SPC Geoscience Division

Welcome to the first newsletter from the SPC-EU Pacific Deep Sea.

The SPC-EU Pacific Deep Sea Minerals Project is helping Pacific Island countries to improve the governance and management their deep-sea minerals resources. The Project is helping the  countries to improve legal frameworks, increase technical capacity and to develop effective monitoring systems.

The Pacific Deep Sea Minerals Project is funded by the European Union and managed by SOPAC, the Applied Geoscience & Technology Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, on behalf of 15 Pacific Island Countries: the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The 4-year (2011-2014) SPC-EU Pacific Deep Sea Minerals Project is the first major initiative designed to regulate this new activity in a coordinated way within the Pacific Region. The  national €4.4 million governments EU-funded develop project the is designed legal, fiscal to help and environment management frameworks needed to ensure that any exploitation of deep sea minerals will directly support national economic development while also minimizing any negative impacts on the environment and local communities.

In This Issue:

• Tonga Workshop Builds Vital Contract Negotiation Skills
• SPC Director, Dr Jimmie Rodgers talks Deep Sea Minerals
• Tonga Workshop Highlights Need for Greater Integration between Government & Civil Society Organisations
• Staff Profile: Akuila Tawake
• Project Highlights
• Upcoming Events

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