENCY PROJECT ID:
mm/dd/yyyy
COUNTRY(IES): Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji,
Work Program (for FSP)
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea,
CEO Endorsement/Approval
Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
Agency Approval Date
PROJECT TITLE: Implementation of Regional and Global Oceanic
Implementation Start
Fisheries Convention in the Pacific Islands.
Mid-term Evaluation (if
GEF AGENCY: UNDP
planned)
OTHER EXECUTING PARTNER(S): FFA, SPC, WWF, IUCN
Project Closing Date
GEF FOCAL AREA (S)2: International Waters
* See guidelines for definition of milestones.
GEF-4 STRATEGIC PROGRAM(s): IW-SP1
NAME OF PARENT PROGRAM/UMBRELLA PROJECT (if applicable):
A. PROJECT FRAMEWORK
Project Objective: to achieve global environmental benefits by enhanced conservation and management of transboundary oceanic fishery resources in the Pacific
Islands region and the protection of the biodiversity of the Western Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem (WTPWPLME) through the implementation of
global and regional fishery conservation and management instruments, particularly the implementation of conservation and management measures (CMMs) adopted by
the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries (WCPF) Convention.
Indicate
Indicative GEF Indicative Co-
whether
Expected Outcomes
Expected Outputs
Financinga
Financinga
Project Components
Total ($)
Investment,
c =a + b
TA, or STA
($m) a
%
($) b
b
%
1. Reforming laws and
A comprehensive set of CMMs
1. Proposals from Pacific SIDS for
policies for the
reflecting and contributing to
Commission CMMs and supporting
implementation of
global best practice in tuna
legal arrangements and mechanisms,
conservation and
RFMOs adopted by the WCPF
including provisions relating to non-
management measures
Commission for management of
Parties, monitoring of implementation
target stocks, protection of non-
and sanctions for non-compliance
target stocks and mitigation of
2. Amendments to SIDS laws,
impacts on the marine
regulations & license conditions and
environment of the WTPWPLME,
associated policy reforms and
$3.3m 24.6%
with substantial involvement by
institutional strengthening to implement
Pacific Island nations; these
WCPFC CMMs and other relevant
CMMs and other applicable global
international legal instruments;
and regional instruments being
3. Training of 100-150 Pacific SIDS
ef ectively implemented by Pacific
legal , policy and fisheries management
SIDS
personnel in the implementation of
WCPFC CMMs and other relevant
international legal instruments
2. Providing iinfo for
Improved info available on the
1. Effective data management systems
formulation and
levels, patterns and impacts of
based on regional templates installed in
implementation of
fishing and status of target and
15 SIDS for col ecting & reporting
fisheries and ecosystem
non-target stocks; improved
observer, logsheet, port sampling,
conservation and
processes for formulating CMMs &
unloading & landing data, as required
management measures
application of innovative & best-
2. Observers, port samplers,
practice approaches to
statisticians and monitoring
conservation and management of
coordinators trained (estimated 300
$4.0m 29.8%
oceanic species. These
personnel over 5 years)
enhancements reducing
3. Regional coordination of national
uncertainty and improving the
monitoring operations through
quality and credibility of advice and consultations, newsletters, website
decision-making both nationally
4. Regional databases and processes
and at the Commission, and for
for access to this information for
monitoring compliance with
economic, scientific and compliance
1 Project ID number will be assigned by GEFSEC.
2 Select only those focal areas from which GEF financing is requested.
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PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
national laws and WCPFC CMMs
purposes
5. Tools for management strategy
evaluation at the regional and national
levels
6. Special projects to address critical
uncertainties in target species
assessment
7. Review & implementation of
innovative & best practice approaches
for management of target stocks at
regional & national levels
3. Improving
Improving understanding of the
Estimates of climate change impacts on
understanding of the
impact of climate change on the
oceanic fisheries and the associated
impact of climate change
conservation and management of
uncertainties through the 21st century
$0.7m
4.9%
oceanic fisheries and the Warm
Pool LME
4. Determining IUU
Effectiveness of WCPFC CMMs is
1. Enhanced coordination of SIDS
fishing
not undermined by IUU fishing in
contribution to formulation, compliance
the Pacific Islands region.
