Solomon Islands

In the late 1990s and early 2000s a wave of Ponzi schemes swept through Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the Solomon Islands. U-Vistract, the most notorious scheme, along with other fast money schemes, attracted 300,000 investors, enticing them with promises of 100 percent interest to be paid monthly. Its founder, Noah Musingku, was a charismatic leader who promoted the scheme as a form of Christian mission and as the basis for establishing an independent kingdom.
Fast Money Schemes uses in-depth interviews with investors, newspaper accounts, and participant observation to understand the scheme’s appeal from the point of view of those who invested and lost, showing that organizers and investors alike understood the scheme as a way of accessing and participating in a global economy. John Cox delivers a “post-village” ethnography that gives insight into the lives of urban, middle-class Papua New Guineans, a group that is not familiar to US readers and that has seldom been a focus of anthropological interest. The book’s concern with understanding the interweaving of morality, finance, and aspirations shared by a global cosmopolitan middle class has wide resonance beyond studies of Papua New Guinea and anthropology.

Introduction:  In most Western countries occupational therapy is well established as a crucial aspect of overall health care; however, in low–middle-income countries it is still an emerging profession. This article investigates the role of occupational therapy in the Solomon Islands by examining the experiences and perceptions of occupational therapists (OTs) and other rehabilitation health workers who have worked there.
Methods: Using a qualitative research design, participants were recruited using purposive sampling, and data were gathered through in-depth interviews, diary entries and observations of an occupational therapy setting in the Solomon Islands. Ten participants were interviewed.
Results:  A significant role in health-promoting practices was revealed through the various tasks undertaken by OTs in the Solomon Islands, including influencing health policy and practice broadly through advocacy and education. Challenges relating to geography, cultural, language and resource barriers, and professional practice issues were identified. Implications for practice were drawn from the data including the need for culturally safe practice, pragmatism, creativity and practising across disciplinary boundaries.
Conclusions:  Results illustrate a clear role for occupational therapy in promoting health and sustainability of rehabilitation therapy services in the Solomon Islands, which also have relevance throughout Pacific island nations.

This report presents the findings of an end-of-term evaluation of UNICEF’s Solar Power Pilot Project: Improving education outcomes by using solar-powered lighting and fans in
primary schools in Solomon Islands (SPP project). The pilot project was implemented
from September 2012 to March 2015 with funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand National Committee for UNICEF and UNICEF Pacific. According to the project document, the aim was to “improve education outcomes by installing solar-powered lighting and fans in ten primary schools in Guadalcanal and Choiseul provinces”. The evaluation was mandated by UNICEF and
conducted by a private consultant who visited Solomon Islands for 20 days in December
2014. UNICEF directed the evaluator to focus on the five schools in Guadalcanal province
because the solar systems there had been in operation for two years by the time of the
evaluation.
The evaluation aimed to establish the extent to which the project achieved the outcomes
and outputs outlined on page 3 of the project design document and was organized around eight areas: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, equity, quality of project design, quality of implementation and cross-cutting issues (gender responsiveness and environmental sustainability). The evaluation report will be used by UNICEF Pacific to understand what worked and what did not work and to document lessons learned that could be applied to similar projects. Other audiences include project partners and other agencies seeking to improve education in developing countries.

