Replicating Kitti with Participatory 3D Model  Map

Kitti community members with Nate Peterson and Michael Aulerio of TNC

(Pohnpei, FSM)

The small island nations of Micronesia are jewels in the Pacific Ocean.  These tiny forested islands, ringed by stunning lagoons and reefs are home to beautiful cultures steeped in time and stories.  Here in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) are working with local communities to craft a three-dimensional map to highlight the significance of this stunning landscape in the vast Pacific.  The people of Pohnpei are strongly tied to both the ocean and the land.  They rely equally on the ocean to provide marine resources and the land for food and shelter. 

This Participatory 3D Model (P3DM) of Kitti Municipality on the southwest corner of Pohnpei provides a clear picture of the area from the top of the ridges to the outer barrier reef.  With this scale model (1:7,500) all members of the community, leaders, and those lucky enough to visit, will quickly and easily understand the connection from ridge to reef.  It provides a focal point for discussions on how the land and sea are being used, and importantly, how to plan for the future.  A key feature of the P3DM development process is that it encourages greater dialogue and coordination between government and communities. Topics that can be discussed around the model include runoff from the hills to the reef resulting in sedimentation; the role of mangroves for protecting the shoreline; and how protected areas are connected (or not!).  Across these and other issues the foundation is equality for everyone to have an understanding and voice about the future of Pohnpei. 

The P3DM workshop began on Monday 29 October and will be completed in two weeks, Friday 9 November.  During the first week we build the blank model reaching the island high point at 2,600 feet.  The second week is then the time to populate the model by painting the reefs and forest, marking trails and boundaries with strings, and point locations with pins and labels.  At the end we place a legend and reference map so that users can easily interpret the symbols.  The features on the map will also be transferred into a geographic information system (GIS) so the valuable information can be incorporated with other data sets.  As the model will stay here in Kitti it can continue to be used for planning, education, and decision making. 

In 2017 our team completed a P3DM for the municipality of U.  Now with this one for Kitti, and the training provided to CSP staff and residents of Pohnpei, it would be fantastic to build a P3DM for Madolenihmw, Sokehs and Nett municipalities as well.

We extend our thanks and recognition to the FSM Ridge to Reef Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Programme and of course the community of Kitti for their enthusiasm to construct THEIR map of Kitti.

FSM Protected Areas Network Policy Framework Passed by Congress

(Palikir, Pohnpei)

20th FSM Congress (photo credit: CFSM)

On 28 September 2018, the Congress of Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), unanimously adopted the FSM Protected Area Network (PAN) Policy Framework.  The FSM PAN Policy Framework achieves locally the following:

• Formally, through national legislation, acknowledges and adopts Program of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA)

• Creates a mechanism which allows the FSM to report back to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD)

• It establishes criterion for sites to become part of the FSM PAN 

• Creates monitoring protocols for management effectiveness

• Puts in place an application process for the drawdown of funds from the FSM MC Endowment

• Establishes a technical committee that reviews PAN applicants for membership into the network and evaluates management plans and budgets of existing sites

• Will legally create a process by which the FSM will report to the MC Measures Committee on the country’s advancement on the MC goals

• Operationalize and executes the FSM’s commitment to the MC

• Legally binds all PAN sites to their management plans

The newly passed policy further demonstrates the FSM’s commitment to the Island Biodiversity Program of Work which was adopted in 2006, at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) Conference of the Parties 8 (COP 8), in Curitiba, Brazil (decision VII/1).

The decision by the UNCBD COP8 created the Program of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA) to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss on islands, by 2010 and beyond. Moreover, securing the health of natural resources would contribute to the reduction of poverty and enhance sustainable growth of islands.  The PoWPA has seven (7) primary goals:

1. Protect biodiversity
2. Ensure sustainable use of resources
3. Tackle pressures and threats to biodiversity
4. Maintain ecosystem services that supports human well-being
5. Ensure that traditional knowledge and practices are preserved
6. Guarantee equitable access and sharing of benefits from extracted genetic resources
7. Certify adequate resources to support biodiversity activities

The Micronesia countries and territories, in an unprecedented act, at the UNCBD COP 8, demonstrated their commitment, as a region, by pledging themselves to conserve 30% of their nearshore coastal marine resources and 20% of their terrestrial resource, by 2020.  Through this process the Micronesia Challenge (MC) was birthed, and thus inspired multiple conservation challenges around the world: Coral Triangle Initiative, the Caribbean Challenge and the Western Indian Ocean Challenge. 