& enforcement of WCPFC CMMs
$0.6m
4.1%
2. 75-100 SIDS compliance &
enforcement personnel trained in the
implementation of WCPFC CMMs
5. knowledge
Enhanced oceanic fisheries
1. A mentoring programme for Pacific
management & civil
management through the long term SIDS fisheries managers
society partnerships
building of capacity in Pacific SIDS
2. Strengthening of institutional capacity
for Pacific training in oceanic fisheries
Increased awareness of and
management
participation in: oceanic fisheries
3. .Knowledge management and
resource and ecosystems
information systems including websites,
management, the project and the
publications, promotional material,
work of the WCPFC
media relations and participation in GEF $1.0m
7.8%
events and information exchanges
(IWLEARN etc),
4. Broader stakeholder (ENGO, INGO,
civil society) awareness through
workshops and strengthened
stakeholder participation in oceanic
fisheries management, including the
WCPFC
6. Project management
$3.8m 28.8%
Total project costs
$13.4m
B
a List the $ by project components. The percentage is the share of GEF and Co-financing respectively of the total amount for the component.
b TA = Technical Assistance; STA = Scientific & Technical Analysis.
B. INDICATIVE CO-FINANCING FOR THE PROJECT BY SOURCE and by NAME (in parenthesis) if available, ($)
Sources of Co-financing
Type of Co-financing
Project
Project Government Contribution
(select)
GEF Agency(ies)
(select)
Bilateral Aid Agency(ies)
(select)
Multilateral Agency(ies)
(select)
Private Sector
(select)
NGO
(select)
Others
(select)
Total Co-financing
B
2
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
C. INDICATIVE FINANCING PLAN SUMMARY FOR THE PROJECT ($)
Total
Previous Project
Agency Fee
Preparation Amount (a)3
Project (b)
c = a + b
GEF financing
A
Co-financing
B
Total
D. GEF RESOURCES REQUESTED BY AGENCY (IES), FOCAL AREA(S) AND COUNTRY(IES)1
Country Name/
(in $)
GEF Agency
Focal Area
Global
Project (a)
Agency Fee (b)2 Total
c=a+b
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
(select)
Total GEF Resources
1 No need to provide information for this table if it is a single focal area, single country and single GEF Agency project.
2 Relates to the project and any previous project preparation funding that have been provided and for which no Agency fee has been requested from Trustee.
PART II: PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
A. STATE THE ISSUE, HOW THE PROJECT SEEKS TO ADDRESS IT, AND THE EXPECTED GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS TO BE DELIVERED: The objective of the proposed OFMPII Project is to achieve
global environmental benefits and contribute to the sustainable development of fifteen Pacific SIDS by enhanced
conservation and management of transboundary oceanic fishery resources in the Pacific Islands region and the protection
of the biodiversity of the Western Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem (WTPWPLME) through the
implementation of global and regional fishery conservation and management instruments, particularly the
implementation of conservation and management measures (CMMs) adopted by the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries
(WCPF) Commission.
The waters of the Pacific Islands region cover an area of around 40 million square kilometres, or over 10 per cent of the
Earth's surface and equivalent to about one third of the area of the Earth's land surfaces, with most of this area falling
within the national jurisdiction of 15 Pacific SIDS. These international waters hold the world's largest stocks of tuna and
related pelagic species, and also contain globally important stocks of sharks, billfish and other large pelagic species,
whales and other marine mammals and turtles.
The defining physical feature of the body of international water shared by Pacific Island communities is the Western
Tropical Pacific Warm Pool Large Marine Ecosystem. The Warm Pool comprises a huge body of water, lying to the west
of the strong divergent equatorial upwelling in the central equatorial Pacific known as the "cold tongue" and between the
sub-tropical gyres in the North and South Pacific. It provides approximately 90% of the catch of tunas and other pelagic
species in the WCPF Convention Area.
The health of the International Waters of the Warm Pool LME is critical to the communities and economies of the Pacific
Islands. Almost all of the land area of the Pacific SIDS is coastal in character and almost all of the people of the region
live and work in ways that are dependent on healthy International Waters.
3 Include project preparation funds that were previously approved but exclude PPGs that are awaiting for approval.
3
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
The1997 SAP identified the ultimate root cause underlying the concerns about, and threats to, International Waters in the
region as deficiencies in management and grouped the deficiencies into two linked subsets (i) governance; and (ii) lack
of understanding.