‘When a person dies, a library is lost’ is an adage in oral history that underpins and motivates this thesis. Not only is personal history lost but also social history. This thesis explores the use of oral history methods to record personal and professional histories in Solomon Islands and to recover post-war social history that might otherwise be lost or forgotten.
The thesis presents the life histories and oral testimonies of 27 Islanders and seven expatriates who lived and worked in Solomon Islands during the colonial and independence eras and relates their experiences to the post-war social history of Solomon Islands. The life histories and oral testimonies are presented as three collective case studies. The first case study includes four individuals—two Indigenous and two expatriate—who were prominent in Solomon Islands government and civil society. The second case study includes five Australian missionary nurses and relates to their recollections of their work at Fauabu hospital on Malaita from 1968 to 1984. The third case study records the career histories of 25 nurses who trained during the colonial era and became nursing officers after Solomon Islands achieved Independence in 1978. The interview narratives were summarised and supplemented with other source materials to produce individual, group and collective histories. These histories illuminate multiple connections, changes and continuities in Solomon Islands since the Pacific War ended in 1945.
The thesis includes analysis of the impact that my personal background has had on the research. My career as a health care professional and social researcher in Solomon Islands since 1989 positioned me as a (former) insider to the country’s health care systems. I was an outsider in terms of Solomon Islands identities and cultures. My status as both an insider and outsider has inevitably influenced the contents of the oral histories and social history produced. 
The thesis presents a new model of oral history methodology divided into in six ‘domains’—visual, spatial, oral-aural, textual, numerical and digital—covering three phases of oral history—primary (recording and collection), secondary (curating and processing), and tertiary (analysis and interpretation). I also develop a social history framework which situates individual and group lives within their wider social, historical and geographical contexts, and viewed from the micro (personal and group), meso (social, institutional and cultural) and macro (national and international) perspectives.

The thesis examines literature from oral history, social history and sociology—in particular, C. Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination (1959) and R.W. Connell’s Southern Theory (2007). I also draw on, and draw attention to, Solomon Islands history and anthropology, and decolonisation of Pacific history and research. Pacific scholars such as Tracey Banivanua Mar, David Gegeo, Kabini Sanga, Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Teresia Teaiwa argue that Pacific history and research by outsiders often ignore or diminish Indigenous history and peoples. Decolonising oral history methods requires methods and protocols that are culturally appropriate and the engagement of Indigenous people in all phases of the research process. However well-intentioned outsiders might be, using oral history methods in academic research can recolonise (or neocolonise) Pacific oral history by adopting hegemonic academic methodologies and protocols. 
The contributions made by this thesis fall into three categories. Firstly, it collects individual and collective histories and illuminates multiple levels and contexts of social history in post-war Solomon Islands. Secondly, it contributes to the history of nursing and medical services, revealing the extent to which they have been shaped by the colonial legacy, as well as the extent to which they continue to be influenced by international agencies in the post-independence era. Thirdly, it presents two heuristics—a conceptual model of oral history and a social history framework—that bring clarity and coherence to the complexities of oral history research and to the social history of Solomon Islands.

La gametogénesis es la formación de gametos tanto masculinos como femeninos por medio de la meiosis donde se forman células haploides a partir de células diploides de la línea germinal con finalidades reproductivas al unirse ambos gametos de sexos contrarios produciendo la fecundación. Existen dos tipos de gametogénesis que son la espermatogénesis y la ovogénesis. El sexo masculino es el que se encarga de producir los espermatozoides que son aquellos gametos masculinos que se generan por el proceso de espermatogénesis y se da en los conductos seminíferos de los testículos del individuo. Este proceso comienza con las células espermatogonias que son células diploides que se encuentran en la pared de los túbulos que se dividen por mitosis generando más espermatogonias lo cual al madura se convierten en espermatocitos primarios siendo células diploides. Luego estos espermatocitos primarios dan lugar a una meiosis en el cual la primera división meiótica genera dos células haploides denominados espermatocitos secundarios, que a continuación sufren la segunda división meiótica generando dos gametos haploides siendo estos las espermátidas, por lo que, por cada espermatocito primario, se producen 4 espermátidas. Los gametos al madurar, se convierten en espermatozoides que se caracterizan por sus cabezas y su flagelo obteniendo la capacidad de moverse. Las gónadas femeninas que en este caso son los ovarios, también producen gametos. Al igual que el hombre, se empiezan con las ovogonias, células diploides que se forman durante el desarrollo embrionario que después del nacimiento, maduran y crecen convirtiéndose en ovocitos primarios que son rodeados por células granulosas en forma de folículo. Estas células después de un buen tiempo, maduran, y una da lugar a su primera división meiótica en dos células haploides de diferentes tamaños donde la más pequeña al dar lugar a las otras dos células hijas, terminan desintegrándose y la célula más grande se convierte en el ovocito secundario que continua hasta una fase de su segunda división meiotica y sale del folículo de Graf a esperar a ser fecundada en cual el folículo son convierte en un cuerpo lúteo y desaparece. Al darse la segunda división, se producen dos células hijas generando un óvulo y la otra se desintegra que es la de menor tamaño por lo que por cada ovocito primario, se genera un solo óvulo.

