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Share FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Pacific Educators Convene This Week in Fiji to Address Climate Change Impacts on Children, Building Healthy Coastal Communities and More |
CORAL COAST, Fiji, July 6, 2010 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The International Pacific Marine Educators Network (IPMEN) will convene its third biennial conference this week, July 7 to 9, 2010, at the Outrigger on the Lagoon, on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. Hosted by the Institute of Applied Science and the Division of Marine Studies, University of the South Pacific (USP), the conference will address ways marine education can help Pacific communities prepare for the new millennia.
Key topics include climate change impacts on children, incorporating traditional and place-based knowledge to build healthy coastal communities, the changing role of women in fisheries, and filling in the gaps in existing marine education projects, curriculum and materials to address these issues. "Nothing has a higher priority in the development strategies of Pacific Islands than the education and training of their people," notes the conference convener, Dr. Joeli Veitayaki, associate professor and coordinator of the USP Marine Studies Division. "IPMEN has a role to play in the future of marine resource management and development within the Pacific Ocean region. The needs in different areas should continue to be determined by the people involved, but there will be similarities and the need for common solution." About 80 marine educators from throughout the Pacific and worldwide will participate in person or by web conferencing. Among the countries and territories represented on site are the United States, Peru, Chile, Japan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Hawaii and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Other marine educators from Canada, Mexico, the Cook Islands, South Africa and elsewhere will participate online and, if they choose, in real time. Arrangements have been made with ICT at USP to broadcast the conference to all the regional campuses. Professor Rajesh Chandra, USP Vice Chancellor, will host the conference opening dinner and deliver some remarks, and Mr. Nemani Drova, Fiji Ministry of Education's principal education officer (curriculum development) will provide the conference closing remarks. Keynote speakers include Dr. Jan H. Steffen, UNESCO Office for the Pacific States (Samoa); Dr. Diana Payne, Connecticut Sea Grant (USA); academic and community leader Mrs. Suliana Siwatibau (Fiji); and biological consultant Mr. Edward Lovell (Fiji). The 2010 IPMEN conference is sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, US National Marine Educators Association and the University of the South Pacific. Webcasting is provided by the College of Exploration. Additional support is provided by Nautilus Educational (Australia), Conservation International, Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area (FLMMA) network, Centro AquaSendas-COPAS (Chile), BriTer Solutions (Australia), SeaWeb and the International Ocean Institute, among others. For more information, go to www.ipmen.net. CONTACT: Sylvia Spalding at sylvia.spalding@noaa.gov Alumeci Nakeke at anakeke@seaweb.org Thomas Tui at ttui@seaweb.org |
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