Final Report for Samoa Climate Smart Rainforest Restoration (Coffset) Project November 19, 2018

Contractor

Name of the Local [CSO][CBO] providing the report: Samoa Conservation Society Inc Address: P.O Box 2305, Vailima, Samoa Person in charge of the final report: Christine Tuioti

Identification of the project

Name of the project: Samoa Climate Smart Rainforest Restoration Project Agreement number: WSM/SGP/0P5/Y5/CORE/BD/2017/04 Type of project: Conservation of Biodiversity Location: O Le Pupu Pu’e National Park, Samoa Start-up Date: September 2017 Completion Date: December 2018

[Participants/beneficiaries Number of females: 19 Number of males: 25 Number of children: -

Capacity Building/Training Number of females: 30 Number of males: 30 Number of children: -

Budget and finance

Total Project Cost: 43,000USD/108,000 WST Amount received under this Agreement: 43,000USD Amount received from other sources of funding: Contribution of the Local [CSO][CBO] or the recipient community: 10,000WST

Activities

Activities Performed under this Agreement:

Activity 1: Sustainably manage Samoa’s first Carbon Offset Project to support forest restoration. Activity 2: Raise awareness amongst youth of environmental threats and how to manage them. Activity 3: Teach youth techniques for forest restoration and invasive weed management. Activity 4: Conduct forest restoration and weed management at OLPP National Park.

Results:

Describe to what extent the objectives of the Agreement were accomplished:

Activity 1.1: Design the project Project was successfully designed and implemented.

Activity 1.2: Establish the project Project was successfully established in January 2018.

Activity 1.3: Market the project especially amongst the business community in Samoa. Project team continues to market the project both nationally and internationally, presentations were delivered to SPREP, FAO and Conservation International offices.

Project advisor James Atherton, has presented overseas and has generated the interest of Air New Zealand to offset carbon credits through the project. From here, the project and the Samoa Conservation Society are in discussions with Ekos regarding certification of the project for the sale of carbon credits.

Project manager Christine Tuioti, has presented to the World Bank Group on the project and it’s benefits for communities in Samoa.

SPREP has committed to the project, through their 28th SPREP Meeting in Apia in September 2017 where more than 30 delegates and local staff voluntarily offset their travel through the project. In September 2018, delegates for the SPREP Board Meeting were again invited to offset their emissions through the project.

The United National volunteers will offset their emssions of travel from their home countries into Samoa later in November 2018 and will partner with the project on an additional tree planting activity.

Members of the Samoa Conservation Society voluntarily offset their emissions through the project as well.

The project team and SCS continue to market the project through our social media platforms and outreach programs in the hopes to partner with more businesses and organizations to ensure sustainability.

Activity 1.4: Obtain funds from partners who want to join the project Secured commitment from the Conservation International, New Zealand office to offset their air travel through the project. More than 30 delegates of the 28th SPREP Meeting in Sept 2017 and local staff voluntarily calculated and offset their air travel through the project. Further support from SPREP delegates and a formal partnership with SPREP is expected Individuals have also offset personal travel as private donors. More than 5000WST has been raised through this approach and more funds are expected soon from other partners.

Activity 1.5: Manage the project The project was managed by the SCS Project Team, including the Project Manager, Project Advisors and with the help of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Forestry Division management team.

Activity 2.1: Conduct village workshops to identify key environmental issues in each target village. Project Inception Workshops were held in the three villages, Poutasi, Sa’aga and Saleilua from the 15th – 17th January 2018 (see separate reports). Participants included youth and elderly men and women. An integral part of the meetings was the focus groups where participants were asked to identify environmental issues within their respective villages. The participants were separated into two focus groups – elders and youth to ensure the project will draw from two different perspectives. The key environmental threats identified from the workshops were:

 Forest Management – native tree species identification, invasive tree species identification, plant propagation, nursery work.  Carbon Offsets – role of carbon sinks, link between trees and climate change, calculating carbon footprint.  Health and Climate Change  Solid and Chemical Waste Management  Marine Protected Areas and Coastal Enironmental Management  Environmental Legislation  Tour guiding and bird identification

These identified threats were used to design the training course that was held in October 2018 as well as determine the experts to engage for delivering the course.