Dr. John Roughan (1930-2013) was an outspoken and outstanding voice for sustainable development and social justice in Solomon Islands and the Pacific for over fifty years. A former Catholic priest, many of his ideas were influenced by Catholic social justice and popular education. A mix of parish priest, big-man, and development practitioner, he founded the Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT), which became the vanguard of environmentalism, conservation, and sustainable development in Solomon Islands. He critiqued and offered alternatives to the unsustainable exploitation of logging and marine resources in the Pacific. He founded the Solomon Islands Development Trust in 1982 to promote  village-centred  development. John Roughan has left a unique historical and social body of work, plus organisations that continue to fight for sustainable social and economic development.

同理心（empathy）的概念是人類學與心理學的一個交界面，在認識論與方法論上均有重要意義，例如不同文化對同理心是否有不同的概念與實踐，其差異又如何影響研究者對當地文化的進入與瞭解。本文以筆者在所羅門群島Langalanga礁湖區的田野經驗為例，從指涉思想、意圖與情感合一的malata概念，以及其語言中的前綴詞「kwai-」的相關詞彙切入（含有共同行動的意涵），探究當地人接近同理心概念的一些範疇。與許多大洋洲文化相似，Langalanga人不認為我們能探知他人真正的想法，在強調行為大於動機的文化中，日常生活的「同理心」實以「共做」或「共同行動」（co-acting）的方式來實踐。Langalanga的案例挑戰了對「同理心」概念偏向心智活動的預設，同時也彰顯了人類學知識建構的過程如何受到文化介面塑模。

‘Missionary’ and ‘archaeology’ may appear incongruous partners within contemporary archaeological practice, but archival, museum and oral sources reveal historical connections. This paper explores two missionaries, active in the western Pacific from 1896 to 1973. Reverends Charles Elliot Fox (Melanesian Mission, Solomon Islands) and Frederick Gatherer Bowie (Free Church of Scotland Mission, Vanuatu) both conducted studies related to the prehistory and migration of Pacific people. Both produced material assemblages, as well as textual and visual documents, and formed ideas influenced by their own networks and self identities. The paper examines their data collection methods and relationships with others, considering particularly how their relationships with Pacific Islanders and with psychologist and ethnologist W.H.R. Rivers influenced the missionary research process. By understanding these aspects of their work, Fox and Bowie can be placed within a broader genealogy of Anglophone missionary archaeology dating back to the late 18th century.

Solomon Islands Forest Life is a terrestrial ecology and conservation textbook for secondary school students in the Solomon Islands. The book gives an overview of the terrestrial environments of Solomon Islands, their ecology, important species, and some of the key threats they face.
Chapters are:
Introduction to Environments
Flora (algae, bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, flowering plants)
Fungi
Fauna (invertebrates, freshwater fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds)
Critical Issues (forest resource management, deforestation, plastic and pollution, invasive species, climate change)
Guide to common forest life of Solomon Islands (species descriptions)
Glossary

As we move further into the twenty-first century, we are witnessing both the global extensification and local intensification of inequality. Unequal Lives deals with the particular dilemmas of inequality in the Western Pacific. The authors focus on four dimensions of inequality: the familiar triad of gender, race and class, and the often-neglected dimension of generation. Grounded in meticulous long-term ethnographic enquiry and deep awareness of the historical contingency of these configurations of inequality, this volume illustrates the multidimensional, multiscale and epistemic nature of contemporary inequality.

