Community Conservation in Small Island States

LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE Giles Romulus P.H.C. Lucas

From the Caribbean to the Pacific: Community Conservation in Small Island States

he islands of St. Lucia in the Caribbean and Espiritu Santo in the Pacific (Figures 1 and 2) are distant from England’s Lake District, but the concept of protected landscapes, promoted at an Tinternational symposium there in 1987 (which produced the Lake District Declaration on protected landscapes), has been adopted by resource owners in these far-flung communities. Today, the idea of community- many small independent island states based protected areas is taking hold where efforts in colonial times to es- in the Caribbean and the Pacific, tablish protected areas on the con- typified by the Praslin Protected ventional Yellowstone model largely Landscape in St. Lucia and the Vat- failed because they lacked the sup- the Conservation Area on Espiritu port or involvement of local people in Santo in the Republic of Vanuatu. regions where communal ownership Both protected areas came into was the norm and there was almost being in response to the realities of no state-owned land.

HAITI Virgin Islands Puerto DOM. REP. (USA/UK) Rico (USA) Greater Antilles

ST. KITTS & NEVIS Guadaloupe (FRANCE)

Caribbean Sea DOMINICA Martinique (FRANCE) Lesser AntillesST. LUCIA SAINT VINCENT BARBADOS

GRENADA

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Figure 1. Location of St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles.

SOLOMON PAPUA ISLANDS NEW GUINEA

Pacific VANUATU Bougainville Ocean

AUSTRALIA New Caledonia SOLOMON ISLANDS (FRANCE)

Honaira Guadalcanal

Solomon Sea

NEW ZEALAND

FIJI VANUATU Espiritu Santo

Vanua Levu

Coral Sea Efate I. Port-vila Viti Levu Suva

New Caledonia (FRANCE) Noumea

Figure 2. Location of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, South Pacific.

St. Lucia, part of the Lesser An- crop and tourism as the fastest- tilles in the Windward Island group growing sector. Environmental in the Caribbean Sea, has an area of problems vary from deforestation, 616 sq km and a population of just soil erosion, increasingly high tur- over 146,000, most of whom occupy bidity levels in coastal waters, land the coastal fringe while the rugged and water pollution, and loss of ter- interior is forested and provides the restrial and marine biodiversity. main source of the island’s water Globalisation exacerbates these supply. problems, and is seen as being less By any international standard, St. sympathetic to small island states. Lucia is a small country with a num- Consequently, the reality of survival ber of developmental and environ- at the international, national, and mental problems, including high un- community levels is a critical factor employment and underemployment, which forms part of the drive towards as well as dependence on an export sustainable development. It is within economy with bananas as the cash this context that conservation and 48 The George Wright FORUM LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE development strategies must be tion, three offshore islands, coral developed. reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, The St. Lucia National Trust, a mudflats, and a delta. The area is of statutory body which receives some outstanding natural beauty and is the support from government, is the habitat for several endemics. A key main environmental nongovernmen- element in maintaining community tal organization (NGO) and has taken support is that traditional uses of a lead in protected areas. The Trust natural resources by the coastal has developed St. Lucia’s protected communities of Praslin and Mamiku areas plan, which advocates continue. The protected landscape conservation as an indispensable ba- incorporates the longest coastal na- sis for a form of development which ture trail in St. Lucia (Figure 3), the is “equitable, sustainable and har- Fregate Islands Nature Reserve, and monious.” The plan regards natural Praslin Island, where translocation of and cultural resources as the capital an endemic lizard has proved suc- on which St. Lucia’s development cessful. strategy can be built, as the economy Over the last five years, the St. Lu- is based on these resources. cia National Trust has engaged the The Trust presented its proposal community in a participatory plan- for a system of protected areas to the ning process identifying community government of St. Lucia after a four- needs, preparing a community stra- year participatory planning process tegic plan, designing and imple- as a mechanism to maintain that capi- menting projects to meet community tal, which includes forest, plants, needs, and establishing a develop- animals, the landscape, water, and ment committee which is nationally culture. With this goal in mind, a known and has so grown in stature protected area is defined in the plan that it has been able to negotiate with as “portions of the national territory the prime minister of St. Lucia for ... which are placed under special development projects. The commit- management status to ensure that the tee is now looking to develop and resources they contain are main- market the Praslin Protected Land- tained and made accessible for sus- scape as a nature and heritage tour- tainable uses compatible with con- ism site (Figures 4 and 5) while tradi- servation requirements.” tional canoe-building continues and The Praslin Protected Landscape coastal waters support a thriving in- is one of twenty-seven management dustry in seaweed cultivation. areas in St. Lucia’s protected areas Although it has not been formally plan. It covers 874 ha of low-lying designated, the Praslin Protected coastal lands with xerophytic vegeta- Landscape has provided St. Lucia

Volume 17 ¥ Number 1 2000 49 LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE

Figure 3. Eastern nature trail, St. Lucia. Photograph by St. Lucia National Trust.

Figure 4. Visitors to the Praslin Protected Landscape. Photograph by St. Lucia National Trust.