Activity 2.2: Design draft training course to cover core environmental topics based on key threats per village. The training course was successfully designed and delivered by the project team and various partners.

In addition to the classroom-based training a field trip was also taken to expose the “environmental champions” to a fish/marine reserves, a terrestrial reserve and privatley and publicly owned waste management facilities.

Annex 1 – Training Course Outline

Activity 2.3: Collaborative meeting with YCAN, MWCSD, MESC and other partners to finalize training course. Meetings were held with various partner to design, develop and finalize the training course. Partners included MNRE DEC – including the Waste Division, the National Parks and Reserves Section, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Poutasi Development Trust, Falease’ela Environment Protection Society (FEPS), Youth Climate Action Network, Stowers and Su’a Lawyers, Sinalei Reef Resort and Spa, Pacific Recycling and our implementing partner MNRE (Forestry Division)

Activity 2.4: Prepare and print awareness material for project.

A wide range of awareness materials have been prepared for the project including (See Annex 2 for photos of all awareness materials):

T-shirts have been printed and distributed to environmental champions, project team and partners.

A Coffset project factsheet has been distributed to the Samoa Conservation Society members, society Green Partners, project partners and have been launched on all our social media platforms.

The Coffset Project banner is displayed at SCS events, public engagements, village consultations and all other projects events.

Project signs have been erected at the Mt. Vaea Reserve along the hiking track where there to high visibility to visitors to the reserve as well as at the O Le PupuPu’e National Park where the Responsible Seasonal Employees (RSE) of Falealili voluntarily contribute to the project by planting trees to offset their own emissions when travelling for the scheme.

Re-usable shopping bags were designed and distributed to environmental champions, village representatives and project partners to raise awareness on the waste management issue as well as the plastic ban coming into effect in early 2019. These bags were made in the project area by the Poutasi Development Trust.

SCS in partnership with Auckland Zoo and MNRE DEC are developing a poster of endemic birds that can be used for further awareness.

A project documentary is being developed and finalized December 2017 to further raise awareness on the project, the Carbon Offset concept and the work of the communities involved.

Logos of SGP- GEF and all project partners are appropriatelyreflected on all awareness materials.

The project team continues to develop more products for awareness raising related to green living, C-offsetting, forest restoration etc.

Table 1. List of awareness materials developed Item Completion Comments Project t-shirts January 2018 Distributed to all environmental champions, project team and project partners. Project fact sheet January 2018 Distributed to all project and Samoa Conservation Society partners. Endemic Samoan land and December 2018 Developed in partnership with sea bird's poster Auckland Zoo and MNRE DEC for environmental outreach. Pull-up banner September 2017 Displayed at all project and Samoa Conservation Society events. Project documentary December 2018 Documentary reflects all forest restoration activities, training course and field trip Item Completion Comments and the graduation of the champions. Interviews by champions, project team and community representatives. Re-usable shopping bags September 2018 100 bags produced to with green messages promote using re-usable shopping bags Project signs- August 2018 Mt Vaea sign is placed in a Mt Vaea Reserve traffic area along the Robert OLPP National Park Louis Stevenson track for high visibility. OLPP NP is road-side at the Recognized Seasonal Employees site along the main road.

Activity 2.5: Implement awareness program in target villages in collaboration with partners Project team has successfully delivered the awareness component to Poutasi, Sa’aga and Saleilua through the training course (see separate report).

Activity 3.1: Develop training program on forest restoration and invasive weed management. Presentations for climate change impacts, the role of forest restoration and carbon offsets in mitigating these impacts, identification of native and invasive tree species found in the OLPP NP were developed (see separate report).

Activity 3.2: Conduct training for target youth groups. Training course was delivered through presentations on the various topics identified at the Inception workshops as well as practical and hands on training in the field (see separate report).

 30 environmental champions trained in waste management, forest restoration, conservation of marine and terrestrial biodiversity assets, bird ID and tour guiding.  30+ village representatives (pulenu’u, womens committee, other youth representatives) participated in training course  2 champions selected for future Samoa Conservation Society work

Activity 3.3: Monitor the effectiveness and application of training Activities and report-backs were conducted at the end of the training to assess the effectiveness of the training and capture the important lessons learnt by the participants.