This collection is a major contribution to academic and political debates about the perverse effects of inequality, which now ranks among the greatest challenges of our time. The inspiration for this volume derives from the breadth and depth of Martha Macintyre’s remarkable scholarship. The contributors celebrate Macintyre’s groundbreaking work, which exemplifies the explanatory power, ethical force and pragmatism that ensures the relevance of anthropological research to the lives of others and to understanding the global condition.

A delegation from the Law Council of Australia visited Honiara, Solomon Islands from 17-21 July, 2011 to conduct a Scoping Study as part of the Review of Legal Profession Regulation in the Solomon Islands.

The Scoping Study identified a strong awareness within the law and justice sector of the key issues facing the legal profession and in particular the deficiencies in the existing regulatory system. Short-term and long-term options to address these deficiencies were discussed with law and justice sector stakeholders.

This Report sets out the findings of the Scoping Study, including the urgent need to resolve outstanding disciplinary matters, and recommends Terms of Reference and a Statement of Outcomes for the Review.

The Scoping Study was supported by the Solomon Islands Government (SIG), the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and the SIG/RAMSI Support Facility (SRSF).

Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, and its surrounding urban areas have the highest levels of population growth in the South Pacific, and the population could treble by 2050. Such rapid growth presents huge challenges, but also great opportunities. This report looks at how the people living in Honiara can manage growth and embrace urban opportunities. It considers possible pathways to enhance urban policy and governance; diverse partnerships across communities, sectors and levels of government; economic prosperity and livelihoods; and urban-rural linkages. The report draws on discussion groups across Honiara with residents in settlements, the private sector, planners, Guadalcanal province and youth groups; involving over 150 people.

In 1999, the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) embarked on sweeping political, economic and social reforms. One of the strategies most critical to the Solomon Islands Alliance for Change (SIAC) Government’s success in creating ‘communal democracy’ was the reform of provincial government. This report summarized the findings of the Provincial Government Review Committee which considered reducing the levels of government to a two-tier system and to recommend reform based on consultation with people at village level and certain key principles

The study of collective or social memory by historians has shown that events and facts are often reconfigured and can be influenced by group rituals and politics, the media and the time over which the memory has accumulated.  What an individual remembers can be determined by her or his group relationships (Hamilton and Darian-Smith 1994).  In his classic study On Collective Memory, Maurice Halbwachs distinguishes between ‘history’ and ‘collective memory’, the latter being the active past which through our narratives form our identities (Halbwachs 1992).  Australian South Sea Islander (ASSI) narratives have these ‘collective memory’ qualities.
This chapter examines how the narratives of ASSI identity has developed.  ASSI by-and-large interpret their history through a narrative of kidnapping and slavery which is at odds with Pacific historians who for the last fifty years have stressed Islander agency and voluntary participation in labour migration, albeit with an early phase of illegal and often violent recruitment.  This chapter examines Islander origins, the difference of opinion with academic historians, differences in the use of words, identity as both Australian and Pacific peoples, and contemporary political agendas.

This paper challenges the standard ‘ethnic’ conflict analysis of the Solomon Islands crisis.  Using Malaita Province as its example, this paper argues that misappropriation of labour since the 1870s has been central to the underdevelopment of Malaita, and that the root cause of the recent crisis in the Solomon Islands was economic not ethnic.  This over-emphasis on Malaitan labour exploitation has been to the detriment of other forms of development, and linked with land tenure issues, changes exacerbated by aspects of Christianity and government, and consequent changing power relations in Malaita Province, was a major factor in the crisis years. Any final solution for re-building the Solomon Islands must involve a rethinking of human and economic development practices, and aspects of the legal and governmental system, guided by an understanding of how long-term cultural practices have articulated with development issues.

Teeth blackening is a form of body modification that was prevalent across parts of Melanesia and Micronesia. The near-permanent colouring of teeth was accomplished by applying plant-based substances combined with a unique kind of ingredient, namely, different soils (asphaltic, peat swamp, volcanic or manganese-containing). Teeth that had been culturally manipulated in a more or less ritualized fashion carried a wide range of associations, embodying local aesthetic criteria and mediating physical and, in particular, sexual maturity and attraction, as well as accomplishing social enhancements that came with maturation. Betel chewing was practised in a very similar region and, though it was distinct, intersected closely with teeth blackening. Subsequent to western contact, missionary efforts succeeded in repressing teeth blackening effectively, and it disappeared rapidly across the whole area where it was once practised.

