WWF Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands people have developed extensive knowledge of their land, sea and wildlife resources.
WWF believes that sustainable livelihood, development and conservation efforts work best where community groups adopt conservation initiatives themselves, and where communities make their own management decisions.
Through its capacity building strategy, WWF aims to build the skills of individual conservation practitioners at the community level as well as establishing a network of community-based organisations dedicated to learning collaboratively and achieving best practices in conservation action.
About the Solomons
The Solomon Islands Archipelago, along with the entire Bismarck and Solomon Seas, are amongst the highest global marine priorities of conservation organisations. The rich and diverse waters also are critically important for coastal villagers, who rely on harvests of marine resources to meet their basic needs.
WWF SI focuses the majority of its work on preserving the marine environment so that it is able to continue to provide resources for subsistence and economic development.
Recent Publications
- Poster: Are you responsible? Fisheries regulations say it is prohibited to...
- Factsheet on farmed aquarium products from Solomon Islands: Creating new rural livelihoods
- Solomon Islands Turtles and People
- A Forests Strategy for Solomon Islands 2006-2011
- Bismarck Solomon Seas Ecoregion (BSSE) Flyer
- Bismarck Solomon Seas Ecoregion (BSSE) : Cradle of Marine Biodiversity
More Conservation
WWF plans to broaden its activities in Solomon Islands over the next five years to become a national programme. A five year strategic plan is being developed for the WWF Solomon Islands Country Programme which will see the current focus on marine protection expanded.
Newsworthy Highlights
Saving the Leatherback Turtle: PNG Post Courier article on the Tri National partnership between Indonesia, PNG and the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands News
Marine focus for livelihood recovery in Solomon Islands
WWF and WorldFish Center are working in partnership to support livelihoods recovery for communities affected by the large earthquake and tsunami in Solomon Islands in April this year.
As the relief phase moves on to rehabilitation, medium to longer term issues such as the loss of valuable reef areas for subsistence, economic benefit and conservation values are being considered.
Rapid marine assessments and surveys of reefs and communities in affected areas have shown that the type and scale of damage from the magnitude 8.1 earthquake varies widely, but that most has occurred in the shallow coastal zone.
Tsunami impact assessment in Western Province reveals marine environment damage
Efforts to gauge the degree of impact of the April 2nd disaster on the marine environment and coastal community livelihoods in affected Marine Protected Areas (MPA) of Western Province have now been completed by WWF staff based in Gizo, Solomon Islands.
Working in collaboration with WorldFish Center, WWF has gathered information on the status of coastal fisheries and damage to MPA sites through a rapid assessment within affected sites.
WWF focused on MPA sites set up by communities it has been working with on Gizo Island and other reef areas between Pienuna to Obombulu (Rannogga), Kakara (Vella Lavella), Nusatuva, (Kolombangara), Boboe (Kohingo Island) and Babanga, covering 22 communities.
Solomon Islands Tsunami Recovery Underway
Did you know that less than 12 Euros or 16 USD ($110 SBD) will buy a 10 kg bag of rice? Less than 60 Euros or 80 USD ($550 SBD) will buy a standard medical first aid kit? And 100 Euros or 140 USD ($1000 SBD) will buy a 30x30ft tarpaulin and rope for shelter?
WWF Officer, Jully Makini, has a refugee camp with about 150 people (20 families) living in tents all around Jully and her husband Patrick's property. As there is a natural spring on the property, Patrick and Jully have been able to make a shower and a wash area using the spring water. They've dug several pits and made a toilet. Some people have starting building shelters using materials salvaged from their destroyed homes on the flats just below Patrick and Jully's house. The people living on the property with Jully and Patrick are provincial govt workers and their families who lost their homes when the Tsunami hit on Monday 2 April. WWF tarpaulins and some aid money from WWF has been used to buy hardware for the toilet and extend piping for the spring water and to buy pots and pans and other supplies.
