The USAID-funded Ecosystem base Adaptation Project, coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and partners is now underway in Solomon Islands.
The project focuses on biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to the adverse effects of climate change.
1 August 2012: The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is conducting an Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Project in Solomon Islands, aiming to use biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall strategy to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.
Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and coordinated by SPREP in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), The Nature Conservancy, Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Communities and the Choiseul Provincial Government, the project has consulted with 11 villages in the Solomon Islands to gauge people’s responses to the effects of climate change.
According to Paul Donohoe, SPREP, those consulted said stress on resources by both climatic and non-climatic impacts are taking a toll on their livelihoods. One of the main strategies that people have identified to cope with these threats is community action planning, providing people at a village level with a strategy for sustainably managing the natural resources that are crucial to their livelihoods.
The participating villages and Choiseul Provincial Government also recognized that Marine and Terrestrial Protected Areas, particularly based on traditional methods of resource management such as tabu areas, coastal revegetation and alternative sustainable livelihood projects, are vital to sustainable future. [SPREP Press Release]