IUCN, through its BIOPAMA programme, is partnering with the Australian Centre for Environmental Compliance to offer two regional training courses in Honiara, Solomon Islands, designed to build the capacity and confidence of managers and officers tasked with ensuring environmental compliance and enforcement.

NOTE: The dates and location for this training have been revised, with one workshop now in Honiara and one in Suva – further details below. The registration deadline has also been extended to Monday 8 September.

BACKGROUND

People of the Pacific Island Countries are closely connected with nature and rely largely on their natural wealth for sustaining their livelihood, cultural identity, economic development, and for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Environmental and natural resources management policies and legislation have flourished to support the sustainable management of the Pacific Island nation’s natural capital for the benefit of current and future generations. A major challenge however, is to ensure consistent compliance and effective enforcement of these legislations.

The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme and the Australian Centre for Environmental Compliance are offering the practical skills training to help Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste to make the most of existing legislation to conserve biodiversity, protected areas and ecosystem services.

DATES AND LOCATION

Course 1 will run from 6 to 11 October 2014 (inclusive) in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Course 2 will run from 13 to 18 October 2014 (inclusive) in Suva, Fiji.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Authorised officers, managers or training officers and anyone playing a role in environmental compliance and enforcement, including from government departments managing environment and conservation, infrastructure and planning, fisheries, forestry, biosecurity, public prosecution, or police.

WHAT WILL BE COVERED

Both courses will cover the following topics:

• Customary law and environmental compliance and enforcement.
• Understanding violations and offences.
• Determining the appropriate compliance action.
• Case management.
• Operational planning.
• Environmental impact assessment.
• Using licencing frameworks to regulate activities.

The courses will cover the following skills: exercising statutory powers, investigation techniques, gathering and managing evidence, conducting interviews, using regulatory tools, developing and drafting standard operating procedures, and preparing briefs of evidence.

The training will be contextualized for the Pacific Islands context. It is designed to allow a trainee to demonstrate or acquire the ability to exercise their statutory duties. It will be highly iinteractive, providing a forum for sharing experiences. It will use a variety of adult training techniques including presentations, Q&A sessions, group work, role play and a field case-scenario exercise.

BENEFITS

Benefits of participating in the course include:

• Enhanced capacity, skills and confidence in investigating violations of environmental laws using the appropriate regulatory tools.
• Being part of a regional environmental compliance network.
• Receiving a copy of the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Training Course folder with all presentations and reference materials.
• Receiving a certificate of participation.

COSTS

Participation is FREE of charge for selected participants, however numbers are limited.

Travel and living costs are to be self-funded by the participants or their employer. IUCN is seeking sponsorship to support some participants, where needed.

REGISTRATION

Download and complete the application form and email to Patricia Parkinson, [email protected].

For any enquiries, email Patricia Parkinson with ‘Environmental Compliance Course Enquiry‘ in the subject line.

Note: Register by Monday 8 September 2014.