Secretary, Office of Environment and Emergency Management, the Honourable Andrew Yatilman

Government representatives and non-government representatives from the Four States and Contributors to the Project Information Form in Development

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Colleagues,

Good morning and warm greetings to you all.

Firstly, I would like to thank FSM for choosing UNDP as its designated implementing agency for this project under development. This speaks of the well-established relationship that we have. We can see the evidence with projects currently being implemented such as the FSM Ridge-2-Reef, the FSM Invasive Alien Species and FSM Third National Communication – Biennial Updated Report (TNC-BUR) to name a few, that we support. We aim to maintain and further strengthen this relationship, as we support this project currently under development.

I would like to thank the FSM Government, particularly the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management (DECCEM) for its commitment so far to this process by leading in the coordination and co-sharing of costs on the now completed series of stakeholders’ consultation meetings across the four States. This includes the coordination and co-sharing of costs for this PIF Development Workshop. Based on the previous FSM experiences of developing the Global Environment Facility projects, we are assured that this commitment will continue until the Project Preparation Grant (PPG) is secured.

We would also like to acknowledge GEF’s generous offer to the Government of FSM on this GEF-7 cycle, an opportunity to develop a project that will secure climate-resilient sustainable land management and the creation of enabling environments that will support ecosystem functions’ progress towards land degradation neutrality.

I would also like to acknowledge the USAID for its support to the PIF development. Through its Climate Ready Office in FSM, the international lead consultant and his national counterpart are funded by USAID. On this note, I would like to sincerely thank the consultancy team - Dr. Mike Moser, the international team leader and Mr. Adelino Lorens the local counterpart for putting together the draft FSM GEF-7 PIF that will be further refined today. Thank you both for keeping the momentum on the PIF development despite the challenges of COVID-19 and others.

It is critical today that we again show, the importance of getting the macros, the micros and every nuance of the country’s context to the level of accuracy agreed to by the majority of the participants. (You have done this so well in the previous separate States consultations). It is imperative that this process is not rushed so as to compromise the accuracy of detail that will be captured in the PIF that will eventually feed the project document. This will require the use of established networks and working relations within and across States, across sectors within States and institutions, and partnerships among State actors to shape a definitive Land Degradation Neutrality project. It had started in the States’ consultation meetings and it continues today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you all the very best in your deliberations and every success to progressing a thoroughly consulted and well-rounded PIF. And I re-emphasize UNDP’s continued support to this existing wonderful relationship that we have together.

Vinaka vakalevu!