It’s the largest protected forest area in South Choiseul and part of the well-known Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project. Now Padezaka’s forest has been verified as an operational carbon project, allowing the Padezaka Tribe to earn income from protecting 4,800 hectares of old-growth rainforest.
For Patson Taniveke, Secretary of the Padezaka Tribal Association and its management committee, this is welcome news and something Padezaka members have been looking forward to since their land was declared a protected area in 2021.
“This carbon project could have a positive impact on the lives of the Padezaka people by a great deal,” says Patson.
“This will help with education, housing, lighting and other social means, it could make a big difference. [We] are all yearning for the potential benefit this project could bring about.”
The Padezaka Forest Carbon Project is expected to deliver sustainable benefits for around 4,000 Indigenous landowners, supporting livelihood needs, school fees and other outcomes determined by the Padezaka tribal community.
But Patson says this project is also about far more than carbon credits. It is about protecting the forest systems that support climate resilience, biodiversity, freshwater and coastal communities.
“A healthy forest absorbs and stores carbon and this very role plays a big part in slowing down or mitigating against the global warming problem that is impacting our world today, including us here in Solomon Islands.”
“In a country like Solomon Islands, especially Choiseul Island being a very small ecosystem, the health of its inhabitants depends very much on our local environmental conditions. Our forested land also provides a protection buffer for people, which mitigates the impacts of adverse weather events,” he says.
The community was supported to reach this verification milestone as part of the Conservation Finance for Forest and Communities project through the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade—and in collaboration with NRDF and Nakau.
They've already measured 270,635 tonnes of CO2 in emissions reductions from not logging the forest. And this will only grow for each year of the 30-year project. The project was verified by Plan Vivo Climate Standard, and to qualify for a Plan Vivo forest carbon project must be protected for at least 30-50 years.
Padezaka’s forest lies along the Kolombangara River and forms part of the Maetambe–Kolombangara River forest corridor, one of Solomon Island’s most biodiverse regions and habitat for native and endemic animals, including some that are threatened or vulnerable and a IUCN global biodiversity hotspot.
While Padezaka landowners are committed to keeping the forest intact, logging remains a constant threat across Choiseul. Illegal logging was present across the Padezaka border in 2021 and 2022, bringing sedimentation down the Kolombangara River to the reef ecosystem. Padezaka rangers identified and reported the logging incursion to authorities which meant they were able to stop logging operations on Padezaka land.
However, just across the border forests continue to be logged, with devastating impacts for the environment and those communities.
Padezaka’s Chief Godfrey says the decision to conserve Padezaka land continues the vision of his late father, Chief Cornelius and the forefathers from past generations, who opposed logging and wanted the land to remain as it was created.
“They wanted the Padezaka land to stay as it was created so it remains virgin forest, with clean rivers for water, and full of plants and animals. We want it to stay this way,” Chief Godfrey says.
He says the protected area has become a refuge for animals from the nearby logged lands.
“Some of the tribes where we share common boundaries, they have already been logged. So animals will come inside the Padezaka forest,” he says.
“It’s a safe haven for all the animals.”
Chief Godfrey says seeing logged land nearby reinforces the importance of the Padezaka decision.
“When I see logging, I feel very sad that the land is spoiled. Because those bulldozers really dig deep and ruin the soil, everything. The rivers, streams are all flooded and spoiled,” he says.
Young people from neighbouring areas, he says, have told Padezaka youth they are fortunate their land has been conserved.
“Padezaka young people are happy we have agreed to conserve the land. They feel more confident for their future,” Chief Godfrey says.
He says the responsibility now is to pass that commitment on to future generations. “We have to keep the Padezaka tribal land for the future benefit of our children to come,” he says. “And our children to come must continue with this message.”