50 The George Wright FORUM LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE

Figure 5. Anse Galet (East), Praslin Protected Landscape. Photograph by St. Lucia National Trust. with a working example of multiple- the natural resources of Vanuatu are use activities going on without com- mostly owned by communities and promising the integrity of the envi- families. Consequently, efforts by ronment. past colonial administrations to es- A parallel development is taking tablish government-managed pro- place in the South Pacific in the Re- tected areas failed miserably, as the public of Vanuatu, which came into people saw the concept as another being in 1980 out of the amazing way of alienating them from their colonial structure of the Condomin- resources. It has taken until the pre- ium of the New Hebrides. Here, the sent decade to break this impasse and predominantly Melanesian popula- to seek to ensure conservation of tion was governed jointly by Britain terrestrial and marine resources by and France, with a rigid pecking or- blending traditional mechanisms der and dual school systems using with modern revenue-earning con- different languages. cepts such as ecotourism. Like most small island states, Some 27,000 of Vanuatu’s Vanuatu faces socioeconomic prob- 155,000 people live on Espiritu lems similar to St. Lucia. Addition- Santo, the republic’s largest island at ally, like most new Pacific nations, 4,010 sq km, named by a Spanish

Volume 17 ¥ Number 1 2000 51 LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE expedition under Pedro Fernandez able income from the resources of the de Quiros which came in 1606 to Big forest and sea. Bay in the northern part of Espiritu Chief Lus and Chief Moses, the Santo and established a short-lived two village leaders, made it clear to settlement there. both the logger and to Maturin that The Vatthe Conservation Area at they didn’t want their forest de- Big Bay lies on an island known to stroyed but did want to earn some many thousands of American service income to give them a better lifestyle. personnel during World War II. Vat- The key to achieving this goal was the means “eye of the sea” and the the intergovernmental South Pacific conservation area there contains the Regional Environment Programme only extensive lowland and limestone (SPREP) based in Samoa with an forests in Vanuatu not yet logged. internationally funded project to And the Vatthe forest could so easily support biodiversity conservation in have gone the same way. conjunction with sustainable living The forests are owned by the peo- for communities. ple of two villages, Sara and Matan- Finally, after a long time of negotia- tas, and they were literally at war tion, Chief Moses and Chief Lus over a boundary dispute. Raids on agreed to set aside their differences each other’s village were followed by and signed up to establish a conser- litigation in Vanuatu’s Supreme vation area. To seal the bargain they Court which decided in favour of planted a cycad in a symbolic gesture Sara village but urged negotiation of peace. with Matantas because Matantas The Vatthe Conservation Area’s people had a long history of using the 4,200 ha include lowland forests on forest. the alluvial plain and forests on a Into this situation came two New raised coral escarpment some 4 km Zealanders. One from a logging inland. Vatthe includes about 250 ha company with a suitcase full of dol- of garden and cropping land as well lars—more than these largely subsis- as the Jordan River and a 500-m ri- tence communities could imagine. parian zone on its western bank and The logger wanted to buy their trees the black sand beach of Big Bay. to be felled. The other person who Several broad plant associations are came was Sue Maturin from New represented with the alluvial plains, Zealand’s Forest and Bird Society, in particular, supporting species-rich invited by Vanuatu’s small Environ- forest. mental Unit to look at the area’s bio- Now, the communities work coop- diversity values and at ways the eratively through a conservation area communities could generate sustain- committee with a conservation area

52 The George Wright FORUM LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE support officer funded through • It is particularly valuable where SPREP helping the communities land is in short supply and is un- establish forest walks, build small der pressure for development. tourist bungalows and an equally • small restaurant, and train villagers as It is particularly useful where guides and service providers. The most of the land is in private or support officer, who is a Vanuatu community ownership and ac- national, has also seen a community quisition is not an option, al- water supply established, and mar- lowing for protection through kets and coordinates a modest stewardship techniques. ecotourism operation with support • It is a more politically acceptable from the New Zealand government. management category because This brings in useful income and traditional and sustainable activi- employment, provides a market for ties are encouraged rather than cultural products, and protects their eliminated. forests, fisheries, and way of life. • It provides an opportunity to use The two chiefs recently told a vis- an integrated approach to sus- iting group that “We have committed tainable management addressing ourselves and our people to working both environmental and socio- together as stewards for the area so economic development making it that our children and grandchildren particularly relevant in a devel- can share the benefits from the forest oping-country context. and the sea.” • It illustrates the power of partici- Vatthe is not alone, as the SPREP patory planning and co-man- project has so far helped twelve Pa- agement of resources leading to cific Island nations set up 17 com- community empowerment. munity-based conservation areas on land and water. This represents a • It enables communities as re- huge step forward in fostering con- source users the opportunity to servation in this region of small coun- continue to make a living off the tries in the vast Pacific. land or sea and create new eco- Praslin in the Caribbean and Vat- nomic opportunities; for exam- the in the Pacific illustrate the oppor- ple, in nature and heritage tour- tunities provided by this manage- ism. ment category: The major challenges faced in • It provides a mechanism to con- such small island states are the lack of serve biodiversity in an environ- trained professionals, insufficient ment where plants, animals, and published case studies on successful people can live in harmony. ways and means of establishing pro-

Volume 17 ¥ Number 1 2000 53 LANDSCAPE STEWARDSHIP: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND CULTURE tected landscapes, and inadequate scapes in small island states remain to fiscal and other incentives to support be worked out, while funding both landowners to protect their lands. the establishment of protected areas Though less common, there is still and, particularly, their maintenance some resistance by governments to remains a major problem. share management with communities Nevertheless, the experience in and NGOs while governments still St. Lucia and Vanuatu illustrate tend to judge the success of a pro- clearly that the protected landscapes tected area by its economic useful- concept offers small island states a ness without balancing its biodiver- vital way forward towards sustainable sity and intrinsic worth. Appropriate living. legal mechanisms for protected land-

Giles Romulus, St. Lucia National Trust, P.O. Box 595, Castries, St. Lucia; [email protected] P.H.C. “Bing” Lucas, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, 1/268 Main Road, Tawa, Wellington 6006, New Zealand

54 The George Wright FORUM