Fiji, for the first time would be hosting women from South East Asia and Pacific countries to raise awareness and educate women on their roles in protecting the environment and conserving earth’s natural resources for future generations.
The 25th Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women’s Association International Conference (PPSEAWA) would be held next week at Novotel in Suva from August 26 – 30, 2013 and will be officially opened by the Minister for Women and Social Welfare Dr Jiko Luveni.
The meeting would see the arrival of representatives from 13 of the 23 member countries of the Pacific and South East Asia, as well as the Pacific rim countries of the United States of America and Russia. Attending also would be the PPSEAWA UN representatives based in New York. They will be joined by 41 women from Fiji, includes women from Labasa, Nadi, Lautoka and Suva.
PPSEAWA (Fiji) vice president and organising committee chairperson, Mrs Ravesi Johnston,said the key theme of this conference “Managing the Environment for a Sustainable and Peaceful World”, was selected because of the importance of raising awareness of the vulnerability of our planet due to human’s indiscriminate use of earth’s resources.
“Three of the five days of the conference will explore this further under three sub-themes “Disaster Management and Food Security,” Mrs Johnston said.
“Women are conservationists in their homes and it is hoped that after this conference the delegates will be challenged to become environmental conservationists,” she added.
Mrs Johnston highlighted that space would be allocated at the conference site to where national member countries would display the various environmental projects they have been involved in these past three years.
“There will also be display of the Peace Gardens that resulted from the PPSEAWA 2000 conference decision to help promote the decade of Peace and Non-Violence Against Children,” she said.
The 2013 PPSEAWA International Triennial Conference has been made possible through a $50,000 grant from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation.
