The Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) is an inter-organisational consultative process which aims to prevent either overlaps, or gaps, appearing between the work-programmes of its various members.
Overview
Membership includes the
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the
Pacific Community
The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa, ...
(SPC), the
Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency
The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) is an intergovernmental agency established in 1979 to facilitate regional co-operation and co-ordination on fisheries policies between its member states in order to achieve conservation and optimum ...
, the
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the
South Pacific Tourism Organisation
The Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) formerly known as the South Pacific Tourism Organisation is an intergovernmental organisation for the tourism sector in the South Pacific. The SPTO markets, promotes, and develops tourism in the Pacific in o ...
, the
University of the South Pacific
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the go ...
(USP), the
Pacific Islands Development Programme
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, and the Pacific Power Association (PPA). Before their integration into SPC in 2010 and 2011, the
South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission
The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) was an inter-governmental regional organisation dedicated to providing services to promote sustainable development in the countries it serves. In 2010, its functions had been transferred to ...
and the
South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment had been individual members. The
Fiji School of Medicine
The Fiji School of Medicine is a tertiary institution based in Suva, Fiji. Originally established in 1885 as the ''Suva Medical School''. FSM became the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences as part of Fiji National University in 2010. ...
was a member before its merger into Fiji National University in 2010.
CROP heads of organisations meet once each year, but the main consultative work is done by a series of sectoral working groups, including Marine Resources, Health and Population, Land Resources, Education, Information and Communication Technologies, etc. These working groups are responsible for collaboratively working on various regional projects and policy initiatives. For example, the CROP Marine Sector Working Group has shepherded the intergovernmental agreement and promotion of the
Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Policy while the CROP ICT Working Group has shepherded the
Pacific Islands ICT Policy and Strategic Plan (PIIPP).
The CROP interagency working groups also provide technical advice to
Pacific Islands Forum intergovernmental working groups taking part in United Nations and other international negotiations and processes, on request.
Since the implementation of the
Pacific Plan and its replacement, the
Framework for Pacific Regionalism, the role of the CROP working groups has diminished. Their role was reviewed in 2015.
References
{{Reflist
External links
SPC/SOPAC: CROP Agencies*
Pacific Community (SPC)
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat: CROPPacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency: Regional Organisations in the Pacific
International organizations based in Oceania