The forest carbon project can provide an alternative to logging in a critical ecosystem at Marovo Lagoon.
Community members from Lupa Vangunu are engaging in a series of talks following years of dispute over a shared vision for sustainable development for their forests and people.
An approved logging development for 1,500 hectares of forest on south Lupa Vangunu at Marovo Lagoon was contested in late 2022 by Zaira community members who have been campaigning for decades to protect the unique forest and coastal ecosystems from commercial logging.
Now, in a shared desire for dialogue between tribal groups, both sides are discussing a sustainable solution for unique Lupa Vangunu ecosystems that will also bring financial benefits to customary landowners and communities.
The dialogue process is being facilitated by Live & Learn Solomon Islands together with the Ministry of Traditional Governance, Peace and Ecclesiastical Affairs (MTGPEA) with the hope of resolving the threat logging poses for important rainforests in the region.
“Efforts to bring conservation and logging parties together are progressing very well,” says Bruno Manele who is the Deputy Director of Western Traditional Governance Peace and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
“Bringing them together to sit, agree and eat from the same table, so to speak… is the best and most desirable means of stamping an agreement towards saving the remaining untouched rainforest tract in Marovo Lagoon,” Manele added.
What has happened on Lupa Vangunu?
Lupa Vangunu is made up of four communities: Zaira, Bopo, Tige and Niniveh. Three tribes from these communities — Dokoso, Sugili, Tavoamai — are the customary landowners of the remaining 1,500 hectares of old-growth rainforests which are at the heart of this issue.
Rev. Green Jino from the Zaira community and Dokoso Tribe established a community-run conservation area over 10 years ago to protect the forest and allow the community to continue to use the forest in the traditional ways: for food, medicine and cultural connection.
“I grew up with my people here, this land is not a thing to be sold,” says Dokoso Chief Rev. Green Jino.
“We have to depend on this land for the future of our generations. Where should they go if we destroy the land?”
For many years, the Zaira community have been campaigning hard to protect the forests and develop sustainable income opportunities like forest carbon or tourism that keep the old-growth rainforest in-tact.
Meanwhile, ongoing applications from logging companies have placed the very same rainforests under threat — the most recent was approved in late 2022 will be reviewed in the High Court on August 17, 2023.
Logging on South Lupa Vangunu would destroy the last remaining corridors of this incredible old-growth rainforest.
Critically endangered animals would also face extinction and destroying their habitat and home would go against the national commitment to protect biodiversity in the Solomon Islands.
The critically endangered Leatherback turtle is also among wildlife most at-risk from the effects of logging activity and sediment. Courtesy Zaira community and Tyrone Lavery.
Commercial logging would also destroy the cultural and traditional link people have had with this land for generations.
Currently, community members are managing the land using a customary but formal management system, which is focused on the maintenance of culture and tenure, food security, access to clean water, iconic species and education.
While many Lupa Vangunu residents — in particular the Zaira community — already understand, support and are working towards sustainable options like forest carbon, there is a need to include a wider representation of other community members in this discussion and hold dialogue with pro-logging community members to build a shared vision that supports conservation and people.
It is now hopeful to see the tribal members from across Lupa Vangunu engaged in a process where all communities are sharing their voice and are learning more about customary rights, how to set up a Protected Area and how to establish carbon projects that would benefit everyone in a community.
“The only way the carbon project can move in a positive direction is for the tribal members to work together.
“This can be achieved through the reconciliation process or through their traditional dialogue system,” says Bill Apusae from Live & Learn Solomon Islands and project staff member for the development of forest carbon projects.
Lupa Vangunu’s important biodiversity and critically endangered animals are worth protecting.
The Southern Lupa Vangunu forest area in question is made up of 1,500 hectares of pristine old-growth rainforest and remote coastline — it is a truly unique corridor of biodiversity that starts at 500 metres below the ocean, crosses a coral reef ecosystem to the coast and travels all the way up to 1,000 metres above sea level.
Birds, reptiles and marine life will be impacted if logging goes ahead.
The forest is home to Monkey-faced bats and the only known habitat for the Vangunu Giant Rat (known by the Indigenous name vika), both listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The critically endangered Leatherback turtle is also among wildlife most at-risk from the effects of logging activity and sediment.
The turtle has become the mascot for the 2023 Pacific Games — to help raise awareness about its endangered status and the importance of protecting it.
Weighing up to a ton, Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtles and also the most ancient. Lupa Vangunu and the Marovo Lagoon is an important nesting stop on its migratory path.
Opportunities for community-owned forest carbon
The future of forest carbon in the Solomon Islands is strong, with successful projects already demonstrating environmental, cultural and financial benefits for the Babatana tribes on Choiseul Island and new community-owned and high-integrity projects establishing in Viru Harbour, Makira and other island regions across the Solomon Islands.
Some of these new projects are currently being developed by Live & Learn Solomon Islands, NRDF, the Nakau Programme, among other organisations, and Lupa Vangunu could join the growing list of successful carbon projects in the Pacific if a Protected Area was established.
Carbon projects require a long-term commitment to protect and manage their forests but will in return provide a sustainable replacement economy to logging.
Unique to carbon projects is the importance of a transparent benefit sharing system to avoid conflicts and to strengthen community governance so everyone can collaboratively receive and share income from carbon credits in a fair process.
“Income from forest carbon might be the same as from logging at first, but it is spread over a longer time, contributing towards a more sustainable development for tribal communities,” says Wilko Bosma who works with the Nakau Programme and National Resource Development Foundation (NRDF).
“With forest carbon, income from credits benefits all tribal members while logging only provides for a small group of people.”