If you wish to contribute a donation to help WWF Solomon Islands work with the people of Gizo and Western Province, Solomon Islands, to rebuild their communities and livelihoods based on sustainable management of marine resources after the earthquake and tsunami, you can send a wire transfer to the WWF Solomon Islands bank account. Please specify in the wire transfer documentation that these funds are dedicated to "Solomon Islands Tsunami Recovery" and list the project number, which is SB0021.01.
WWF thanks you for whatever donation you can send. WWF will ensure that its standard accounting practices and policies are adhered to in this grant, and financial reports on how the funds are disbursed will be regularly available.
» Download the Solomon Islands Tsunami Recovery account details
Tsunami hits Solomon Islands; WWF staff safe
A powerful tsunami that crashed into the low-lying parts of the Solomon Islands’ Western Province on 2 April has killed dozens and left thousands homeless.
The tsunami was triggered by a large 8.1-magnitude earthquake centred at sea 345km north-west of the island nation’s capital, Honiara. Three metre high waves were reported in some areas, wiping out entire villages and causing extensive damage to the environment.
“You could see the water retreat, going way back out and exposing the coral reef that surrounds the island. It was completely dry and everybody knew there was going to be a wave. People just ran…trying to get to high ground,”
said Laura Vallee, WWF’s Conservation Manager for the Solomon Islands based in Gizo.
Initial reports from the WWF Solomon Islands office indicate that the marine and coastal environment have been badly damaged by the tsunami, including the Gizo Marine Conservation Area. On nearby Ranongga Island, coral reefs in the marine protected area are dying after being uplifted out of the sea by three metres and the shoreline has extended out to sea by up to 70m. Coral reefs off of Njari Island have been reduced to rubble...
Tri-national commitment to leatherback turtle conservation in the Pacific
Bali, Indonesia — Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have agreed to protect the endangered leatherback turtle in the Pacific through joint conservation activities.
The tri-national partnership, supported by WWF, will allow the three countries to enhance conservation of leatherback turtles through information sharing, data exchange and cooperative research. It also plans to establish a network of marine protected areas covering critical leatherback habitats throughout parts of the western Pacific Ocean.
Solomon Islands Joins The Pacific Region “Year Of The Sea Turtle” Campaign
A renewed effort to protect endangered sea turtles will be launched in Gizo, Western Province. This event was marked around the region on the 2nd of March, however for the Solomon Islands the launching date is 9th March. The 2006 Pacific Year of the Sea Turtle (YOST) declared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is a renewed commitment by SPREP member countries and international and national NGOs working within the SPREP member countries to conserve the endangered marine turtles.
The Solomon Islands 1998 fisheries regulations bans the commercial harvest and sale of sea turtles, but the sale and consumption of turtle meat is still common as subsistence by local communities. WWF Solomon Islands will work with partners, such as the Departments of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources to create awareness on the regulations and national policies that offer sea turtles protection within Solomon Islands waters. WWF also works with local communities and organizations, such as the Tetepare Descendants’ Association to support the conservation of marine turtles and support capacity building of community members in monitoring, tagging and data collection.
PNG and Indonesian Government officials visit Solomon Islands to progress marine turtle conservation
Government delegations from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia have travelled to Solomon Islands this week to continue progress towards a tri-national agreement on the conservation and management of the critically endangered leatherback turtle.
Following the first preparatory committee meeting in Port Moresby in October last year, when an Expression of Commitment on Western Pacific leatherback turtle conservation was first announced, the Solomon Islands Government hosted a second meeting from 21-23 February 2006...
WWF Applauds Tri-National Leatherback Turtle Conservation
WWF congratulated the Governments of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands for their commitment to a tri-national partnership focused on conserving the western Pacific leatherback turtle within the Bismarck-Solomon Seas Ecoregion. The three governments stated their intention to develop this partnership during the Council for the Regional Organizations of the Pacific (CROP) Segment of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Summit, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
“The three governments have a major responsibility to secure the future of this regional marine ambassador,” said The Honourable William Duma, Minister of Environment and Conservation of PNG, in his opening speech. The beaches of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands support the largest remaining leatherback turtle populations in the Pacific. Leatherback turtles are classified as critically endangered, with continuing decrease of numbers in Pacific populations in recent years.