The weaknesses in governance of oceanic fisheries management occur at two levels regional and national. At the
regional level, the critical weakness was identified as the lack of a legally binding institutional arrangement governing
cooperation in the management of the region's commercial oceanic fisheries. At the national level, critical weaknesses
were identified as the lack of compatible management arrangements between zones, a lack of political commitment to
taking the necessary decisions to limit fishing and catches in both Pacific SIDS and fishing states, and the lack of national
capacity. The lack of understanding was as recognised as having two dimensions. Firstly, there are information gaps,
especially at the ecosystem level. Secondly, while there has long been a high level of basic awareness of issues related to
oceanic fisheries in the region, there has not been an adequate understanding of the kinds of measures that need to be
taken and the legal, policy and institutional reforms that were necessary to ensure sustainability.
Against this background, and consistent with the GEF policy framework and operational strategy, GEF financing for the
International Waters (IW) South Pacific Strategic Action Programme (SAP) Project from 2000 included a pilot phase of
support for the successful efforts to conclude and bring into force the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries (WCPF)
Convention, establishing a Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). Then, the GEF agreed to
support Pacific SIDS efforts through the Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP) as they
participated in the setting up and initial period of operation of the new Commission, and as they reformed, realigned,
restructured and strengthened their national fisheries laws, policies, institutions and programmes to take up the new
opportunities which the WCPF Convention created and discharge the new responsibilities which the Convention
bestowed.
Now, the proposed OFMPII Project seeks to provide support to Pacific SIDS as they undertake the transition from
institutional development and reform to implementing practical stress reduction conservation and management
measures to reduce fishing mortality on key target and non-target oceanic species, including sharks, seabirds and
sea turtles and protect the marine environment, and to improve understanding and take account of broader
ecosystem issues and impacts, including effects on seamounts and the effects of climate change.
There is a sound institutional basis for the transition to implementation. After four years, exactly as anticipated in the
alternative scenario for the first phase there is a working Commission with most of the administrative, personnel,
financial, scientific and technical institutional elements in place. The Commission staff is larger and the Commission
budget for 2009 is more than double the levels projected in the 2004 OFMP Project Document, indicating broad support
for the progress in establishing the Commission from all major participants in the Commission. The Commission now
finances core scientific work undertaken by SPC, including most target species stock assessments previously funded by
GEF and other donors with a formula for contributions that transfers most of the burden to those who fish. Progress on
conservation and management measures exceeds the targets set in the Project document for the first phase. Preliminary
CMMs have been adopted to limit fishing mortality for most target species that are under fishing pressure and for the
mitigation of impacts on key non-target species, including sharks, seabirds, and sea turtles, often with staged
implementation. These CMMs are in general at least as rigorous as those in other place in other oceanic fisheries RFMOs,
but are seen by FFA Members as broadbrush, partial, ad hoc initial steps falling short of meeting the scientific advice in
many respects and requiring refining and tightening.
Consistent also with the alternative scenario for the first phase, most key elements of the Commission's compliance
framework, including high seas boarding and inspection, a regional observer programme and a Commission satellite-
based high seas remote tracking Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) have been agreed upon, but have yet to be
implemented. Other elements remain to be agreed including the application of sanctions for non-compliance, and from its
next session in December 2009, the focus of the Commission will shift from institutional development and the adoption of
a framework of stock management and bycatch mitigation CMMs to refining and tightening the current measures and
implementation, monitoring and compliance.
Pacific SIDS have contributed fully to these outcomes. Most of the Commission's CMMs are either based on proposals
from FFA Members or have been prepared . Some of the Commission's key programmes are built on FFA programmes
4
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
focused in the Pacific Islands region the Commission's VMS is operated through the same facility as the FFA VMS and
based largely on FFA standards, and the start-up the Commission's observer programme is based largely on Pacific SIDS
existing national programmes.
It has taken a massive effort by Pacific SIDS to participate effectively in these early stages of the Commission's work. In
the period 2005-8, there have been 15 separate sessions of meetings of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies, and
another 26 legal, scientific and technical consultations related to the WCPFC (many of them GEF-supported), as well as a
large number of sub-regional, multilateral and bilateral consultations in which there has been a high level of participation
by Pacific SIDS. At the national level, most Pacific SIDS have reformed laws and regulations, undertaken risk-assessment
based analyses of the application of an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management, reviewed management plans and
strengthened institutions and programmes, especially monitoring programmes, in some cases through systematic donor-
supported long-term Institutional Strengthening Projects.
