SPC may need to absorb SPREP, says study
REDIFINING and differentiating mandates could be the way out to resolving overlapping and the so called ‘turf wars’ that exist among the many regional organisations, a study of the Australian National University has found. Stacy-ann Robinson and Daniel Gilfillan suggested that such an exercise could even result in the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the SPC, absorbing the Pacific environmental agency based in Samoa, SPREP “One option would be to focus on differentiating mandates in the Pacific, as is the case in the Caribbean.
Mandate differentiation would result in either (1) one organisation being wholly responsible for coordinating the regional response to climate change or (2) a fully coordinated approach across relevant organisations working at the regional level. The latter would require a clear delineation of roles within the coordinated response.
“An alternative to mandate differentiation is for SPREP to be incorporated into SPC as a specialised agency, similar to the CCCCC being a specialised agency of CARICOM. “Likewise, Linn and Pidufala (2008) suggested the consolidation of regional organisations, and there have been recent efforts in the Pacific to reduce the number of regional organisations.
For example, the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) was incorporated into SPC and SPREP under the Regional Institutional Framework Reform with effect from 2011.
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