Introduced over 150 years ago, rice is now a staple food of urban Solomon Islanders. A reanalysis of the localization of rice is at the core of its glocalization in the Solomon Islands. Following a theoretical section on glocalization and neo-philia, the article traces the history of rice in Solomon Islands through contact with Europeans. The article pays particular attention to changing foodscapes associated with urbanization and to the economic and symbolic dimensions of food exchange. (Rice, Solomon Islands, glocalization, eating habits, symbolism of food)

This paper examines three systems of courts of justice, each in a different country in the region of South Pacific islands known as Melanesia, where state legal systems have been adopted from former European colonial governments. The systems discussed are, by comparison, “hybrid”, each of them having been established with the intention of addressing disputes among small scale social groups by less formal means or by taking greater heed of customary forms of dispute resolution. The paper applies a comparative analysis of these systems, covering their distinct history and the variances in structure, funding, personnel and jurisdictional coverage that impact on their effectiveness as state-sanctioned courts. Conclusions are offered with observations about the strengths and weaknesses of these hybrid systems and their potential for development as instruments of community-owned justice in Melanesia.

The takeover of the Gold Ridge mine by Guadalcanal militants in June 2000 followed two years of civil conflict largely involving groups from the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal, resulting in the evacuation of Malaitans from the mine area. This article traces the history of the conflict around the mine site and explores the underlying reasons for the takeover of the mine. Two rationales for the takeover are advanced: the securing of weapons and other materials to support the conflict, and ideological opposition to resource extraction, particularly gold mining. Resource-related grievances rather than greed provide the main explanation for the takeover and looting. Key concerns registered against the mine include a lack of jobs for locals and regional disappointment over the distribution of the mine’s revenue.

Despite the transnational nature of tropical modern architecture being well researched in many former British colonial territories little has been written on the Pacific region. This paper extends a biographical architectural history that spans British modernist beginnings in the UK to tropical modern translations in Nigeria, West Africa and the Solomon Islands, Oceania. It focuses on a network of communications buildings including a Post and Telegraph Technical Training School, telephone exchanges, regional and central post offices and broadcasting stations. Employing the techno-sociological concepts of Actor Network Theory and the Oceanic perspectives of Pacific scholar Epeli Hau’Ofa, in conjunction with Mikhail Bahktin’s notion of “different speechness”, this paper attempts to unravel the multiple and entangled translations of this architecture.
While exploring the transferences of tropical modern architecture between these diverse tropical regions, individual agencies within the networks of colonialism and tropical modern architecture are also revealed. This discussion examines not only the architect’s position within the Public Works Department, but also draws attention to the ‘agency’ of the architecture itself within its translation from
one place to another. The functional and structural dependence of the buildings on modern technologies in transferences of colonial modernity is brought to light, as is their pivotal role in the progression and dissolution of modernity and colonialism. Furthermore, the position of the author as an artist-documenter of this architectural history permits a private voice. The architect of the buildings is the author’s father, and this paper refracts a personal oral history. Consequently translations of this architectural history engender multiple perspectives that complicate and enhance typical perceptions of tropical modern architecture.

The draft paper as at 24th April which is updated from the draft made for the oral presentation session (5th April 2017 does not contain any references and text errors needed corrections). The paper is still being worked on with more sections being added with some aspect areas clarified in more detail. Others are being reviewed. Due to the closure of the Parliament in the UK early for the snap elections, the text is still unfinished and will be resumed for the new Parliament session with no end date set yet. The document is best viewed by a download to Microsoft Word as web browsers tend to muddle the layout. Please note that the ice sheet mass balance changes occur mainly in nearby Iceland, Jan Mayen and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rather than Greenland itself. (High viscous, low nucleation events pushing very cool, effusive, almost 'solid' lava incursions vertically up like the Mascarene volcanism of Mauritius are rare anomalies from a misaligned hotspot influencing further afield - and therefore far less likely.)

