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.