1. Context of the Vanuatu Environment management policy and of the National GIS framework

1.1. The Vanuatu Land Summit 2006

A great National Land Summit1 was hold in September 2006 to consult all the institutions, stakeholders and populations concerned by Land and Sea ownership and management, fair dealings and sustainable development. Specific attention was paid to coastal and marine areas issues (#B2.6 ; #B4.4 ; #B4.5). Main recommendations were adopted (20) to reinforce public capacity to efficiently manage the land in support to the custom authorities.

1.2. The Unfinished State2

The recent study « The Unfinished State, Drivers of Change in Vanuatu » from AusAID is very helpfull to understand the main recent drivers of change in Vanuatu – Economic Growth, the financial sector, the land boom, urbanisation, etc. –, and also to have a better idea of the political system and the State capacity in formulating and implementaing coherent sustainable development. The study gives some recommandations and priorities to which the GERSA project should adapt its objectives and methods : o « to improve the capacity of public administration to anticipate and respond to social changes and pressures, in areas such as land-use planning and social policy, o to develop a coherent approach to state-building in Vanuatu, in particular by filling the gap between formal institutions and local communities, o to enable the state to become an agent of development across its territory »

1.3. The ELMA Initiative (Efate Land Management Area Intiative)

Mr. Russell Nari, DG of the Ministry of Land, presented to the GERSA Team the ELMA Initiative as a pilot project which could provide a good methodological and geographical basis for a watershed and coastal management project such as GERSA. In its last report, the Shefa province wrote a summary of the ELMA Initiative objectives and philosophy :

1 Faenol Ripot, Nasonal Lan Samit, 25-29 Septemba 2006, Compiled by Steven Tahi, Edited by Gavman blong Ripablik blong Vanuatu 2 AusAID Document, « The Unfinished State, Drivers Of Change In Vanuatu », April 2007 ; Authors : Marcus Cox, Hannington Alatoa, Linda Kenni, Anna Naupa, Dr. Gregory Rawlings, Nikunj Soni, Charles Vatu ; Senior advisers : George Sokomanu, Vincent Bulekone

1 « The Efate Land Management Area is an initiative organized by the Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs to safeguard whatever land remains available as a result of mass migration to Efate and the capital of Port Vila.

Efate Island faces the highest development pressures in Vanuatu which leads to great pressures for environmental resources and land holdings. The center of Efate is largely inaccessible due to its highly variable topography and this varied interior houses important natural and cultural resources for both Ni-Efate and all others who call Efate their home. Leases are gradually extending from the Port Vila area and around the island, especially in coastal regions, in many cases limiting the access of communities to marine resources and land suitable for sustainable agriculture.

To face these challenges the Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs and Government are working together through the Efate Land Management Area Initiative to strengthen land use planning and resource management at the village level and in hopes of interested communities collectively managing a large area of kastom land for the benefit of present and future generations of Ni-Efate.

The Efate Land Management Committee is the main coordinating body for this initiative and is chaired by the Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs and recognized by the Council of Ministers. The committee has designated an interim boundary for the proposed land management area. The interim boundary is a clearly defined geographic area with reference points that has been developed using data from VANRIS, representing ~21.51% of the total land mass of Efate. Large-scale maps were printed with the approval of the Hon. Minister of Lands & Natural Resources for distribution to the heads of Government departments and ministries, the communities of Efate, relevant partner organizations, and private sector land developers.