Activity 4.1: Design restoration plan including equipment and materials to be purchased. The project team developed a work plan for the participants. Activities included:  maintenance of areas already replanted  land preparation (clearing of new areas for replanting)  digging holes (2m by 2m spacing) and planting  transplanting  soil preparation

 Potting

Table 2. Tree species planted Samoan Forest Layer Species Names Comment Number of trees planted Tava Canopy PometiaPinnata Framework species – 6580 most common tree in lowland forests, fast growing and easy to propagate from wildlings. Malili Canopy Terminalia Richii 2055 Asi toa Canopy Syzigiuminophylloides 1535 Talie Coastal Terminalia Catappa 76

Activity 4.2: Purchase equipment and materials needed. All equipment and materials purchased locally have been procured and are housed at the Forestry Office, Togitogiga Office. Both SCS and Forestry have a list of project equipment. SCS has donated its equipment for the Coffset pilot for project use. 10 binoculars were purchased for bird watching training. A video camera was purchased to document the activities of the project.

Table 3. List of equipment purchased Equipment Number of units Comments Purchased locally or overseas, or in- kind support Binoculars 10 For bird watching O training Digital camera 1 For recording of O activities Spades 10 Posthole spades L Bush knives 10 Machete 24” L Bush knife files 8 L Work gloves 40 Heavy duty leather L gloves Water cooler 2 L First aid kit 1 L Tarpaulin 1 I

Activity 4.3: Conduct restoration activities. Field work component of project began on 5th February 2018. The project team held a short briefing and handed over tshirts, gloves and hats to the environmental champions. The Forestry team then led the introduction of the work by a tour of the nursery, soil preparation area and open areas of the national park for restoration. The first activity set by the Forestry team for the champions was familiarizing themselves with the tools and environment to ensure safety in the coming months.

Restoration work was carried out during the following periods:  February – 5th – 9th  March – 12th – 16th  April – 16th – 20th  May – 7th – 11th  June – 18th – 22nd  July – 9th – 13th  August – 6th – 10th  September – 10th – 14th

 33 environmental champions trained in forest restoration methods, nursery work, transplanting, soil processing and clearing of invasive vine species.  3.8 Ha (9.4 acres) of area in the national park restored.  10,200 + seedlings of native Samoan tree species planted

Table 4. Number of species planted Month Tava Malili Asitoa Talie Total February 650 415 415 20 1500 March 600 450 450 20 1520 April 120 40 40 0 200 May 1300 440 450 16 2206 June 450 150 100 0 700 July 960 140 20 0 1120 August 500 0 0 0 500 September 2000 420 60 20 2500 Totals 6580 2055 1535 76 10,246

Activity 4.4: Monitor restoration effort A key tool used for monitoring the restoration effort are photopoints. These are established at the restoration site at a specific marked point and taken in cardinal directions (ie North, East, South and West) at regular 6 monthly intervals. See annex 4 for photopoints and photograps monitoring progress.

AnnexE (continued)

Describe the immediate benefits received by the participants and/or the recipient communities:

 Target villages are well versed in the range of environmental threats within their areas and were provided with skills to tackle these threats  Champions were sensitized to a range of “green livelihood options” such as nature based tour guiding, developing marine reserves, managing waste, restoring forests etc.  “Environmental champions” inspired to become greener citizens within their villages  Champions are sharing knowledge and skills acquired through the environmental training with their villages.  Capacity building in forest restoration, waste management, roles of fish/marine and terrestrial reserves, environmental legislation, climate change and impacts on health and infrastructure.  Practical and hands on training in being a bird guide in the national park and tour guiding.  Practical training in nursery work, transplanting, potting, forest restoration and invasive weed management.  Provision of employment opportunities by meeting potential employers, eg. Sinalei Reef Resort as well as learning of the work of village based environmental NGOs such as the Faleaseela Environment Protection Society etc.

