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or complementarity I guess…yes there may the odd double-up here and there but in yourselves. I think there are too many outsiders driving the agenda in this region.
the overall scheme of things I don’t think it matters. The other thing to say is that the Everyone, particularly just now and in recent times, wants a slice of the action in the
regional organisations, like the CROP agencies, we get about six per cent of the total Pacific. For some reason it’s become the place to go and what that means is that we
ODA vote, the lion’s share goes to countries. And in effect for that six per cent I think end up—because these expectations often come with money—and we end up ad-
we deliver a pretty good service to the members in the sense of a regional approach. dressing other people’s agendas rather than ours. And I get frustrated by that. I think
So my view on that is that there may be some duplication here and there but there is the Pacific needs to drive the development agenda more and more, even if it means
a lot of effort at my level, at the professional level to work together. saying no to some people for some things, because I think at the moment we are
The tuna fisheries is a good example…and I can tell you that the tuna fisheries in being pushed and pulled in every direction. It’s less of a scientific, technical issue for
our region is one of the better managed ones in the world. That’s not to say we don’t us but it is still an important issue for the region because it drives our work agenda
have issues to address but what I am saying is that the collaboration, coordination and how we allocate our limited resources.
between the agencies works well. The second message I have is about development partners. They need to invest
Climate change area is so messy, it’s still messy but it’s also so big that there may be more in regional organisations like SPC. Our sole focus is on the needs of this region
some further refinement needed there. and contrary to people’s understanding, we compete with UN agencies for the same
pot of money and the UN has an advantage over us, simply because of their size and
IB: What pieces of work, projects or innovations over the last few years have global reach but I keep saying if the region is serious about independence and driving
you been particularly proud of? our agenda and being focused on what this region needs, they’ve got to invest more
Dr Tukuitonga: Let me start with the financial stability and financial outlook in regional organisations.
for SPC. When I joined SPC is was pretty fragile and for a number of years we were My thought on the UN agencies is that we are an afterthought many times, be-
running tight on money and then in 2016 we had to reluctantly lay people off. We’ve cause the global agenda is driven out of Geneva and New York. I make no apologies
had to take drastic measures to put SPC finances back on track. We’ve done that now for saying that.
with systems in place to avoid us getting into that mess again. We’ve built reserves,
we’ve improved systems and I know it sounds bureaucratic but …it’s probably one of IB: What about for the new generation of Pacific leaders who have been elected
the things that I’m happiest about, that we’ve positioned SPC in the right place, we’ve this year?
sorted the finances, they tell me there’s about 80 million euros worth of pipeline Dr Tukuitonga: There’s a number of new leaders, and it’s great from a regional
projects at a conservative estimate coming down the line. point of view, but it does mean that you have to repeat the messages. And one of the
In terms of innovation [there are] a number of things. The Ocean Science Cen- messages is …you have to empower your regional organisations. They are working
tre…the idea is to collate and coordinate and disseminate science information. We’re exclusively for the Pacific. We have no interest outside the Pacific. And we’re much
the primary science provider in this region and if nations are serious, they need to use more accountable. We’re much more directly accountable.
more evidence, more data- making instead of ideology and so on.
The second is around what we call the Pacific Data Hub. Again we are bringing IB: The influence of Australia and New Zealand on the region is often talked
together our data but also others who want to join us, and make it more easily about, but for some small island states is also about the influence of Fiji or PNG
available to members of the public. SPC was set up in 1947, we have a goldmine of or other larger island members of the SPC might have on regional agendas. How
information that’s not easy to get, so this is a way of trying to improve that. successful has the SPC been in meeting the needs of the small island states?
We’ve put a lot of effort and resources into the seed bank here in Suva. This is the Dr Tukuitonga: The issue of Australia and NZ is there all the time.
Pacific Centre for Plant and Genetics. It’s relevant because it’s the centre of expertise In practical terms we do more on a per capita basis for the small nations, so the
on the staples; taro, cassava, kumera and so on, and how to make then more resistant smaller you are the more likely you get support from SPC, and also the smaller
to climate and pests and it’s probably one of the most important contributions we nations tend to value us more.
have for and with the nations in terms of responding to climate change. So while I can foresee in the future SPC could become more focussed on the smaller
people do a lot of talking, I say we do a lot of walking. By that I mean there are a nations. Think about the fact that Fiji is going to become pretty independent except
lot of meetings around the world about…climate change, but we are on the ground for maybe, very specialised areas, and in time Samoa is probably the same. We’ve
with the members delivering mitigation adaptation measures. seen the Cook Islands, even a small state, graduate into developed world status . In
And then of course ongoing work, the tuna stock assessment is an important other words the dynamics and the needs will change, but I can see SPC continuing
part, statistics for development we offer to nations, technical capacity for collection to focus on providing more support to smaller nations on a per capita basis. And also
and sharing of data, surveillance for dengue, ECAP; there used to be a thing called as resources get more difficult you have to choose and prioritise and I would say that
the South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment, I think they didn’t know what Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati, the smaller places, FSM, would probably get more attention
to do with it, so they put it into SPC and for the longest time it was difficult to try from SPC. And the feedback is that they value our contribution. We don’t get much
and find a place for it and more importantly there was no money…the team has feedback from the bigger nations.
done a tremendous job consolidating what ECAP is and does, and more importantly
they’ve secured long term funding. I’m very pleased about that because education is a IB: What are you going to miss most about this place and your job?
problem in our region and what [ECAP] does is give people the data—not opinions Dr Tukuitonga: Oh I love SPC. I love working for SPC because it’s actually small
and speculation and pub talk—facts, evidence so they can talk about whether their enough and dedicated enough that if you think something needs to be done you can
kids are learning and so on. go ahead and do it. I think there are very committed people at SPC.
There are still some things to be improved but overall, I’m more than happy with I’m going to miss feeling that you’ve achieved something…but I’ll still going to
what we’ve done. contribute in some way.
Look, it’s home.
IB: What are those challenges?
Dr Tukuitonga: My parting message for the leaders is one is you’ve got to back The full version of this interview can be seen at www.islandsbusiness.com

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