New Country Coordinator for Solomon Islands!
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A regular update of news from CEPF's East Melanesian Islands Contact us Halo! In this issue, we share with you news from the Regional Implementation Team, updates and stories from CEPF field visits, and highlights from the East Melanesian Islands portfolio. FROM THE RIT New Country Coordinator for Solomon Islands! We were sad to farewell Lysa Wini, who has been our Solomon Islands Country Coordinator for the last 2 years. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Lysa for the hard work and great progress that she has made in building the portfolio of grants in Solomon Islands and wish her every success in her next endeavours! We are excited to welcome Fiona Rodie to our Regional Implementation Team! Fiona brings with her experience from a BSc in Biology and Chemistry and a Graduate Certificate in Education and comes to us from her recent role as a tutor at the University of the South Pacific Solomon Islands campus. She will add value to the RIT's Fiona Rodie © Luisa Tagicakibau presence in Solomon Islands, fulfilling CEPF's programmatic and administrative tasks on the ground, liaising with current and potential grantees and representing the RIT in national meetings and forums. Please join us in welcoming Fiona as she settles into her role! She can be contacted on [email protected]. Site visit to Choiseul Island The RIT were thrilled to join Ecological Solutions Solomon Islands (ESSI) in their project sites on Choiseul island. ESSI are recipients of a CEPF grant to undertake a 3 phase project in the Mt Maetambe and Kolobangara River KBA on Choiseul, Solomon Islands. The first phase involved a comprehensive survey of the KBA and was completed in 2014 (final report here). The second phase has involved working in partnership Kolobangara River Choiseul Island © Luisa with customary landowners of Mount Maetambe to Tagicakibau Kolobangara River Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) to map their customary land. The aim was to strengthen the ownership and tenure rights here, as well as recording the genealogy of each tribe. The next stage for ESSI is to use this baseline information to set the foundation for future conservation actions such as formal protection of the KBA and the promotion of alternative income sources for local communities. Meetings with Grantees and applicants in Solomon Islands Following the latest Call for Proposals for Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the RIT took the opportunity to meet with current and future grantees to discuss new project ideas. Meetings were held in Western Province with NRDF (Natural Resources Development Foundation) and ESSI. In Honiara, discussions were held with the Solomon Islands Community Conservation Partnership and Solomon Islands Rangers Association. Logging near Seghe, Marovo Lagoon © Helen Pippard The RIT also made a visit to Marovo Lagoon in order to meet with members of the Zaira and Biche communities, who are looking for support to protect and manage their lands from the imminent threat of logging. The visit coincided with work being carried out by ESSI and UQ under a grant from American Museum of Natural History. As part of this, the RIT was able to witness first hand some training carried out by Patrick Pikacha of the University of Queensland, using the “Solomon Islands Ranger Skills Guide” produced as part of the CEPF-funded Rangers Training course. Zaira rangers receive training on the Rangers Skills Guide © Helen Pippard Meetings with Grantees and applicants in Vanuatu CEPF’s Executive Director, Olivier Langrand, and Grant Manager for East Melanesian Islands, Michele Zador, joined the RIT in Vanuatu in order to meet current and future grantees in the country. The team visited some sites that NY Botanical Garden has been working in on Tanna as part of the project, ““Plants CEPF and RIT in Tanna © Michele Zador mo Pipol blong Tafea Provins, Vanuatu” (Plants and People of Tafea). We visited Nusumetu, Green Hill, which is one of CEPF’s priority KBA sites, and where we were lucky to see the Carpoxylon palm, one of CEPF’s priority species, and listed as CR on the IUCN Red List. The communities we visited are keen to continue the partnership with NYBG and others, in order to move towards protecting and managing their precious resources. As in Solomon Islands, and following the latest Call for Proposals for Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the RIT and CEPF took the opportunity to meet with current and future grantees to discuss new project ideas. Meetings were held in Port Vila with a number of grantees, including Vanuatu Environmental Science Society, Live and Learn, Eco- Lifelihood Development Associates, Vanuatu Environmental Law Association and the Vanuatu Carpoxylon palm, CR, on Tanna Environmental Advocacy Network. © Helen Pippard Grant Director meets with IUCN Oceania team Following the meetings in Vanuatu, Michele Zador made a trip to the IUCN Oceania office in Fiji, in order to meet with other members of the