The MC declaration effectively established a mechanism by which donors (private and public) could invest in island biodiversity conservation, with assurances that the Micronesian islands would designate areas of biological significate for effective conservation, protection and management.  A financing mechanism was established – the Micronesia Challenge Endowment (MCE) – which would financially support biodiversity conservation activities across the MC sites, provided that each country created appropriate PAN legislation. 

The idea behind the MC was to demonstrate, at scale, the commitments of islands to achieve the goals of PoWPA, but more importantly the goals of biodiversity conservation in general.  It would also help islands raise much needed capital – placing their natural resource as collateral – collectively to implement natural resource management and conservation activities. The MC created an atmosphere of cooperation; furthermore, the MC would ensure effective coordination through the exchange of information, communication of results, and collectively help each other build their capacity – the premise in which the PoWPA was originally established.

The Republic of Palau (Palau) was the first of the Micronesia nations to not only create PAN legislation but created a mechanism to sustainably finance the Palau PAN.  The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) passed their PAN legislation in 2015 and is going through legal modification to suit its financial situation.  The FSM had a more difficult process due to its legal structure – the FSM is a nation of four semi-autonomous states who have full control over their state resources.  As such, each of the FSM island states had to create and adopt its own PAN law and the National Government would create a ‘Framework’ that federally recognized the states’ PAN legislation and unlock monies resting in the MC Endowment for distribution to official FSM PAN sites.

Oneisomw Reef Owners Commit to Resource Management

(Chuuk, FSM)

On Friday, September 14^th 2018, the municipality of Oneisomw in Chuuk took a major step towards protecting their marine resources through traditional reef owners signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU pledged to place several reefs into a protected area network of no-take zones. This event underpins the commitment of Oneisomw’s traditional resource owners in working with the state and national government to ensure protection and management of both public and privately owned areas of biological significance which is essential for the sustainable development of the nation, state, and community.

Oneisomw is one of nine islands within the Faichuuk region in the Chuuk State lagoon. Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia has some of the most extensive coral reefs and among the highest fish biomass in Micronesia (Houk et all. 2015). Chuuk’s population is highly dependent on these reefs for subsistence and economic benefit (i.e. commercial fishing).

Since 2012, Oneisomw has been working with the Chuuk Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, Micronesia Conservation Trust, and the University of Guam Marine Lab in developing comprehensive plans that can assist and support the community in better stewarding resources. This process spanning several years of committed work showcases the importance of coordination and collaboration amongst various entities culminating in achieving shared goals. The PAN is just one strategy identified in Oneisomw's holistic fisheries management plan. Other strategies identified that address fisheries are banning nighttime spearfishing, net size limits, and fish size limits.

This bright spot brings the FSM that much closer – one Community at a time, one State at a time – to achieving its goals linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) platform, specifically SDG 1,2,3,5-13, 14, and 15 – commitment to the UNCBD Program of Work for Protected Areas and the UNFCCC’s ecosystem/community-based adaptation.

Finally, through the MOU endorsement, Oneisomw’s marine PAN will become the first site legally declared under the Chuuk State’s PAN law, thereby making it eligible to receive funding from the Micronesia Challenge Endowment Fund once the FSM puts in place a National PAN Policy Framework.

Reef owners signing MOU and witnessed by partner organizations: Marcelus Akapito - Chuuk Conservation Society, William Kostka - Micronesia Conservation Trust, and Ricky Carl - The Nature Conservancy, Micronesia Program

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

Engaging Chuuk stakeholders in PAN spatial planning workshop

(Chuuk, FSM) With the recent enactment of the Chuuk State Protected Areas Network (PAN) Law, it was most timely for the PAN spatial planning to take off in Chuuk from Oct. 30^th to Nov. 1^st 2017. The Nature Conservancy along with partners from the University of Guam, James Cook University, and the Chuuk Conservation Society led a 3-day workshop that was well attended by over 70 participants including the mayors from almost every municipality within Chuuk lagoon and some from the out-laying islands. The participants were very engaged, asked great questions and were eager to learn more about how they can set up protected areas within their municipalities. Discussions also revolved around how to implement fisheries management in Chuuk which generated great interest by the participants to pursue further. A Marxan analysis (a conservation ranking tool) will be produced as a result of the workshop and provided to the Chuuk stakeholders to help inform on the best ways to design their protected areas for maximum benefits for fishing. Workshop results will also be utilized by the Chuuk Division of Marine Resources and the Chuuk Conservation Society in devising next steps for the ongoing GEF Ridge to Reef project for Chuuk State which is currently working in prioritized sites for Chuuk.

For more information on the workshop results, you may contact Liz Terk at eterk@tnc.org or Marz Akapito at markapito@gmail.com.

Chuuk PAN Spatial Planning group photo, October 2017