LocationsSPREP and UNDP join forces to enhance environment work
September 2, 2025
MOU between the two entities officially signed.
Apia, SAMOA – A new chapter has started in the story of cooperation between the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the two entities on 1 September at Sheraton Samoa in Apia on the margins of SPREP’s Partnership Dialogue. The MOU enhances their cooperation on matters pertaining to the environment and climate change, with a focus on scaling up access to climate, and blue and green finance. This will support Pacific Islands’ sustainable develop-ment and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As the mandated inter-governmental organisation of the Pacific island countries to protect the Pacific environment, SPREP Director General, Sefanaia Nawadra said: “We are extremely grateful on behalf of our Pacific members to be able to ink this most important partnership with UNDP. In the context of the Partnerships Dialogue SPREP is hosting today, the partnerships SPREP pursues and forges are strategic with the goal being to ensure that at the end of the day, the Pacific people we exist to serve benefit as a result. The MOU with UNDP is one such partnership, of which we are very grateful.”
SPREP Director General, Sefanaia Nawadra.
UNDP Resident Representative, Aliona Niculita, said: “From the early days of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), SPREP and UNDP have stood side by side in building environmental resilience across the Pacific. This MOU marks a renewed and strategic commitment to deepen our partnership—aligning with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and driving collective action to tackle the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution while accelerating progress on the SDGs. Together, we move forward as ‘One Pacific’ towards a sustainable future.”
The MOU will allow SPREP and UNDP to strengthen collaboration in the areas of the Blue Economy and coral reef conservation, invasive species prevention, control, and eradication, Circular Economy and waste management, and nature-based solutions to climate change.
The MOU will also allow the parties to strengthen collaboration in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans updates and Biodiversity Finance (BIOFIN), climate mitigation and renewable energy initiatives, climate adaptation and island resilience, and other emerging areas of collaboration on pro-jects and programmes that address the Triple Planetary Crisis (Biodiversity, Climate Change and Pollution/Waste).
For media queries, please contact:
Nanette Woonton, SPREP Communications and Outreach Adviser, nanettew@sprep.org
Laufālē’ainā Lesā, Communications Analyst, UNDP Multi Country Office, Samoa | Tel. +685 23670 | E: laufaleaina.lesa@undp.org
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