Regional Implementation Team. Productive meetings were held with staff, and Michele also managed to meet with one of our grantees, BirdLife International, to talk about their work on the Beck’s Petrel and the Tongoa Megapode. Michele Zador (centre) with IUCN staff Mason Smith and Luisa Tagicakibau © Mason Smith FROM THE FIELD A list of all small and large grants currently active in the East Melanesian Islands can be found here Grantee Exchange Meeting in PNG During the second half of 2016, Civil Society Organizations came together in each country of the EMI hotspot to discuss progress made by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to date. The PNG exchange took place in October 2016 and recipients of the fund shared experiences, achievements Participants at Grantee Exchange meeting in Port and lessons learned since the investment began in Moresby © Luisa Tagicakibau 2013. Networking and partnership building were an important part of the meetings, and participants shared ideas for future proposals in line with CEPF’s priorities as well as national priorities for biodiversity conservation. CEPF is grateful to WWF PNG for all the help in managing and arranging the logistics for this first of its kind meeting. Sustainable management of Ngali Nut Trees and Threatened Flying foxes in the Solomon Islands In January, CEPF grantees Tyrone Lavery of the University of Queensland and Cornelius Qaqara of ESSI, spent a week on Guadalcanal for a refresher course in mammal survey and data collection techniques. All five known species of Pteralopex are Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and we know little about their ecology or conservation needs. This training course included surveys on Guadalcanal during which Cornelius was able to see his first monkey-faced bat – the Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex atrata. These bats are found only in the lowland forests of Guadalcanal and are listed as Endangered. The information collected by Cornelius and Tyrone will contribute towards a recovery plan for monkey-faced bats that is being developed in collaboration with the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management Cornelius Qaqara of ESSI with Pteralopex atrata, © Tyrone Lavery and Meteorology. Wai Hau Conservation Foundation Look and Learn trip to Marovo A team of rangers from CEPF-funded Wai Hau Conservation are working towards improving monitoring and management of leatherback turtles in Are’Are on Malaita. They travelled to Marovo Lagoon in October in order to learn some practical techniques from Rangers there. The trip was a really important one for the Wai Hau team as they were able to learn from experienced Zaira Rangers on relocation of eggs, hatchery management, and community participation in turtle Wai Hau Rangers with Zaira Rangers learning how monitoring efforts. The team also visited Biche and a leatherback digs its nest © Wai Hau Chubikopi where they learned from local rangers about monitoring of seagrasses and reefs. This was the first look and learn trip of its kind for the Wai Hau Rangers and they are excited about putting their new found knowledge into practice. Promoting the establishment of protected areas in the Baining Mountains, PNG The Arabam community in the Baining Mountains benefitted from a recent feasibility study carried out by CELCOR – the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc.. Arabam is located 20-30km from the capital town Kokopo, in East New Britain Province and is not easy to access. The study aided the people from Arabam to identify their current issues in land and resource management. Pristine environment in the Bainings © CELCOR The Baining Mountains is a priority key biodiversity area that faces many development threats such as oil palm, mining and logging, selling of customary land to foreigners and clearing of forests for subsistence farming. Population increase in the area has also contributed to added pressure on the natural resources in the Bainings. This study will ensure that the appropriate training needs are identified to provide legal advice, mediation and conflict resolution in land and resource management and review approaches toward the protection and management of the Baining Focus group interview in Arabam © CELCOR Mountains. Preparing and Implementing a Management Plan for Megapodes on Tongoa, Vanuatu The Tongoa Megapode is one of CEPF’s priority species. This project is led by BirdLife International through its national partner, the Vanuatu Environment Advocacy Network. The project aims to monitor megapode activities around their burrows, and using data collected, establish a community conservation strategy to maintain and increase megapod populations. There are now 12 cameras in situ all pointing at megapode burrows and monitoring the frequency with Tongoa megapode captured on camera © Mark which birds visit the burrows. O’Brien The local Kurumambe community have agreed to a complete tabu on harvesting of the megapode eggs for the duration of this project, with local community members instead policing the tabu area.