The Efate Land Management Committee and the Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs are committed to working with any interested community of Efate to encourage sustainable resource utilization and conservation. Through the process of engaging communities and by encouraging their participation and ownership over the management of their natural and cultural resources with concurrent government support we all can collectively lead the direction of land management on Efate Island to ensure watershed protection (quality and quantity of water resources), protect many of the island’s cultural sites, and conserve forest resources (plant and animal). »

There are many environmental pressures are encroaching on the resources of Efate Island. The land situation in Efate has reached a point where nearly half of Efate customary land has now been taken up by leases. This is gradually spreading out from the peri-urban area and along the coastal lands of Efate. The expansion of commercial logging is continuing to move upland to find suitable timber trees as many logged areas have been converted to coconut plantations or otherwise have not been replanted with marketable timber species. Likewise, the expansion of cattle production holdings is also moving upland to feed the cattle industry’s needs. The EVCC has recognized that this as a crisis situation since leases have taken up most of the land accessible to the sea. Land available for communal use is also becoming scarcer; especially land suitable for subsistence vegetable gardening. With the population increasing, urban drift and no welfare support for those unable to work or find employment, there will be more pressure on the

2 Chiefs as people must either move inland to find land to live on, become squatters on undeveloped land or make gardens on smaller plots of land. In addition, the increase in expatriate and domestic lease holdings, particularly along the coastal areas, is limiting the access of Ni-Efate to land and resources.

1.4. MPAs

MPAs are one of the major parameters in the choice of the study sites with the interim boundary zone of the ELMA and the requests of the land department mentioned further on this report. The MPAs are locally managed with the support of NGOs or U.S. Peace Corps.

On the following map of Efate, built with the SRTM (World DEM), the identified Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the ELMA Interim boundary are located.

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MPAs Locations

Interim Boundary

Figure 1 : Map of EFATE Island (Vanuatu) with MPAs and the Interim Boundaries of the ELMA Initiative

1.5. Reef Check

The Fisheries Deparment is responsable for the Reef Check programme in Vanuatu. They have the support of U.S. Peace Corps.

Some data have been collected on different sites and a training manual was created and compiled by Jessica S. Kahler (U.S. Peace Corps).

1.6. Vanuatu GIS and mapping

Among the geographic products3 already existing in Vanuatu (geology, hydrography, mine…), two sections of the Land department have a quantity of geographic informations:

• The GIS Section: VanRIS GIS which developed by the Australian in 1997. This section has mentioned that some of the layers are not very “precise” (ie. the contours layer in which the polygons are not closed).

3 Geographic product means raster or vector format document with geographic informations

4 • The Mapping Section: lot of aerial photography (see appendix X) and recent topographic map (2005).

2. Evaluation of the Vanuatu needs and demands

2.1. Needs

• Need to create some coherence between land, coastal and marine management : « from the reach, down to the reef » • Need to sustain coastal communities • Need of capacity building • Need of updated GIS layers and rebuilding of the Geology & Hydrology Section database

2.2. Demand

Considering the topics and tools the GERSA project could develop in Vanuatu, the Land Department (DG and technical units) expressed clear requests. The GERSA project should : • work on Efate where the pressure is highest, • take into account the customary land tenures and the 2006 Land Summit Guidelines, • complement the ELMA Initiative, • integrate the Tagabe freshwater supply, • integrate urbanization and waste management issues around Port-Vila, • adapt appropriate and easy-to-used tools for the Land Department and the IWCM stakeholders, • promote capacity building : transfer of skills and tools, training.

3. Proposal to the Vanuatu Land Department

To respond to the Government wishes, the IRD GERSA team proposed on Friday 22 June 2007 to the Land Department DG, Mr Nari, some guidelines to make the GERSA project fit to the National Policy. Mr Nari gave an agreement in principle on these guidelines, which need now to be specified in more detail in the following sections.

5 3.1. General Strategy

• The IRD GERSA project is conceived as a process of collaboration with, and for, the stakeholders of the Vanuatu Integrated Watershed and Coastal Management. Thus, its activities are being designed in close partnership with the Government of Vanuatu. • The GERSA project must bring to the country : data, tools and capacity building on Integrated Watershed and Coastal Management. • The GERSA will respond to the specific needs and requests expressed by the Government on Efate Island.

