Linking invasive species management to long-term carbon market finance could be a key development in the push to restore and protect forests in the Pacific region and address climate change globally.
It’s something Nakau and Live and Learn Vanuatu have been piloting as part of Climate Resilient by Nature — with a focus on developing an approach to managing Merremia peltata (big lif), which smothers much of the forest across Vanuatu and other Pacific nations.
The project teams and customary landowners recently hosted the Vanuatu Department of Climate Change, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and WWF-Australia to show them first-hand the effects of merremia, how it can be successfully managed on East Santo and the impact this work has on a healthy forest ecosystem.
This included a visit to Vunausi where merremia has caused extreme forest and land degradation, particularly in locations where logging — prevalent in Vanuatu from the 1960s to 1990s — and land-clearing for agriculture has taken place.
At the Loru Conservation Area, merremia is also a severe challenge outside the healthy forest currently used for community carbon income. Here, the landowners have demonstrated that managing merremia can help restore the landscape. And they are working towards the inclusion of this management approach into their community-owned forest carbon work as part of the Nature-based solutions forforests and people with Climate Resilient by Nature.
The carbon benefits generated by the project result from two on-ground activities: natural forest re-growth after merremia clearing in forested areas, and a phased agro-ecological reforestation process that was developed locally, and applied to areas cleared of merremia thicket.
Karlene Tevi is one of the project coordinators with Live and Learn Vanuatu, and she sees this as an exciting opportunity for community-owned ecosystem management in the region.
“This is a new invasive species management approach for Vanuatu, but one that could enable more communities to receive support to restore ecosystems and strengthen climate resilience,” says Karlene.
“It’s also a very community-focused approach, as it relies on the Indigenous landowners' skills, leadership and knowledge of their local ecosystem.”
Leading on from this pilot work and Nakau’s national program approach developed in Solomon Islands, the project is now working alongside the Vanuatu Government to develop a national-scale program for similar projects across the country. This is being supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu and WWF-Australia.
“We are now developing a pathway forward for the establishment of a national program and long-term carbon market finance for managing merremia in Vanuatu,” says Alex McClean from Nakau.
“As a result of this trip, interest in this approach is high from the Vanuatu Government and conservation partners.”
Read more about this work in Merremia control in Vanuatu: A feasibility study
Supported by Climate Resilient by Nature through the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and WWF-Australia in partnership with Live & Learn International.