Throughout this work, Pacific SIDS have had to collaborate and negotiate at the Commission with some of the largest and
most powerful nations in a situation where even the most well-intentioned developed flag states have found it difficult to
agree to measures that would adversely affect their vessels or set precedents that might be applied in other Commissions.
The strategy of FFA Members in addressing these responses of th is fishing states have been to push through strategies
that have allowed staged implementation over time, and flexibility in application of CCMs to areas north of 20 North
where the domestic fleets of China, Japan, Taiwan and the US operate, while still insisting on the application of the
principles of the Convention through the Convention Area. For the key tropical fisheries, after the Commission had failed
for two years to adopt adequate measures, a group of Pacific SIDS adopted a package of measures for their EEZs; then
used the provisions of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the leverage of access to their waters to have the Commission
adopt a compatible package of measures for the high seas, including a closure of two heavily fished high seas pockets to
purse seine fishing. James Joseph, Chairman of the Science Committee of the International Seafood Sustainability
Foundation (ISSF) has described these measures as the "the most effective measures" in any ocean where tuna is fished.
Effective implementation of the Commission's conservation and management measures in the high seas and national
waters over the next 5-7 years to secure the potential national, regional and global economic and environmental benefits
will require the commitment of the same scale of effort from Pacific SIDS as the establishment and institutional
development phase. The OFMPII Project will play a catalytic role in mobilising a partnership of Pacific SIDS and other
FFA Members, other donor agencies and NGOs for the implementation phase. The global importance of these efforts in
the implementation phase will be greater than previously anticipated because of the importance of the precedents and best
practice standards for tropical oceanic fisheries conservation and management being established in the world's largest
tropical oceanic fisheries.
The key outcomes of the implementation phase are planned to be:
· Implementation of measures to reduce fishing effort and mortality of target species in accordance with the
WCPFC Convention, the UN Fish stocks Agreement and the WSSD targets. The SIDS-driven measures on the
major target species adopted by the WCPFC are already better than those adopted by other oceanic fisheries
RFMOs, but they are still only partial responses that fall short of the scientific advice on what is needed to meet
the standards of the Convention and the WSSD, and are in the earliest stages of implementation. A key element
to improving effectiveness is refining the measures to adapt and apply them to the wide range of different
conditions and fisheries that are found throughout the range of the stocks, particularly in the waters of Pacific
SIDS and other developing states and improving capacities for implementing measures in the Pacific SIDS
· Formulation and effective implementation of a comprehensive set of measures for mitigation of impacts of fishing
on non-target species, particularly endangered and threatened species including seabirds, sea turtles and sharks
both in the high seas and in the waters of Pacific SIDS through the development and application of national plans
of action and other appropriate instruments to reduce the threat from bycatches of non-target species. The current
measures are as good as those of other oceanic fisheries RFMOs, but are broadbrush, not species-specific and not
founded on a strong scientific base. The project will support the development of science-based, species-specific
measures and support their application at national level;
5
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
· Implementation of ecosystem-wide considerations, including bringing to bear the understanding of the biological
and economic aspects of the multi-species, multi-gear fisheries across the region that has emerged from the
analytical work undertaken with GEF support in the first phase
· Strengthening of efforts to deter IUU fishing through implementation of the Commission's compliance
programmes in the high seas, especially the IUU List, boarding and inspection, VMS and observer programmes
in the high seas and the implementation of the FFA Regional MCS Strategy in the national waters of Pacific
SIDS. The measures being taken to limit fishing are making licensed access to resources more difficult, more
controlled and valuable, increasing incentives for IUU fishing, and surveillance and enforcement programmes
need to be ramped up to address this increased threat,
· Participation in the first Performance Review of the WCPFC, expected to spotlight both the good start ot the
Commission's work, but also the shortfalls in performance in relation to the responsibilities in its Convention
The Project will be implemented by UNDP and executed by a partnership of regional organisations and non-governmental
organisations. FFA will be the lead executing agency and will host the Project coordination Unit. FFA will execute the
national and regional policy and legal reform component and the IUU deterrence components. SPC will execute the
fisheries and ecosystem management monitoring and Warm Pool LME components. FFA and SPC will jointly execute
the target stock conservation and biodiversity protection components with support from IUCN, and work with training
institutions on long term capacity building and NGOs and industry stakeholders on building awareness, knowledge
management and experience sharing to replicate best practices.