Melanesia is becoming a region of many partners , expanding diplomatic options and a new sense of independence. The wider context of the new Melanesian assertiveness is one in which China is a rising power and Indonesia is forging closer links with the western Pacific. The impetus to Fiji's new assertiveness arose from the diplomatic isolation imposed upon it by Australia and New Zealand after the 2006 military coup. Papua New Guinea's new confidence is founded upon its liquefied natural gas boom. Even Solomon Islands is expanding diplomatic connections. Regionally , the change can be seen in the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which now counts Indone-sia among its members, and in Fiji's push for its own vision of Pacific regionalism. Australia and New Zealand nevertheless remain the indispensable countries in the region. Austra-lia's commitment to Melanesia remains constant but without the bold initiatives and interventionist enthusiasm of the early RAMSI years.

In 2003 the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was dispatched to the Solomon Islands. The mission has been seen by some as providing a model for future interventions in the South Pacific. However, it is doubtful whether this is either desirable or readily reproducible given the limitations of regional governments and the diverse character of security threats faced by South Pacific states. After looking at RAMSI and the conditions for its success, this paper provides a brief survey of security issues across the region and examines the possibility of RAMSI-style interventions elsewhere. While RAMSI is a significant development in regional security cooperation, and in particular Australia’s policy towards the region, the author concludes that targeted measures will continue to be the norm of regional development and security assistance.

In 1788, the French explorer Jean-François de Lapérouse and his two frigate ships were navigating across the Pacific, when they went missing. It took 35 years for the rest of the world to understand that the ships had been hit by a hurricane, and wrecked on an island of the Solomons called Vanikoro. After spending months on the island, the last French survivors had tried to return to Europe, but finally perished at sea.
Surprisingly, the memory of those ancient times has survived up to this day in the oral literature of the Vanikoro people. On my first field trip there in 2005, I recorded a dozen narratives from the elders, in the island's four languages (Teanu, Lovono, Tanema, Tikopia). These stories were bringing the indigenous perspective about that early encounter with European sailors — a blend of fear and fascination.
As one examines this “Lapérouse cycle”, one can see how the retelling of the actual events of 1788 has become intertwined with the memories of later periods — like the Blackbirding — but also enriched with elements of the local mythology. This is reminiscent of the way Homer's poems, or the Viking sagas, had been able to transform historical events into epic gold.
The editors of _Synkrētic_, a brand new Australian journal “of Indo-Pacific philosophy, literature and cultures”, wished to feature in their first issue the Vanikoro stories about Lapérouse. Together with the editor Daryl Morini (ANU), we selected seven texts already translated to French, then translated them to English (with notes linking to the original recordings), and wrote a presentation. The result is a short piece titled “The seven lives of Lapérouse”.
My five coauthors (Teliki Thomas, Rubenson Lono, Emele Mamuli, Kaspa Niu Maketi, Willy Usao) have all passed away in the years since I recorded their voices. This posthumous publication must be seen as a tribute to their talent in telling us the history of their people. ______________________________
Alex François, Teliki Thomas, Rubenson Lono, Emele Mamuli, Kaspa Niu Maketi, Willy Usao. 2022. “The seven lives of Lapérouse”. Ed. & transl. Daryl Morini. Synkrētic № 1 (Feb 2022): 156-171. _______________________ https://www.synkretic.com/issue1/the-seven-lives-of-laperouse

