A study team of special scientists
from the University of Queensland (UQ) will next month begin a three
years project of the Marovo Marine Life – with the goal of
conserving the marine biodiversity of the lagoon.
Project Leader Dr Norm Duke is currently in the country to develop
linkages and partnership with local people to pave way for the project.
The project is one of the many undertakings of UQ and the Solomon
Islands Partnership for Peace Development program; following the
signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the SIG and the
university in April last year.
The prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will
fund the Marovo Marine Life Focus.
It was taken-up by the university after constant pressure from the
Rural Development Trust Board (RDTB) to the university, especially
its chairman Greg Young to make sure it is carried out.
Mr Young, an Australian who lives in the Solomons for the past 20
years, pressed hard with the project since 1999.
He said during those days it was difficult for agencies to deal
with the government.
“So I say there are ways of linking
the community to the outside world but we need a structure for the
establishment of a charity trust board,” Mr Young told the
people when they approached him that time.
This led to the establishment of RDTB.
Mr Young, through RDTB, set up a SI project with the university.
Dr Duke said the overall goal of the project is to provide an integrated
approach to the environment management of the lagoon that would
support protection of the region’s high biodiversity –
allowing sustainable use of the lagoon’s resources by local
communities.
He said to achieve that the UQ team would work with Mr Young and
the RDTB and they would undertake both an assessment of community
culture to identify current approaches to environment management
and use of lagoons.
Dr Duke, a world authority himself on mangrove ecosystem, said he
is very excited by the recent findings by the Nature Conservancy-led
team of surveyors.
He said these were obvious advantages and greater international
attention benefit for Solomon Islands.
The project; which will run until 2007, is the first of its kind
in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Young said the MOU was a special one.
He said unlike other countries’ that signed agreements with
only one school of a particular university, the MOU was signed between
the entire university and the government.
The UQ-SI partnership, a lose but active network of scholars and
students working at UQ and Solomons is being coordinated by Prof
Kevin Clements of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. |
A team of scientists from University of Queensland
who will carry out a three years research at the Marovo lagoon
hopes to find half of the world’s mangrove population in
the Solomon Islands.
There are 70 species of mangroves in the world, and team leader
Dr Norm Duke hopes they find half of it in the country.
He said with new and exciting findings in the marine world in
the Solomons already, he is looking forward for more new discovery
in the Solomons.
The team of scientists with their local counterparts will next
month begin a three years research project of the Marovo Marine
Life –with the goal of conserving the marine biodiversity
of the lagoon.
Dr Duke will lead the overall project and conduct ecological assessment
of intertidal mangrove wetland condition and health, including
related field and remote sensing components.
He is and internationally recognized authority on mangrove forest
ecosystems, with special interest in floristic, biogeography,
evolution, genetics, productivity, plant animal relations, as
well as the effects of pollutant stress and change.
Proposal
The proposal will provide the scientific basis to support sustainable
management of the Marovo lagoon while maximizing use of local
marine resources for the benefit of local communities.
According to a summary report, the research hopes to achieve the
health of coastal marine ecosystems in the lagoon, like many sites
around the world, are risk due to inappropriate land use adjacent
to coastal rivers and the lagoon.
The report said mangroves; seagrass and coral habitats would lead
to significant losses in both physical and functional benefits
derived from these coastal ecosystems.
Goals
The overall goal of the project is to provide an integrated approach
to the environmental management of Marovo lagoon that will support
protection of the region’s high biodiversity and allow sustainable
use of the lagoon’s resources to support the local communities.
“To achieve that we will undertake both an anthropological
study of the indigenous culture to identify their current approach
to environmental management and use the lagoon’s resources,
as well as an inventory of marine ecosystems in the lagoon and
various aspects of its current ecosystem health,” said Dr
Duke.
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