B. DESCRIBE THE CONSISTENCY OF THE PROJECT WITH NATIONAL/REGIONAL PRIORITIES/PLANS: In adopting the
Pacific Plan in 2006, Pacific Leaders reaffirmed the importance of fisheries to the economies of all Pacific Forum
countries; and identified as a key priority for the region
Maximise sustainable returns from fisheries by development of an ecosystem-based fishery management planning
framework; encouragement of effective fisheries development, including value-adding activities; and
collaboration to ensure legislation and access frameworks are harmonised.
The importance of regional fisheries was confirmed by the Leaders in their adoption of the 2007 Vava'u Declaration on
Pacific Fisheries Resources in which they committed to"strengthen their engagement in sustainable fisheries and to
maximise the flow on benefits from both domestic fisheries and foreign fishing operations in the region" and also to "fully
implementing without delay the conservation and management measures developed and endorsed by the Western and
Central Pacific Fisheries Commission".
At the national level, plans for responsible and sustainable development of oceanic fisheries are a key element in the
planning for sustainable development of all Pacific SIDS. Across the region, fish and fishing are, as a recent Asian
Development Bank report said "tremendously important to the people of the Pacific Islands. Much of the nutrition,
culture and welfare, recreation, government revenue and employment in the region are based on its living marine
resources"; and over 90 per cent of the fish taken is from oceanic fisheries, most of that being tuna. Looking ahead the
same report projected that "tuna will inevitably assume a much larger profile in the Pacific Islands in the medium and
long term future. Tuna is likely to increase in a number of sectors, two of which are especially critical: (1) as a
foundation for future economic growth; and (2) for food security."
C. DESCRIBE THE CONSISTENCY OF THE PROJECT WITH GEF STRATEGIES AND STRATEGIC
PROGRAMS: The proposed OFMPII project is consistent with both the GEF IV long term objectives for International
Waters which are:
1. To foster international multi-state cooperation on priority water concerns
2. 2. To catalyze transboundary action addressing water concerns
It fits the IW Strategic Program 1 for GEF-4 which is:
1. Restoring and sustaining coastal and marine fish stocks and associated biological diversity
It is a clear demonstration of the IW approach of building commitment to collective action on transboundary concerns
around a SAP, building a sustainable regional institution for collective action (the WCPFC) implementing
6
global
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
environmental conventions (in this case the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Convention on Biodiversity) and
undertaking associated national legal, policy and institutional reforms; then moving on as now proposed through the
OFMPII Project to practical stress reduction measures.
And it contributes to the GEF commitment to supporting SIDS through funding regionally focused programmatic
approaches aimed at specific regional groups of SIDS to achieve global environment benefits, particularly through
supporting SIDS located in LMEs with continental states, as part of the GEF LME interventions as well as in possible
interventions in areas of high seas.
The project will enhance the GEF contribution to the achievement of a range of MDG targets through direct contributions
to MDG 1 (Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger) and MDG7 (Ensure Environmental Sustainability).
D. JUSTIFY THE TYPE OF FINANCING SUPPORT PROVIDED WITH THE GEF RESOURCES: GEF resources will be used to
provide grant financing consistent with the status of Pacific SIDS and with financial commitments being made by Pacific
SIDS, other Commission Members and other donors.
E. OUTLINE THE COORDINATION WITH OTHER RELATED INITIATIVES: The project will be coordinated with relevant
regional activities in other sectors through the Pacific Plan Action Committee,, including the environment and regional
trade programmes of other regional agencies, particularly the Forum Secretariat, the Pacific Regional Environment
Programme (SPREP) and the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and projects they execute
including the GEF Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) and Implementing Sustainable Integrated Water
Resource and Wastewater Management in the Pacific Island Countries (IWRM) projects. In addition, SPREP will be a
member of the OFMPII Regional Steering Committee (RSC).
