Setting the Foundation for Sustainable Water Resource

(Pohnpei, FSM)

 

On Thursday, 17 May 2018, Pohnpei State Governor, Marcelo Peterson, signed into public policy the ‘Pohnpei State Water Policy’. This policy sets the foundation for the sustainable use and conservation of water resources, and it creates the enabling framework for the equitable distribution of water. A few key items that make this policy extraordinary:

• It recognizes the distinct difference between the way water management must take place on high islands and atolls. The distinctions include:
• On the main island of Pohnpei - upgrade the design of the Nett watershed Water Fund and promote the mechanism for watershed management to support the provision of water.
• Pohnpei atolls and outer islands – promote community water distribution systems and innovative water supply and sanitation technologies.
• It identifies the need for a holistic approach to water management and distribution.
• It expands water management and maintenance to include watersheds and the conservation of critical ecosystem services.
• It brings the FSM that much closer – one State at a time - to achieving its goals linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) platform, specifically SDG 6 – Clean water & Sanitation.

This achievement was made possible through great partnerships and collaboration between the Pohnpei State Government, Pohnpei State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and partner organizations; namely, Pohnpei Utilities Corporation(PUC), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT), the Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP), United State Department of Agriculture and Natural Resource Conservation Services (USDA-NRCS), International Organization for Migration (IOM), the communities of Nett Municipality and Pakin Atoll, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Technical support was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through BMU-IKI, and the FSM Ridge to Reef Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  

 

“This water policy is hereby adopted and will serve to guide Pohnpei State’s collective effort to improve the quantity, quality and access to its abundant freshwater supply. The same will also serve to guide our collective effort to protect, preserve, manage, and conserve our freshwater sources for present and future generations.” 

~ Honorable Marcelo K. Peterson, Pohnpei State Governor

Governor Peterson endorsing the water policy and witnessed by Pohnpei State Environmental Protection Agency Director, Henry Susaia (Photo credit: Francisco Celestine, Pohnpei EPA)

Water Policy endorsement ceremony witnesses