The 'common sense' view of Australian foreign policy in the South Pacific is that it is aimed at securing a stable and friendly near neighbourhood for Australia. Contrary to this view, this thesis argues that Australian foreign policy in the South Pacific is based upon an ideology of institutional neo-liberalism and is therefore mostly concerned with transforming governance structures within and around states in line with neo-liberal models of statehood. The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is an Australian-led intervention and state-building initiative designed in response to the violence experienced in the Solomon Islands from 1998 to 2001 and the following years of state bankruptcy and criminality that plagued the South Pacific state. RAMSI has been commonly represented as a success story of international interventionism and state-building, however, I will argue that this representation is seriously flawed because of fundamental oversights in two key aspects of the intervention, caused by RAMSI’s ideological underpinnings. Firstly, causes of instability and violence in the Solomon Islands are reduced to ethnic conflict, poor governance and slow economic growth, while political and historical causes are ignored or seen as secondary. Therefore the central 'solutions' to the 'failure' of the state revolve around the implementation of 'good governance' and private sector led economic growth, whilst long standing grievances are ignored. Secondly, RAMSI is replicating, or even exacerbating, many of the same political-economic conditions that led to the violent conflict to which it is responding. The implications of this argument are that Australian foreign policy in the South Pacific is actually undermining its stated objective of promoting stability.

The Solomon Islands Provincial Government system has been in decline for at least ten years. Issues which limit the effectiveness of National Government, such as political and bureaucratic leadership, good governance, communication, morale and
human resource management, also characterize Provincial Governments. In addition, Provinces suffer from poorly defined roles and functions, inadequate funding, isolation and weak relationships with National Government. These problems have been exacerbated by the impact of the recent civil conflict particularly the severe reductions in Provincial Service Grants, the principal source of Provincial Government revenue.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Isabel Ridges to Reefs Conservation Plan can be used to guide future conservation and development activities throughout Isabel. The plan allows stakeholders to visualise the location of conservation priorities for Isabel Province, the threats that the biodiversity of Isabel faces and what a successfully implemented protected area network across Isabel could look like under several different scenarios. It provides an important step towards establishing an Isabel Ridges to Reefs Protected Area Network (IPAN), which would support future food and freshwater security, preserve the islands remarkable biodiversity and reduce the stress on terrestrial and marine environments, hereby increasing the resilience of natural systems to external shocks such as climate change.

The process of developing the plan was locally driven and involved a range of stakeholders. The planning process included an initial stakeholder planning workshop in Buala in February 2012, a second stakeholder planning workshop in Kia in April 2012 and a final workshop in Buala in June 2012. These workshops brought together community members from every district of Isabel, along with representatives from provincial and national government, NGOs and development industries. The workshops began with presentations from church leaders, government officials, chiefs and scientists on the status of Isabel’s environment and the need to protect it for the future prosperity of the people of Isabel. Workshop facilitators then presented the best available national scale data on the various marine and forest types of Isabel, and described some of the threats these different types of habitats face.

To document fine scale information and make the planning process relevant, local stakeholders used participatory mapping to identify local features within their customarily owned lands and seas that are of high conservation value to them. These features represent important biological and cultural resources that would benefit from protection or management, such as sources of freshwater, cultural heritage sites, turtle nesting beaches, fish spawning aggregations and megapode nesting areas. Participatory mapping was also used to identify threats to biodiversity (e.g. logging, mining and areas susceptible to climate change) and to map areas of conservation opportunity, such as sites that are proposed but not yet managed. These local conservation features were digitised and put into a Geographic Information System (GIS) format. Conservation targets (how much of each feature should be protected across Isabel) were set at a minimum of 17% for all terrestrial and 10% for all marine conservation features that were identified from national scale data, that being in line the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) targets which Solomon Islands is a signatory to. Stakeholders wanted higher levels of protection for the locally identified conservation features, so minimum and maximum levels of protection were used for these features. All this information was then analysed with the software Marxan to produce three different conservation priority maps for Isabel Province.

As well as providing background and guidance for conservation and development across Isabel province, this report provides constructive progress regarding Solomon Islands commitment to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the identification of terrestrial and marine priorities as part of the Program of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA). This report also makes progress towards implementing the Solomon Islands National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) which all of the Premiers of the Solomon Islands signed in 2009. Specifically it addresses Themes 2 and 3 of the NBSAP, which concern species conservation and protected area systems.