- green-spots
- reforestation
- Solomon Islands
- The Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project
Problems
Like all other Pacific Island nations, the Solomon Islands has made only a small per capita contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet they are on the frontline of climate change impacts, with rising sea levels, increasing cyclones, tsunamis, and other extreme weather events, salination of soils, destruction of cultural sites, and so on, each threatening the way of life. Also, logging has been widespread in the Solomon Islands since the 1950s. As a result, species extinction, vanishing islands, and deforestation have become severe issues. From 2002 to 2020, the Solomon Islands lost around 1.200 km2 of primary forest. According to the online satellite monitoring platform Global Forest Watch, this area makes up about 4% of the country.
Solutions
Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project: so much more than carbon credits
Author: Kristen Lyons and Dr Peter Walters
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project is part of the Nakau Programme, which works with Indigenous landowners to protect and restore forests and other ecosystems and generate income through nature-based solutions. The project is a partnership between Nakau and a local NGO, the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF). Together, the two entities provide capacity building and technical support to ensure the project’s effective implementation, including compliance with the industry carbon Standard, Plan Vivo. What is striking is how this project is about so much more than carbon credits – including activities that ensure direct and immediate benefits to diverse local communities. At its heart, the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project centers on protecting rich, biodiverse rainforests and, in so doing, the future of the Sirebe tribes’ way of life. The project can directly support local sustainable livelihoods through its support for healthy water systems and diverse habitats. Sirebe’s tribal lands include the last untouched primary lowland and river rainforest in Choiseul Province. It is home to a rich diversity of plants and animals and contains many sites of cultural significance. More than 90% of the Sirebe Tribe relies directly on forests, rivers, streams, and land for life and livelihoods. The project focuses on supporting women’s livelihood development through Women’s Savings Clubs. The Women’s Savings Clubs are an important and culturally appropriate approach to ensure that women and marginal groups can benefit from the project and participate in the community’s financial decision-making. So far, several financial management training for the Women’s Savings Clubs have been conducted with the intention of financing activities such as children’s school fees, small community projects, and livelihood opportunities. Employment is provided to community rangers, who are paid to monitor and protect the rainforest. The rangers have been provided with training and resources to increase their skills in land management and conduct forest inventories and biodiversity monitoring. A local conservation organization will support the rangers to increase their capacity to monitor and protect the protected area by using mobile devices to collect data about the area's biodiversity, land management, and carbon. The project also enables better community governance and development, maintenance of a healthy hydrological system, and climate resilience by reducing the impact of extreme rainfall events, especially soil erosion and flooding. The forest is a fundamental part of the local tribes’ cultural identity. The Sirebe Tribe is the first in the project to stop industrial logging thanks to establishing a protected area, preserving the livelihood for their tribe and future generations. Following their leadership, five more tribes— Siporae, Vuri, Padezaka, Garesa, and Lukulombere— are developing forest conservation and carbon projects.
Gallery
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Timelines
2023
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project continued to protect over 806 hectares of tropical primary rainforest on Choiseul, Solomon Islands. The project also supported the community's resilience to climate change and to develop alternative income sources, such as community learning centers, visitor accommodation, and women’s savers’ clubs.
2020
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation project expanded to include five more tribes— Siporae, Vuri, Padezaka, Garesa, and Lukulombere— developing forest conservation and carbon projects.
2019
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project established its first protected area in partnership with the Sirebe tribe, which became the first landowner group in the Solomon Islands to participate in a forest carbon project. The project was expected to generate an average of 17,423 tradable carbon credits annually over 30 years.
2016
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project completed the Project Description and was certified by the Plan Vivo Standard. The project applied an “avoided forest degradation” carbon accounting methodology, where land use was changed from logging to long-term forest protection.
2012
The Babatana Rainforest Conservation project development began with registering a Project Idea Note with the Plan Vivo Standard. The project was initiated by the Sirebe tribe, one of the Babatana language groups living in south Choiseul province, Solomon Islands.