3.2. Specific Objectives

• The GERSA project will focus on two main issues pinpointed by the Government departments :

- Suburban and urbanization issues around Port-Vila : water catchment, pollution, anarchical extension of urban areas and suburban livelyhood agriculture, impact on coastal reef areas,

- Environmental preservation and conservation of the most relevant coastal reef areas according to their biodiversity, to their sustainable development potential and to their social and economical values.

• The GERSA Project will bring its support to the Land Department of Vanuatu and to the SHEFA Province for the IWCM of Efate :

- Support to the national and local managers and planners of the IWCM : tools and data,

- Support to the different technical sections of the Land Department (GIS and Mapping) : data, tools, capacity building and training.

- Support and complementary work to the ELMA Initiative

• The GERSA Project will attend to create necessary synergies with the other institutions and stakeholders concerned by IWCM :

- The different National Departments concerned : Fisheries, Agriculture, Culture, etc.,

- Local Communities and Customary authorities,

- Other institutions : SOPAC, USP, NGOs, Peace Corps, AUF, IRD, CIRAD, etc.

6 - The ELMA Initiative organizational structure could be the basis of the national monitoring of the GERSA Project in Vanuatu.

• The GERSA Project will work at two different scales :

- to contribute to the Watershed and Coastal management planning at Efate scale

- to respond to the Watershed and Coastal management issues (urbanization and conservation) on the sites identified by the national partners : Port-Vila Area and Northern Efate

The GERSA Project implementation will therefore be adapted to the ELMA (in yellow) as shown below.

7 3.3. Potential outputs

3.3.1. Efate Island Scale

• Hydrological analysis :

- Hydrological network (SRTM data)

- Evaluation of the quantity of water at the embouchures :

- Study of the temporal rainfalls intensity (meteoroligical data)

- Study of the relationship between rainfall and rate of flow => hydrological network mechanisms

• Reef geomorphological maps

• Mapping and analysis of the Land Use evolution since 1987 (last 20 years)

- evolution of the forest : deforestation and restauration

- evolution of the Land Leases

- Evolution of agriculture and urbanization

• Demographic analysis and mapping

- Mapping of the evolution of the population on Efate watersheds.

- Volume of available fresh water versus population density.

• Interoperable Information system (Touraivane) ?

3.3.2. Watersheds Scale : « from the Reach, down to the Reef »

• Urbanization issues : from Mele to Teouma

- Risk and vulnerability maps of the watersheds and of the coastal area,

- Analysis of the land use and of the land leases evolution on coastal areas,

- Analysis of the suburban agriculture evolution,

- Analysis of the logging evolution on the uphill slopes of the watersheds,

8 - Evaluation of the social and economical value of the reef at Erakor and Eratap,

- Mapping of the coral reef (demander à Coreus),

- Evaluation of the current and of the sedimentation from the Teouma River in the lagoon of Eratap.

• Environment management and conservation : from Undine Bay to Epoa

- Risk and vulnerability maps of the watersheds and of the coastal area,

- Analysis of the land use and of the land leases evolution on coastal areas,

- Analysis of the agriculture evolution,

- Analysis of the logging evolution on the uphill slopes of the watersheds,

- Evaluation of the social and economical value of the reef in the different northern villages,

- Analysis of the cultural, customary, social and economical organization of the local communities land and marine tenure,

- Mapping of the coral reefs structure,

- Evaluation of the current and of the sedimentation from the Teouma River in the lagoon of Eratap.

3.4. Proposition of a workplan for the implementation of the project

1- The GERSA Team must send the project document by 20 July 2007 to the Land Department DG, Mr Russell Nari. 2- The Land Department DG gives its advices and opinions as soon as possible. 3- When the final project fits to the DG recommandations, he submits the project to the Government. 4- As soon as the Government approves the project (hopefully, by 15 August 2007), the GERSA Team and the Land Department settle down by email the technical aspects of the partnership and of the activities by the end August 2007. 5- The GERSA Team starts its work in Vanuatu in close partnership with the Land Department by September 2007.

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