THE community of Barana on Mt Austen, Guadacanal, is determined to re-plant trees and protect the ecosystems at a proposed park and water catchment area for the Mataniko and Lunga rivers with the help of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and relevant Government and NGO partners in Honiara.
At a community consultation organised this week by SPREP through the Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) project and the Ministry of Environment, the community indicated great interest to champion appropriate ecosystem-based adaption activities to build their resilience to climate change.
PEBACC Solomon Island Country Manager, Fred Siho Patison said this is an opportunity to work with the community to address environmental sustainability.
“It is encouraging to see a community in Guadalcanal standing up to take action on a critical environmental issue,” Mr Patison said.
“Our communities must be guided to see the important functions of these ecosystems and their preservation for our needs and survival today and into the future,” he added.
“The water catchments in the Mt Austen area are critical not just for Barana community but for the Honiara city as well as they supply the water that the city is dependent on.
“The demand for fresh supply of water will only increase as the city and communities expand in the coming years.”
Therefore Mr Patison added that “sustaining a healthy forest now will help maintain and secure adequate supply of water for the communities in the area as well as for Honiara city”.
Earlier in the year, the Barana community raised concerns over water shortages and the forest clearing and deforestation activities such as logging and un-managed milling on the upper Lunga and Mataniko rivers as direct threats to its water sources.
The support from the SPREP PEBACC project will commence with the formulation of a Management Plan to provide strategic direction and priorities for the onground support to Barana community.
Other activities will include mapping of the proposed management area and ecosystems to direct the activities that will be undertaken in the implementation phase.
The workshop this week was organised as part of consultations on an ecosystem and socio-economic resilience analysis and mapping (ESRAM) study undertaken for Honiara city including the greater Honiara area commissioned by SPREP through the PEBACC project.
The ESRAM study was also implemented on Wagina Island and the findings of both studies were presented to national stakeholders in Honiara this week.
PEBACC is a five-year project implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in partnership with the governments of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) administered by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).
The Project focuses on strengthening and protecting the role of natural ecosystem services to enhance resilience to climate change.
In Solomon Islands the project is working in Wagina Island and Honiara.
