Editing Pacific Community (section)

== History ==
The Pacific Community was founded in 1947 as the '''South Pacific Commission''' by six developed countries with strategic interests and territories in the region: [[Australia]], [[France]], the [[Netherlands]], [[New Zealand]], the [[United Kingdom]], and the [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/south-pacific-commission|title=South Pacific Commission {{!}} National Library of Australia|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=2019-03-25}}</ref>

The SPC's founding charter is the Canberra Agreement.<ref>[http://purl.org/spc/digilib/doc/9zcgq SPC Governance Compendium]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1948/15.html|title=Agreement establishing the South Pacific Commission (Canberra, 6 February 1947)|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 1984|work=Australian Treaty Series 1948 No. 15|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|access-date=2008-08-11|edition=First}} The first edition document hosted on the Australasian Legal Information Institute web site.</ref> In the aftermath of [[World War II]], the six colonial powers which created the SPC arguably intended it to secure Western political and military interests in the postwar Pacific.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.bartleby.com/67/4283.html|title=The Pacific Region, 1944–2000: The Islands, 1946–2000: 1947|editor-last=Stearns|editor-first=Peter N.|date=June 2002|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern|publisher=bartleby.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623035503/http://www.bartleby.com/67/4283.html|archive-date=23 June 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=2008-08-13|display-authors=etal}} A licensed reproduction of {{cite book|title=The Pacific Region, 1944–2000: The Islands, 1946–2000: 1947|publisher=Houghton Mifflen Company|year=2001|isbn=0-395-65237-5|editor=Peter N. Stearns|series=The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern|location=Boston|pages=xxvii, 1243p.; maps; 25&nbsp;cm|chapter=H, 1, 1947|display-editors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556331/Secretariat-of-the-Pacific-Community#tab=active~checked%2Citems~checked&title=Secretariat%20of%20the%20Pacific%20Community%20--%20Britannica%20Online%20Encyclopedia|title=Secretariat of the Pacific Community|year=2008|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|access-date=2008-08-16}} Supports SPC's formation "to advise on economic, social, health matters affecting the South Pacific Island territories..."</ref> Two founding members, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have since withdrawn from the SPC as the Pacific territories they controlled either gained independence or the right to represent themselves in the organization.

From the start, the SPC's role was constrained. The invitation from Australia and New Zealand to the US, France, the Netherlands and the UK to participate in a South Seas Commission Conference in 1947 included the statement that "the [South Pacific] Commission to be set up should not be empowered to deal in any way with political matters or questions of defense or security".<ref>{{cite book|title=Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 2007-09-18|editor=A.H. McLintock |date= 1966|series=International Relations: The South Pacific Commission|isbn=978-0-478-18451-8|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/I/InternationalRelations/TheSouthPacificCommission/en|access-date=2008-08-16}} "From the outset political and security matters were excluded from consideration; the proposed Commission was to act in a consultative capacity on questions of welfare of the peoples in the area and social and economic development."</ref> This constraint on discussion (particularly the constraint on discussing nuclear weapons testing in the region) led to the 1971 creation of the [[Pacific Islands Forum|South Pacific Forum]] (now Pacific Islands Forum), which not only excluded the more distant "metropolitan" powers of France, UK and US, but also at the time their Pacific island territories.

In 1949, the Pacific Community established its permanent headquarters in Nouméa, New Caledonia, at a former American military base. In 1995, a new headquarters was constructed close to the same location and the military base was demolished.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&q=SPC+Headquarters+building+pentagon&pg=PA329|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V.|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824822651|language=en}}</ref> A monument and plaque commemorating SPC's original headquarters location can be found on site of the Le Promenade complex at Anse Vata.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.noumea.nc/en/discover-noumea/history-and-heritage/1854-today/important-dates|title=Important dates|date=2013-07-31|website=Ville de Nouméa|language=en-en|access-date=2019-03-28}}</ref>

In 1962, the Pacific Community created the South [[Pacific Games]] Council with the goal of holding a regular Pacific wide sporting event. The first games Games were held in Suva, Fiji in 1963, with 646 participants from 13 Pacific territories taking part. Initially the Games were held at three-year intervals although this was subsequently expanded to four following the [[Tumon]] Games in [[Guam]].

[[Netherlands New Guinea|Dutch New Guinea]], formerly represented in the SPC by the Netherlands, was transferred to [[United Nations Temporary Executive Authority|United Nations authority]] in 1962 and to [[Indonesia]] the following year. Without any territory remaining in the region, the Netherlands withdrew from the SPC in 1962.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zriADAAAQBAJ&q=1962+netherlands+leaves+SPC+Pacific&pg=PA15|title=The Pacific Island States: Security and Sovereignty in the Post-Cold War World|last1=Henningham|first1=S.|last2=Kovac|first2=Velibor Bobo|date=1995-10-25|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230372436|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&q=%22The+Dutch+withdrew+in+1962+when+the%22&pg=PA329|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V.|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824822651|language=en}}</ref>

Governance of the SPC reflected the changing political environment. At inception, each member had equal representation and a single vote. When Western Samoa joined as newly independent state in 1965 the rules were changed to ensure that the Western foundation nations would maintain firm control over the organization. Australia was given five votes, France, Britain, New Zealand, and the United States four and Western Samoa just one.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&q=Western+Samoa+joined+SPC+in+1965&pg=PA329|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V.|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824822651|language=en}}</ref>

In 1972, the first South Pacific Arts Festival was convened by SPC in Suva, Fiji. The event drew more than 1000 participants from 14 countries. In 1975 SPC created a Council of Pacific Arts, permanently making culture issues a part of the SPC mandate and establishing the [[Festival of Pacific Arts]] as a regular event.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Meeting House of the Pacific|publisher=Secretariat of the Pacific Community|year=2007|isbn=978-982-00-0221-0|location=SPC Library, Noumea, New Caledonia|pages=90}}</ref>

In response to demand to rapid development of the Pacific regions media industry, SPC established a Regional Media Center in 1973 in collaboration with the recently created [[University of the South Pacific]]. The center produced audio material for the regions radio stations and provided training in video production.

