Page 4 - NewsletterJanMarch2014_2

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January - March 2014
IWRM IN FIJI: EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH COMMUNITY
DISASTER MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Prior to the implementation of the GEF
Pacific Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) Project in the Nadi
Basin, there was a fragmented approach to
disaster management in the catchment. The
Nadi IWRM Project helped 27 communities
establish Community Disaster Management
Committees (CDMC’s) and plans. The
process involved women from the villages,
many of which became the chairpersons of
the CDMCs. This has helped to empower
the women of the communities and to
formally recognise their important and often
overlooked role in disaster response and
recovery.
The previous fragmented approach to
disaster management was typified by a lack
of coordination among the communities,
and between the communities and
response agencies. This led to lives lost
during flooding events, delayed response
times and the recurrence of slow and costly
recovery. Normally in the villages of the Nadi
IWRM IN SOLOMON ISLANDS: EXPLORING INNOVATIVE OPTIONS FOR
CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT
When the Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) Project started, there
was no committee or group to organise
the development or management of the
Kovi/Kongulai Catchment. There was a
trusteeship who received money from lease
agreements but they did not undertake
any works on the ground or develop
management strategies. To inspire new
thinking on how to manage the catchment
and see its ecological value as a potential
benefit, the IWRM with the communities
developed an eco-tourism plan for the
Kovi/Kongulai Catchment.
The IWRM Project began to liaise with
the community through the two chiefs of
Kongulai and Kovi. Through their role as
community representatives, the chiefs were
able to improve the projects understanding
of the community’s needs and incorporate
their traditional knowledge into the project.
The chiefs would also facilitate community
consultations and workshops with the
IWRM to create a two-street of information
and understanding. Through the work
of these men, the project began to raise
awareness on the values of the water
catchment with representatives of each
village, about 20 people including women,
youth and chiefs.
Mr. Kalisto Ngao was appointed as a
casual staff member to operate the
hydrological installations in the catchment.
His appointment increased community
involvement in the project and improved
people’s understanding and ownership
of the technical aspects of catchment
management. Mr Ngao goes out each
week to take readings and reports to the
IWRM project office. These data are used
to monitor the Kovi stream’s water level and
flow behaviour. During other catchment
investigations and assessments, members
of the community went out and assisted
consultants to undertake biodiversity, water
quality and health surveys.
Through their involvement in the surveys,
community members gained experience
in survey techniques, technical knowledge
about their water catchment and how we
can impact upon it. Participants in turn
provided the project with extensive and
essential traditional knowledge about the
ecology and biodiversity of the area. People
are now starting to understand the value of
the natural assets in their area. As Mr. Peter
Pukuvati said, “I used to see the insects
and everything as creatures of no value.
When I saw the results of the bio-diversity
survey I see now that they are integral parts
of the environment and are valuable for
themselves”.
From the assessment of what is actually in
the catchment the community has become
interested in the idea of an eco-tourism
plan as they now recognise the richness
of their environment and how this might
be interesting to other people. Through
partnership with IUCN the project secured
funding from the Kiedanrem Nature
Conservation Fund of Japan who funded
the development of the Kovi/Kongulai
eco-tourism plan. Currently tourists can
come to the area and pay a local person
to be their guide however there is no formal
mechanism for this and no management
plan, the eco-tourism plan seeks to
formalise all these activities so they can be
limited and monitored.
“I am currently involved in another
association that links culture and the
environment from a traditional context and I
see this as the next step for our catchment,
eco-tourism could be the idea to venture
into”, said Chief Primo Pukukesa, when
asked about the significance of moving
toward eco-tourism.
The community and IWRM Project hope this
will be an example for other communities to
explore options for sustainable financing to
take care of their catchments and generate
money for their communities. By venturing
into eco-tourism the catchment can be
preserved and the community will have
some incentive to manage and look after
their land and water resources.
The eco-tourism plan was completed
through local consultation and will now be
used to leverage additional funding from
other line government ministries and donors
to support its implementation. These
interventions include camping, bushwalks
along the streams, and caves in which was
found some early cave paintings. Further
works need to be undertaken to identify
the cultural value of the area, in particular
the newly discovered cave painting
and locations of cultural importance for
preservation purposes.
Through the development of the plan I
have realised the importance of learning
from community what their aspirations
are for their area and together discovering
ways to use the unique biodiversity to the
advantage of both the environment and the
communities livelihoods.
One of the “insects of value” discovered
through the biodiversity survey