The Republic of Palau took over the Chair of the Micronesian Regional Invasive Species Council at the Council’s regular meeting last Monday through Wednesday in Saipan. The RISC was created by the Western Micronesia Chief Executives’ Summit to coordinate efforts to prevent and combat invasive species in the Western Micronesian Region (The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Palau, and Yap State). This meeting was the first under the new RISC Charter, which was endorsed by the Chief Executives at the 6th WMCES in July 2006. Palau was represented at this meeting by Dr. Joel Miles, National Invasive Species Coordinator, and Fred Sengebau, Director of the Bureau of Agriculture. In accordance with the Charter, the Chair of the RISC officially transferred from Guam to Palau at this meeting. Dr. Miles is now the Chair of the RISC, and Mr. Sengebau is the Vice-Chair. They will hold these positions until July 31, 2007, when they will transfer to Yap. The RISC also elected Mr. Sylvan Igisomar of the CNMI to be the Secretary of the RISC.
Each of the members of the WMCES has two official representatives to the RISC, appointed by their respective Chief Executives. The RISC meets between Summit meetings to make progress on tasks assigned to it by the Chief Executives. This meeting was the regular inter-summit meeting, combined with a two-day planning workshop to develop a five-year plan for the activities of the RISC. The meeting was also fortunate to have the participation of Mr. Phillip Andreozzi, Regional Coordinator for the United States National Invasive Species Council (US-NISC). Mr. Andreozzi’s participation was in response to a request from the 6th WMCES in July, 2006 for cooperation and support from the US-NISC. In addition to observing and contributing to the RISC meeting, Mr. Andreozzi facilitated the planning workshop for the RISC.
In addition to conducting regular RISC business, a major accomplishment of this meeting was the development of a five-year strategic plan to guide the activities of the RISC from 2007 through 2011. The plan will be submitted for review and endorsement by the Chief Executives at their next summit, which is tentatively scheduled for March 2007 in Saipan.