With [[decolonization]] efforts expanding, newly independent states and nonindependent territories were also allowed to apply for membership. "As its membership grew, the character and scope of the SPC evolved to incorporate the indigenous peoples of the Pacific."<ref>{{Citation|last=Gover|first=Kirsty|chapter=Indigenous membership and human rights|date=2016-02-05|pages=35–48|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203119235|doi=10.4324/9780203119235-4|title=Handbook of Indigenous Peoples' Rights}}</ref>

In 1983, at the Saipan Conference, unequal voting was abandoned, once again establishing a "one member, one vote" principle for SPC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Secretariat-of-the-Pacific-Community|title=Secretariat of the Pacific Community {{!}} international organization|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-03-25}}</ref> However, this decision did not come without criticism as some pointed out that the combination of allowing membership to non-independent territories and establishing a one-vote per member principle effectively provided additional votes to France and the United States who continued to maintain control over Pacific territories. It was also during the Saipan Conference that the Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA) was established, creating the only Pacific regional organization that was both fully representative of the Pacific, and fully governed by its membership.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Meeting House of the Pacific|publisher=Secretariat of the Pacific Community|year=2007|isbn=978-982-00-0221-0|location=SPC Library, Noumea, New Caledonia|pages=108}}</ref>

In 1988, the SPC become a founding member of the [[Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific]] or CROP (formerly the South Pacific Organisations Coordinating Committee, SPOCC)  "to improve cooperation, coordination, and collaboration among the various intergovernmental regional organisations to work toward achieving the common goal of sustainable development in the Pacific region".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forumsec.org/council-of-regional-organisations-of-the-pacific/|title=Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific|website=forumsec.org|access-date=2019-04-01}}</ref>

The United Kingdom withdrew from the organisation in 1996 and rejoined in 1998.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&q=The+United+Kingdom+relinquished+its+membership+in+1996&pg=PA329|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V.|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824822651|language=en}}</ref> The UK withdrew a second time in [https://spccfpstore1.blob.core.windows.net/digitallibrary-docs/files/ef/ef6ed2338bebd29d94705cdd89959048.pdf?sv=2015-12-11&sr=b&sig=vGg1F8Nh23gdKjZlCkqh95YaHRFopZRqUufpHvV3jao%3D&se=2019-10-01T23%3A28%3A55Z&sp=r&rscc=public%2C%20max-age%3D864000%2C%20max-stale%3D86400&rsct=application%2Fpdf&rscd=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22CRGA_34_Paper_11_E.pdf%22 2004]. The UK's interests in the Pacific Community were prior to Brexit primarily managed through the European Union, although the UK also is a direct donor for some projects.{{update inline|date=August 2020}} The UK rejoined in 2021 after reopening its high commissions in Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-12-02|title=Britain rejoins major Pacific body|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/457062/britain-rejoins-major-pacific-body|access-date=2021-12-02|publisher=Radio New Zealand|language=en-nz}}</ref><!-- due to Brexit -->

In 1996, the Pacific Heads of Agriculture and Livestock Programmes asked "to put in place, both in their countries and through regional cooperation, policies to conserve, protect and best utilize their plant genetic resources".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lrd.spc.int/the-centre-for-pacific-crops-and-trees-cepact|title=The Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT)|website=lrd.spc.int|access-date=2019-04-04}}</ref> As these resources were considered a shared regional responsibility, it made sense for a regional organization to respond to this need. SPC established the [[Regional Germplasm Centre]] (RGC) in 1998. The facility grew rapidly and in 2007 was renamed [[Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees]] (CePaCT). It currently holds more than 2000 varieties of genetic material on Pacific strains of taro, banana, breadfruit and others, and has been instrumental in helping to rebuild island agriculture after disasters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fijisun.com.fj/2017/02/20/minister-to-attend-winston-service/|title=Minister to attend Winston service|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-04}}</ref>

In 2000, SPC became the first CROP organization to be headed by a woman, [[Lourdes Pangelinan]] of Guam, who served in the role from 2000 to 2006.

=== Pacific Way television series ===
The SPC began producing a television program, known as ''The Pacific Way'', in 1995. Supported by [[UNESCO]] as a trial for exchanging news stories, the first season was shared freely with just one tape circulated between TV stations in several Pacific Island nations. The programs' regional and local focus made it popular addition to local television schedules and at its height was producing and distributing 26 annual episodes to 21 TV stations around the region. Since 2017, the Pacific Way has been developing 10 episodes per season for television and has been reintroduced to radio through its complementary podcasts. The half-hour show shares development stories about the Pacific for the Pacific. It covers important topics and key issues, such as climate change adaptation, health, youth employment, innovation in agriculture, fisheries management and the protection of cultural heritage.

=== Name and logo ===
While the acronym "SPC" has been consistent since the organization's founding in 1947, the name and logo have evolved over the years. The organization's original name was the '''South Pacific Commission''', which represented the limited nature of its membership and activities. The name was changed in 1997 to the '''Pacific Community''', reflecting the growth of membership across the entire Pacific region. The current logo was officially adopted in 2015.

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