Yato’s rainforest is now the largest legally protected land area in Solomon Islands.
A protected area has been a long-time coming for the custodians of almost 12,000 hectares of healthy rainforest in East Makira, Solomon Islands.
After many years of working towards this goal, five landowning communities who make up the Yato Conservation Project are finally able to celebrate obtaining their official Protected Area for just under 10,000 hectares of this forest—making Yato’s rainforest the largest legally protected land area in Solomon Islands.
The Yato Conservation Project is made up of members from the Atawa and Amwea Tribes who reside in the communities of Bagarai, Napuamarewa, Kereapena, Nasuahu and Hariga.
Since 2022, Live and Learn Solomon Islands and Nakau have been working with these communities on establishing the legal protected area and developing a community-owned carbon project in part of the rainforest.
But the journey towards a protected area first started in 2016 when researchers from the University of Rochester visited the forests of Yato to seek out endemic bird species, in particular the rare Makira moorhen.
“Conversations with multiple communities throughout the region during various expeditions indicated that many are either currently engaged in or have signed concessions for commercial logging with foreign companies"
"The large-scale loss of forest and riverine ecosystems, and the resulting loss of ecosystem services, are therefore imminent,” said one of the researchers, John Albert Uy (Al Uy) about those early visits.
As we now celebrate this massive achievement for Yato, it’s important to reflect on the full journey that has led to this outcome, starting with those first conversations almost 10 years ago.
2016: Elders from three Yato communities approached researchers from the University of Rochester, John Albert Uy and Jon Mittermeier, seeking support and solutions to protect 12,000 hectares of rainforest that included high elevation cloud forests, secondary and climax rainforests, and a major river system that flows into mangroves, lagoons and other marine ecosystems.
“These communities have resisted logging for many years but their customary land is under immediate threat as neighbouring communities are engaged in commercial logging and several men from the communities are now working for logging companies in these neighbouring areas,” reported John Albert Uy.
“Without access to programs that can help with the establishment of a protected area, it is inevitable that they will turn to logging within the next few years.”
2018–2021: Funding received from Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) for a University of Rochester team to work with Yato communities towards the protected area over three years.
This period achieved the foundations of the protected area, including a Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples signed by community chiefs and Elders, a management plan that included plans for developing a carbon project as an income alternative to logging, participant training, forest mapping, a biodiversity survey and the protected area application submission in 2021.
2022: Yato communities engage with Live and Learn Solomon Islands and Nakau to continue their vision and to work towards an alternative income forest carbon project as part of the Solomon Islands Threshold Program—with funding from Millennium Challenge Corporation.
2023: Live and Learn conduct baseline social surveys across five Yato communities, followed up by land-use planning workshops to determine how land is accessed to grow food and for forest resources.
Yato landowners conduct a forest inventory with Solomon Islands Department of Forestry to determine carbon stocks and how much forest is eligible for a forest carbon project.
2024: Yato rangers receive forest ranger and monitoring training, in partnership with the Solomon Islands Rangers Association and the Solomon Islands Government. Forest boundaries and nearby logging concessions are also mapped to identify overlaps that need resolution before a protected area can be officially declared.
Five communities with customary connections to Yato Conservation Area are supported by Live and Learn Solomon Islands to map their genealogy—a key step in identifying who benefits from carbon projects—and participating communities begin identifying their investment needs for community development.
“I would like to see this community in a position where they are able to manage their resources and benefit in a sustainable way."
"Logging is environmentally destructive and even socially disruptive to the peaceful lives of the rural people, and they have fought together against logging developments for so long,” says Martha Saunana, former Project Coordinator with Live and Learn Solomon Islands.
2025: Yato Protected Area is officially confirmed and declared by the Solomon Islands Government under the Protected Areas Act (2010).
"I cannot express how proud I am that Yato becomes a legally protected area. My sincere acknowledgement to the founding Elders—today marks the day that our Elders’ wishes have come true and the beginning of a new era for my people to enjoy our motherland birthright resources in a sustainable manner," says Yato Protected Area Chairman Coleman Mwakana.
"We have experienced disadvantages of logging since it is the only available development on our shores. I want to see that we benefit continuously and harmoniously and the alternative to engage in carbon trade is where our future hope lies besides other environmentally related benefits from our natural ecosystems."
What’s next?
Now the rainforest is legally protected, the Yato communities can focus their energy on developing their carbon project and implementing their conservation management plan.
The project is still engaged with the Solomon Islands Threshold Program—Millennium Challenge Corporation with the goal to reach verification stage by 2026-27.
Next steps in development include benefit-sharing workshops to agree on how carbon income will be fairly shared among members and inclusion training to ensure everyone participates and submission of the carbon project to Plan Vivo Climate — the international carbon standard used in line with the Nakau approach.
