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In recognition of the need for National Parks and protected areas in the South Pacific, the New Zealand Government hosted the First South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves in 1975, in association with the South Pacific Commission (SPC) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This meeting was at Ministerial. A second South Pacific Conference on National Parks and Reserves, also at Ministerial level, was held in 1979 in Australia. This was hosted by the Australian Government and the Government of New South Wales, which adopted the conference as one of the events celebrating the Centennial of the Royal NationaL Park as the first national park in Australia. The 1979 Conference decided that the third Conference should be hosted by a Pacific Island country.

This Revlew Ls jn two parts. The flrst part, the general revtew, lncludes lnformatlon whlch ls readily avaitable (publlshed) al-ong wlth addltlonal infornatlon fomarded by the varlous State/Terrttory Governments speclfically for lnclusion in this report. The second part, infornatlon sheets on protlcted areas, lncludes examples of nature conservation reserves from each State and Territory. In the long term it is hoped that the dl-fferent State/Terrl-tory govefnments will contlnue to complle informatlon on thel-r protected areas. PARTI-GEMRALREPORT The flrst slx polnts of this rePort; Introductlon, Policy, Law, Parks and Reserves AdrnLnlstratlon, Addresses, and Llst of Protected Areas are covered by the appended Lnformatlon from the AustralLan National Parks and Wildltfe Slrvice (ANPI"IS) Oecasional Paper No. l0 Nature Conservatlon Reserves in Austral!.a (I984), [Wilson, J.L. (ed), 1984]. Additlonal lnformatlon has been listed under the varlous poLnts.

The question of how much conservation is enough is one that is almost impossible to answer. There must first be some on basic principles or goals, such as the desirability of preserving the diversity of life on this planet, but even then the specific application of these principled to local situations can raise many complex issues (Is feeding hungry children more important than saving an endangered Land snail?). Adequacy of protected area coverage, may seem very different viewed from a world scientific perspective or from that of a local decisionmaker who seek to balance many different demands, Ultimately decisions on adequacy must be made by each country, although hopefully the needs of the world community will be taken into account. This paper looks at the principles by which adequacy of protected area coverage must be judged, evaluates the present status of conservation action in Oceania, and then develops some goals for protected area development in the region.

The openlng statenents of bhe Honorable Mr Tol Agrlculture, Forests and Flsherles, tJestern SanoAau; kMusr o, lllnister for -Tanaril plerre, Director of PrograEEes' South Paclflc Cmnlsslon; and Mr Harold Etdsvfk, Chalroanr IUCN Connlsslon on Natlonal. Parks and protected Areas are reproduced ln full belon.

StrategyThe South Pacific is a vast region extending over 29 million sq km, or seven times the area of the Caribbean. Of this, only about 500,000 sq km is land. The island environments present special, often critical, problems for nature conservation. Geographical and ecological isolation Have led to the evolution of unique species and communities of plants and animals, many of which are adapted to only one island or island group, and found nowhere else in the world. There are about 2000 different types of ecosystem throughout the South Pacific, and on some islands 80$ or more of the species are endemic. Limited space means that ecosystems are restricted, with small biological populations and this increases their vulnerability.

The Sixth South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas held in Palikir, Federated States of Micronesia, on 29 September – 3 October 1997, continued the series of nature conservation conferences held in New Zealand (1975), Australia (1979), Western Samoa (1985), Vanuatu (1989) and Tonga (1993).