Describe long term benefits:

 Environmental champions all made a pledge to improve their environment in tangible ways- eg by improving their waste management, by setting up a marine reserve, by planting trees etc  Environmental champions offered employment opportunities through the training program and project partners.  Champions are aware of green livelihood concepts and other ways to generate income.  Skills acquired from the project are applicable to other environment related jobs  The whole village benefits from having more environmentally aware youth who better understand Samoa’s environment, threats to it and how to manage those threats

New Developments and unexpected difficulties/problems:

New Developments and unexpected difficulties during the implementation of the project:

The training program was scheduled to take place periodically (one day classroom followed by 5 days in the field) throughout the life of the project. However, there were delays in developing the training course with the partners. The training course was the delivered in one week with intense 2 – 3 hour sessions and a field trip.

An advisory committee which was to include the SCS Executive Committee and the MNRE Forestry Division ACEO did not happen as planned as it was not deemed necessary as there were regular meetings throughout the project with all project partners

Actions taken to solve them:

The project team worked very closelywith partners including the MNRE Forestry ACEO and DEC ACEO with regular updates on all project activities.

Remarks/lesson learned:

The main lessons learned from this project include the following:

 Involving youth in practical “conservation” actions – such as tree planting is a good way to raise environmental awareness on the environment  Mixing classroom learning with non classroom “field work” and practical field sessions is most effective  It is reasonable to pay youth to do tree propogation and tree planting as it is hard, physical work in the hot sun  There are many interested and committed partners available and willing to support conservation activities in Samoa- including the Faleaseela Environment Protection Society, Sinalei Reef Resort, Poutasi Development Trust etc  It is important to have a plan for sustainability to keep the momentum going- eg following up with the youth champions to see if they are abiding by their “pledges” and to see if they are developing improved environmental management activities in their villages.

Date:16th November 2018 Prepared by: Christine Tuioti (Technical Officer)

Annex F Final Report on the Use of Funds

Project Number: Project Title

Date: 16th November 2018 Project Title: Samoa Climate Smart Rainforest Restoration Project Name of the Local [CSO][CBO]:Samoa Conservation Society Total Amount of Funds Under the Agreement: 108,000WST Date of signature of the Agreement: 01/09/2017

FOR THE ENTIRE PERIOD OF THE GRANT

General category of Global Budget Expenditures Balance(WST) expenditures (WST) (WST) Personnel 30,000 32,700 -2,700 Equipment 8,800 9,076.39 -276.39 Awareness Materials 32,000 12,497.00 19,503 Capacity Development 9,000 7,900 1,100 for Groups Workshops/Seminars 8,000 5,908.50 2091.50 Local Travel 5,200 2,766.00 2434 Contracts 13,000 1,906.34 11,093.66 Monitoring and 2,000 0 2000 Evaluation Total 108,000 72,754.23 35,245.77

Total Budget approved:.....108,000 WST...... Funds advanced:....95,408.40WST...... Amount of expenditures:.72,754.23 WST Funds requested:...... 10,300 WST...... Balance (if any exists):..22,654.17 WST

Certified by: James Atherton Name and signature of the Representative of the Local [CSO][CBO]

The Local [CSO][CBO] is responsible for compiling and providing all supporting documentation or information related to this report at the request of UNOPS.

Annex 1 – Training Course Agenda

Annex 2 – Awareness Materials

Mt. Vaea awareness sign along the RLSS track.

Project awareness sign at the RSE restoration site

Project banner

Reusable shopping bags

Project Fact sheet

Annex 3 - Map of area restored

Annex 4 – Monitoring photographs & photopoints

February

March

26th June 2018

Annex 5 – Media links http://www.samoaobserver.ws/en/08_02_2018/local/29756/Carbon-offset-champions.htm http://www.samoaplanet.com/30-rural-youth-engaged-carbon-offset-project-o-le-pupu-pue- national-park/ http://www.talamua.com/youth-engaged-in-carbon-offset-project-at-o-le-pupu-pue-national-park/ https://samoaconservationsociety.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/30-rural-youth-engaged-in- carbon-offset-at-o-le-pupu-pue-national-park/

More information on the project can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/conservesamoa

Annex 6 – Project photos

Environmental champions with the project team.

Inception workshop in Sa’aga

Nursery work

Clearing of the invasive merremia peltata vine

Native tree ID tour

Bird watching

Bird watching tour through the O Le Pupu Pu’e National Park

Field trip to the Tafa’igata Landfill