Marine Resource Management

Conservation in Western Solomon Islands

The goal of the Marine Resource Management and Conservation in Western Solomon Islands project is to ensure that the government and local communities are assisted to establish, enforce and monitor a system of marine protected areas for target sites in the Western Province that will result in enhanced fisheries and conserved marine bio-diversity.

The five project components are:

  • Legislation and enforcement: To support and facilitate Western Province communities, National Government, Provincial Government, NGOs and other stakeholders to establish and effectively manage the proposed Ghizo Marine Protected Area (GMPA) and community based conservation areas.
  • Biological research and monitoring: To generate sound technical advice for resource users, planners and decision makers in the Western Province on how to manage marine resources sustainably and to identify priority areas for management.
  • Socio-economic research and monitoring: To incorporate stakeholder group concerns and interests into the GMPA management process and determine the effects of management decisions on the stakeholders and to better understand resource use and patterns in the Gizo area.
  • Education and Outreach: To ensure communities have a greater understanding of the status, conservation and management of their marine resources and to empower local communities to understand and manage nearshore marine resources for subsistence and artisanal uses.
  • Communications and Promotion of marine programme: To promote the GMPA project and marine programme to a wider audience by communicating stories from the field, case studies and lessons learned as tools for advocacy and replication within Solomon Islands and worldwide.

With funding from the Packard Foundation, this project will focus on the reefs situated close to the Western Provincial capital, Gizo, which are coming under the most pressure from exploitation. In partnership with stakeholders, WWF is establishing the GMPA to manage the coral reefs sustainably for multiple resource use.