Regional fisheries activities are coordinated through the Ministerial and Officials sessions of the Forum Fisheries
Committee in which the other regional organisations and NGOs participate as observers, and the annual FFA-SPC
Colloquium. Execution of the project through FFA and SPC ensures the closest possible coordination of project and co-
financed activities with other FFA and SPC fisheries work programmes, including the national EAFM and Management
Plan initiatives. Project activities are included in the FFA and SPC work programmes and scrutinised by the FFA and
SPC members including all Pacific SIDS to avoid duplication, overlaps and underlaps.
The scientific aspects of the project will be coordinated and peer reviewed through the processes of the WCPFC Scientific
Committee, particularly through its Ecosystem & Bycatch, Methods, Statistics, and Stock Assessment Specialist Working
Groups
F. DISCUSS THE VALUE-ADDED OF GEF INVOLVEMENT IN THE PROJECT DEMONSTRATED THROUGH INCREMENTAL
REASONING :
In the baseline scenario set out for the first phase, Pacific SIDS would have continued to manage the transboundary
oceanic fish stocks in their waters, essentially independently, although within a framework of cooperation between
themselves at the regional level, executed through FFA for economic, legal and compliance aspects and through SPC for
fisheries data collection and management, biological and ecosystem research and stock assessment. There would have
been relatively little cooperation, particularly in non-scientific areas, between Pacific SIDS and other states in the region
Pacific SIDS would have maintained capable national licensing authorities to address their national economic needs and
continued to strengthen their compliance functions through stronger sea and air patrols and the use of VMS, but national
oceanic fisheries management functions would have continued to remain relatively poorly resourced. Some Pacific SIDS
would have begun to apply limits to fishing within their waters but the effectiveness of these efforts would have been
undermined by the lack of any coherent regional framework for those limits and by the knowledge that vessels limited
from fishing in national waters could operate freely in the high seas without limits or other controls. Pacific SIDS would
have encouraged large fishing states to cooperate on a voluntary basis in providing information and controlling vessels
operating on the high seas, but response to this approach would have been mixed with some states responding well,
others declining to cooperate with voluntary measures including data provision on the high seas. High seas fishing would
have remained unregulated and largely unreported. Vessels operating from the high seas would have continued to make
illegal incursions into national waters, undermining national efforts at conservation and management. Lacking detailed
comprehensive data especially on catches and effort from the high seas and Indonesia and Philippines, substantial
uncertainty in stock assessment results and about the levels of bycatches and incidental mortalities would have weakened 7
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
the basis for management action as key stocks are threatened by over-exploitation and harmful impacts on sharks, billfish,
turtles, marine mammals and other associated species increased. Lack of a legally-binding mechanism applying to all
participants in the fisheries would also have substantially weakened the scope for effective conservation and management
measures. Essential regional science and monitoring programmes would have remained funded on an ad hoc basis by
donors instead of being funded by those benefiting from fishing on the stocks. There would have been no systematic
progress in ecosystem analysis.
The alternative scenario is based on the implementation of the SAP and the WCPF Convention with GEF support. The
institution-building phase of the alternative scenario has been largely accomplished, with Pacific SIDS joined by all key
fishing states as Parties to the Convention; the Commission beginning to operate, and financial sustainability of the
Secretariat apparently ensured based on the principle that those who benefit from fishing should pay the costs of
management ; key Commission technical programmes are established in science and compliance; advice on the status of
key stocks is being provided to the Commission; national laws and programs have been reformed and strengthened in
association with ratification of the Convention; and preliminary conservation and management measures have been
adopted for most of the key target stocks; but these have yet to be broadly implemented, and there has been no real
changes yet in fishing patterns and behavior on the water.
In the implementation phase of the alternative scenario, Pacific SIDS and other Commission Members apply a
comprehensive, ecosystem-based set of measures in the high seas and in national waters that conserve the globally
important oceanic fisheries resources and mitigate the impacts of fishing on non-target species (particularly seabirds,
sharks and marine turtles) and and the environment of the Warm Pool LME more generally; setting global standards for
application of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and contributing to the global discourse on how to improve the
conservation and management of oceanic fisheries, especially in the high seas.
