HONIARA, Solomon Islands 25th March 2025 – The Solomon Islands Government (SIG), through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM), is well into the implementation phase of the “Ensuring Resilient Ecosystems and Representative Protected Areas in Solomon Islands (EREPA)” project.
This initiative aims to protect Solomon Islands rich biodiversity and enhance community livelihoods by establishing an effective network of healthy, productive and resilient protected areas in Guadalcanal, Malaita, Rennell-Bellona, and Temotu provinces.
Specific Target areas are for Temotu Santa Cruz and Tinakula area; Wairaha Catchment area for Malaita province ; East Rennell for Renbell province and Tandai Ward in Guadalcanal province. So more than fourty landholding groups have been engaged. These include 16 for Renbel, 4 for Malaita, 17 for Temotu and 12 for Guadalcanal.
However, these rich biodiversity is threatened by population growth, unsustainable forestry, poor governance, and climate change. Given that approximately 80% of the land is under customary ownership and many rely on natural resources, this project is crucial.
Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and implemented with the Ministry of Forestry and Research (MoFR) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), EREPA has several key objectives.
They include supporting local communities in declaring terrestrial protected areas, developing resource management plans, promoting improved livelihoods through sustainable resource use and enhanced agriculture and Establishing an efficient network of protected areas through knowledge sharing, monitoring, a national database, and long-term funding.
The project anticipates to improve community livelihoods, increased economic value from natural resources, and greater resilience to climate change. Data collected will inform national decisions and demonstrate commitment to environmental issues.
Currently a workshop is underway to improve on effectiveness and efficiency of project implementation, administration and financial management. The Project Management Unit (PMU) is conducting this ‘Project Reflection, Learning and Planning Workshop’ for 2025 in a consolidated effort to improve management effectiveness.
The workshop will share project studies and reflect on the experience of staff and stakeholders to inform project planning and implementation.
Overall the outcome of the workshop is expected to enhance knowledge management scope in the project by way of capturing, organizing and applying important lessons learnt, new learning and new insights for improved project implementation.
This workshop participants includes the 4 Provincial Project Coordinators (PPCs), SIG partners (MECDM, MAL and MoFR) and the PMU staff.
Source: Ministry of Environment Climate Change & Disaster Management
