Students were in for a scientific and environmental treat as they were hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (S.P.R.E.P.) and its staff on their Open Day on Thursday.

The Open Day coincided with the regional organisation's 30th-anniversary celebrations. The last time the regional body was able to hold one at their Vailima premises was three years ago. However, the lockdown brought on by measles in late 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 did not allow for the event to be held. 

Faasisila Titimaea, a student at the University of the South Pacific (U.S.P.) Samoa Campus said the Open Day was a valuable learning experience for him and his classmates.

“When it came to us university students, they detailed everything from how to conduct an interview, what particular tools and websites are open for us to access when doing our research, and what practical projects we should look out for,” he said. “We definitely learnt a lot, they specifically wanted us to understand the reality of when we complete our bachelor as well as being more aware of our country's environmental issues before trying to handle international ones.” 

All of the four programs in S.P.R.E.P. from climate change resilience, waste management and pollution control, to islands, oceans, ecosystem and environmental monitoring and governance programs set up stations for interactive sessions with the students.

S.P.R.E.P. Environment Geographic Information System (GIS) Specialist, Vani Koroisamanunu was one of the many staff stationed at each stall to speak on their areas of expertise.

“Going out to do field work and then coming back, we will view it using the GIS mapping online so the students know how data collection is being undertaken for most environment assessment, monitoring for biodiversity just to show them what we actually do in SPREP,” said Ms. Koroisamanunu.

They have made plans to also carry out the same activities in Savai'i in the last half of this year. S.P.R.E.P. staff will travel to Savaii where the schools can congregate in one place and learn about Samoa’s environment with the planned activities.

Their message is mainly to promote sustainable development and a lot of ways to take care of the environment like recycling and waste management.

One of the ways they tried to promote this is by having students come to the campus with refillable bottles for water instead of disposable plastic ones.

They were asked in advance to do so just to help minimise waste and raise awareness on moving away from the use of plastic bottles.