For generations, the people of Poposa and Puatanarau have sustainably managed the ecosystems they live among, with their long-held traditional knowledge teaching them to take plants, food and other resources from the forests, mangroves and reefs in ways that will not damage these ecosystems.
Even during great challenges, such as the ethnic tensions that saw the Are’are speaking people driven out of the mainland of Guadalcanal, they worked to maintain these practices to keep alive their vision of sustaining their communities for generations to come.
In both communities, the people’s livelihood and wellbeing are strongly linked to their surrounding natural ecosystems. However, this link was disrupted by the tensions, and further again by challenges of a different kind: logging in the forests near the communities, and concerns about losing their traditional knowledge, which puts the community’s vision at risk.
‘The community in the past, with their traditional knowledge, have been involved in protecting their forest, mangroves and reefs,’ says Wilton Laufiu, Climate Resilient Islands Project Manager for Solomon Islands.
‘Community elders and parents pass the knowledge to their children during evening meals and by demonstrating traditional knowledge during events. However, it has become a challenge, and traditional knowledge is gradually fading out from this community.’
This traditional knowledge still exists in Poposa and Puatenarau, and the communities say that preserving this is critical. They are deeply aware of the importance of the various elements of local ecosystems and the connections between them, and activities done during the CRI team’s visits, including the ecosystems mapping, helped demonstrate this.
These workshops and activities brought together the whole community, ensuring women, men, youth and elders could have their thoughts heard on the importance of the local ecology and the connections throughout the ecosystems. This was especially important for those who were not as aware of these connections beforehand.
‘The activities really help us to see that everything in our forest, mangrove and reef depend on each other,’ one participant said. ‘We didn’t know prior to this, so we have been careless with them.’
‘These activities help to perceive the natural ecosystems and the elements within as important not only to human beings but also to the sustainability of those natural ecosystems,’ Wilton says. ‘The community has been showing commitment to looking after their ecosystems, with their goal for future generations to enjoy abundant supply of food, clean water and income from their natural resources.’
Some in the communities are open to logging, but many have mentioned that their freshwater source comes from the forest, and that soil erosion and landslides associated with deforestation would pose a further threat to their water. They say that, rather than adopt destructive practices like deforestation and the use of modern fishing equipment, strengthening their old customs and practices, including fishing, gardening and more, is the way to achieve their resilience vision.
‘Restoring the traditional knowledge and practices is an alternative to help control the unsustainable harvesting of natural resources available to the community,’ Wilton says. ‘Continued demonstrations of traditional practices or passing of knowledge to younger generations will help the community to preserve and practise their traditional ways of life, which are more friendly to their natural environment.
‘When traditional practices are revived, natural resources will be maintained, and future generations will still enjoy abundant natural resources.’
Climate Resilient Islands is a New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade initiative, implemented by Live & Learn Environmental Education, with funding provided by the New Zealand Government.