G. INDICATE RISKS, INCLUDING CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS, THAT MIGHT PREVENT THE PROJECT
OBJECTIVE(S) FROM BEING ACHIEVED, AND IF POSSIBLE INCLUDING R ISK MITIGATION
MEASURES THAT WILL BE TAKEN:
This project will be geographically, politically, technically and economically complex, with features that have led to
mixed results in other regional environmental projects in the Pacific Islands. A key to managing and mitigating the
overall risks associated with this complexity is to use the existing politically and technically strong institutional capacities
of FFA and SPC, adding value to the broader programmes of these organizations through infusing them with GEF values
and strategies including knowledge management and adoption of best practices, and teaming them with NGOs to broaden
and sharpen their intergovernmental roles. Some of the specific key risks in the project are identified in the table below.
Risk Rating
Response
SIDS capacity limits
Medium This is the key factor that will set the limit of what can be achieved within the 5
year timeframe of the project. Project design will emphasise capacity building,
especially for the smaller Pacific SIDS, but will also have to recognise the limits to
the absorptive capacity of the smaller Pacific SIDS, and the importance of a longer
time horizon to fully achieve objectives.
Gridlock in the
Low - In the face of the systematic shortfalls in performance of other oceanic fisheries
Commission
Medium RFMOs, there is a risk that the objectives will be less than fully achieved. A key
element of this risk is the conflict between developed fishing states with large
existing fleets and the developing countries in whose waters the stocks largely
occur. The project will seek innovative responses to overcome this conflict, and
support Pacific SIDS in their efforts to leverage the Commission into adopting
effective measures through the adoption of high management standards in their
own EEZs. The project will also support participation by Pacific SIDS in
international processes to review and strengthen the effectiveness of RFMOs.
Financial Sustainability
Low
The project aims to increase the value of the resources to Commission Members
of the Commission
and heighten appreciation of the value of the Commission's work to its Members,
especially Pacific SIDS
Climate Change affects
Low
Climate change could substantially affect the Warm Pool LME and its
the fisheries and the
vulnerability, requiring a major restructuring of the Commission's approach to
effectiveness of measures
conservation and management and maintaining ecosystem health, and affecting 8
PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
some Pacific SIDS climate change adaptation. The project will undertake the first
analysis of the effects of climate change on the Warm Pool and the oceanic
fisheries of the region
IUU fishing underlines
Low
The project aims to strengthen Commission high seas monitoring and compliance
the effectiveness of
programmes and the capacities of Pacific SIDS to deter IUU fishing in their EEZs
Commission measures
H. DESCRIBE, IF POSSIBLE, THE EXPECTED COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROJECT: in essence, the
Project seeks to achieve a wide range of sustained changes in fishing levels, patterns and techniques for global
environmental purposes focused on fishing operations spread over 21 million square kilometres in the Pacific Islands
region, with a catch value from that area of over $2 billion at first landing and double that when processed, but also
affecting fishing more across the broader WCPO Convention Area of (over 50?) million sq kilometres; working through
15 Pacific SIDS and the 27 WCPFC Members more generally; and with a project budget of $6 million of GEF resources
annually for 5 years, or $20 million annually including co-financing. The cost-effectiveness of this relatively slim input
depends on two main factors:
a)
It will bring to bear a well-developed framework of global and regional instruments for responsible and
sustainable fisheries in which the global and regional community, including GEF have made large investments in the
past; and
b)
It will deliver innovative, best-practice-based ideas, improved knowledge and understanding, and enhanced
capacities through an existing successful framework of regional intergovernmental institutions, enhanced by NGO
support; and through the WCPFC Commission, newly created with GEF support.
I. JUSTIFY THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE OF GEF AGENCY: The project will be implemented by UNDP.
UNDP has three major comparative advantages which will benefit the project objectives:
a) UNDP has a strong country and regional presence and linkages between the project activities and the UNDP
country assistance strategies including the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2008-2012). This
is critically important to the effective delivery to the 15 widely dispersed, mostly small and in some ways, very
different Pacific SIDS. The Project will be administered by the UNDP Fiji Office, which has a regional focus and
capability with a cadre of national Project managers with professional experience in the region, who are
characterised by the OFMP Mid-Term Evaluation as having "displayed a high degree of personal interest and
commitment to the (OFM) Project";
b) there is a good fit without overlap or duplication between the project design, implementation and monitoring
capabilities of UNDP and the technical capacities of FFA and SPC; and
c) UNDP has a good record of effective delivery of regional environmental projects, including GEF-financed
projects, working with regional agencies including SPREP and SOPAC, as well as SPC and FFA.
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PIF-December 08 10/19/2009 10:38:50 AM
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