PACIFIC: Community development programs used to protect coral reefs
Updated
Delegates from around the Pacific have converged on the American Samoan capital Pago Pago this week for the 18th US Coral Reef Task Force meeting. The meeting is discussing ways the US Government can help protect coral reef systems in its affiliated and freely associated pacific islands.
Presenter:
Speakers: Roger Griffith - Co Chair of the Steering Committee for the US Coral Reef Taskforce. Lelei Peau, deputy director, American Samoan Department of Commerce.
HEGGEN: Comparatively speaking coral reef systems throughout the pacific are doing pretty well but there's no room for complacency. It's been estimated that up to 25% of pacific reefs have been damaged by human impact. Increasing tourist and population pressures on the area means the situation could easily worsen if not managed properly.
Bleaching of coral reefs is a sign of stress and the main causes of stress are over fishing, land based pollutants, recreational use and climate change.
The first three causes are somewhat easier to tackle because action can be taken on a ground level. Lelei Peau is the deputy director of the American Samoan Department of Commerce. He says what's needed is more scientific research, more money and more political will, but that the crucial ingredient for success is incorporating traditional knowledge and empowering traditional communities to manage their own resources.
In america samoa for instance community development programs are being implemented.
PEAU: You empower the local communities to establish their own fisheries regulations, this will take into account not only education but also enforcement of their policies, we feel that they're more closer to the resources and government can not be responsible for local action, it requires a partnership between communities and government so, i think having that empowerment on the locals will make it, will go a long way.
HEGGEN: The issue of climate change is of course an extremely difficult one for pacific countries to tackle. Climate change is expected to raise water temperatures which leads to coral bleaching and there's now strong scientific evidence that increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be imperilling coral's ability to construct reefs. Research has shown that when CO2 dissolves in seawater it makes it more acidic.
And that affects the way in which coral forms, all of this of course having a huge impact on coral ecosystems and fish stock. I asked Lelei if locals were angry at industrialised countries like the US and Australia for not doing enough to tackle climate change.
PEAU: well i think they're angry in a more pro-active way, they will like to see more commitment and more leadership from those industrial nations to take charge and responsibilities but it requires a co-operative effort, i think we recognise that this is going to be a national, regional, internation effort, but it would be nice if industrial nations could take more responsibilities from some of their actions.
HEGGEN: Roger Griffith is co-chair of the US Coral Reef Task Force's Steering Committee. He says he understands concerns that pacific nations have regarding climate change but that there are strategies that can be implemented that give him cause for hope.
GRIFFITH: It involves setting aside protected areas as a source of future seeds or larvae or babies for the reefs and the reef fish and creating a network of those protected areas, so that it's sort of an insurance policy so that if the reef does get impacted by climate change there are areas that can repopulate the reef quickly over perhaps a decade or two, It's not an easy process, it involves a fair bit of science certainly a great deal of interaction and support from local and international communities but there's wonderful examples where it's actually being implemented very successfully right now in places like fiji and indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
I think that's the cutting edge of coral reef conservation today and so far the experiences give me great optimism that we can do this.
