Local communities in the South Pacific nation of Samoa are helping to protect 3 critical forest areas and reduce the impacts of climate change.
An article on the website of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlines how Samoa’s forests are under increasing threat from climate change, unsustainable land use practices and the advance of invasive species.
The Integration of Climate Change Risks and Resilience into Forestry Management in Samoa (ICCRIFS) project is a joint initiative between the government of Samoa, UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and involves 26 communities across the country.
The project aims to revitalize the forests - a key priority of the government in addressing climate change - in order to reduce the impact of landslides, flooding and poor water supply.
On the sidelines of the Third International Small Island Developing States conference being held in Apia, Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, and Naoko Ishii, GEF Chief Executive Officer, met with people of Luatuanu’u, one of the communities involved in the project.
Here, an agroforestry demonstration plot and native tree nursery have been established together with the Samoan Farmers Association. Local people are being encouraged to grow a more diverse range of fruits and vegetables.
The project also involves “replanting native species grown in community nurseries, guarding against forest fires, and working with communities to improve the productivity of their low-land agricultural lands, so there is less need to encroach into upland forests,” says the article.
Communities have been making 3-dimensional models of their area so that they can see how watersheds, agricultural lands and the entire ecosystem are interlinked. These models are used to make local forestry management decisions and also provide the Samoan government with valuable local knowledge to use in national forestry management plans.
Read the full story: Helping Save Samoa’s Forests: UNDP Administrator and GEF Chief Executive meet a community on the frontline
