How are the Pacific Islands Addressing Regional Taxonomic Challenges?
A successful collaboration between four Pacific regional organizations has acknowledged the fundamental importance of life form identification to almost all forms of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The resulting joint program PACINET, which covers 21 countries and territories across the Pacific, has begun to address the well known issue of taxonomic impediment by initiating a range of programs, projects and activities aimed at strengthening taxonomic capacity within the Pacific region.
This initiative was undertaken because the three core supporting regional organisations, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC-LRD), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) and the University of the South Pacific (USP) agreed that a need for taxonomic knowledge and life form identification under pinned almost all of their environmental programs and activities. They also acknowledged that a lack of regional capacity plus a continuing reliance on declining overseas taxonomic expertise was blocking moves towards increased self-reliance and progress towards effective management of the regions significant natural resources.
PACINET is also supported in practical ways by the Pacific Biodiversity Information Forum (PBIF) and is formally part of the BioNET-International’s global partnership in taxonomy framework. However, PACINET focuses firmly on determining and addressing Pacific Island taxonomic needs and priorities from a local and regional perspective. In addition, the PACINET program strongly acknowledges that taxonomy comes in many forms i.e., alpha, para- and vernacular taxonomy, and that respect for cultural “taxonomic” practices plays a vital role in linking individual and community traditional knowledge with mainstream science.
Despite the obvious obstacles and challenges, PACINET has huge potential to make a significant difference in our efforts to recognize, describe and conserve many of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots.