A review of
key environmental sectors with priority projects recommended for International
Waters Project consideration
Abel Tapisuwe
Albert Williams
Tel: (678) 229115
Michael Vari
Fax: (678) 224510
Acknowledgements
This report was made possible by the support, and contributions of a number of individuals and organizations:
Firstly we are in debt to Coordinator of Vanuatu International
Waters Project and all at the Environment Unit for recognizing FSPI’s potential
for undertaking this study focusing on International Waters Project including
ocean, coastal and watershed areas, but specifically to reflect the
Secondly FSPI and its local counterpart FSP Vanuatu for getting the word around to the team by all means available to them and the trust they vested in us to produce this report. Thanks for the initial discussion on the report format and the formal process for this report to reach the IWP Vanuatu Office in Port Vila. Most importantly for the patience and generosity to use office resource and space for the majority of the work.
To all the government departments and those in the private sector that had contribute in one way or another with information that they have on environmental related activities that they are doing. We thank you for putting aside time to meet us over the holidays especially before the two holidays.
The team also acknowledges the National Biodiversity Project for the use of the photo from Malakula for the front cover of this report.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
This section will be finalized once the final
report is due.
**********
Executive Summary
This reports tries to review available information on key environmental sectors of fishery, forestry, agriculture, water, health, biodiversity and waste management. Due to the time frame given to the consulting team, the report only highlights the major constraints, and the identification of potential opportunities in the sectors.
From the review of major environmental
constraints issues relevant to the International Waters Project (IWP) activities are identified. These are discussed
and presented to the
Discussion and debate with IWP staff and
advisory committees is now requested to guide prioritising these activities and
hence draw a recommended work plan for the IWP project in
Table of Contents
1.1 The International Waters Project
1.1.1 The vision for the IWP is:
2.0 Physical Context of Vanuatu
2.1.2 Political/Geographic Structure of the Country
3.0 Review of current and planned capacity building
projects
4.4 Toxic and hazardous waste disposal
4.6 Existing framework for Waste Management
4.6.1
Corporate plans for the Health Sector
4.6.3 Regulatory Framework for Waste Management
in Vanuatu
4.6.4 International obligations
4.7 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
5.2 Existing framework for the agricultural sector
5.3 Corporate plans and strategies
5.4 Legislation and regulations
5.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
6.4 Legislation
and regulations
6.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
7.3 Impact of
geological, weather and volcanic activities
7.4 Existing
framework for Biodiversity Conservation
7.4.1.2 Main
initiators of conservation areas
7.4.1.3 Main
reasons for establishing conservation areas
7.3.1 National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
7.3.3 Legislation and regulations
7.3.4 International obligations for Biodiversity
Conservation
7.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
8.0 Human Health and well being
8.2 Existing framework for health management
8.2.1 National Health policies
8.2.2 National Health Legislation and regulations
8.2.3 International obligations for Health
8.2.6 Financial Resource and Expenditure
8.3 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
9.1 Existing framework for Water Resource
Management
9.1.2 Legislation and regulations
9.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
9.5.1 Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance
Capabilities in Vanuatu
9.5.2National
Standard and Policy
9.6.1Water
Quality Laboratories
10.1 Existing framework for Fisheries Resource
Management
10.1.1 National Fisheries Policy
10.1.2 Legislation and regulations
10.1.3 International obligations in the Fisheries and
Maritime Sector
10.2 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
11.0 Recommendations and Conclusions
1.0
Chapter: Background to International Waters Project and its aims
1.2 The International Waters Project
2.0 Physical Context of Vanuatu
2.2 Political/Geographic
Structure of the Country
2.7 Review of
current and planned capacity building projects
3.3 Toxic and
hazardous waste disposal
3.6 Existing framework for Waste Management
3.8 Regulatory Framework for Waste Management
in Vanuatu
3.9 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
4.2 Existing framework for the agricultural
sector
4.3 Corporate plans and strategies
4.4 Legislation and regulations
4.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
5.4Legislation
and regulations
5.5
Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
6.3 Types of conservation initiatives
The
systems are outline in Table 6 below:
6.4 Alternative resource conservation approaches
6.5 National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
6.6
Legislation and regulations
6.7 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
7.1 Existing framework for health management
7.2 Vulnerabilities,
weaknesses and problems
8.1 Existing framework for Water Resource Management
8.5 Vulnerabilities,
weaknesses and problems
9.1 Existing
framework for Fisheries Resource Management
9.2 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
10 Recommendations and Conclusions
10.6 Fisheries and Marine Sector
Map of
To be inserted
1.0 Chapter: Background to International Waters Project and its aims
1.1 Background
The following sections document key issues and information collected during the consultation to review priority environmental concerns for the International Waters Project (IWP).
The purposes of this report are:
· To prepare a written report summarizing available information on the state of the Vanuatu’s environment (forestry, fisheries, agriculture, biodiversity, water, health and waste management), current management and perceived conservation practices
· To describe priority issues for consideration by the International Waters Project (IWP) in choosing community level activities from within these IWP’s program areas: Freshwater, waste management and coastal fisheries
The methodology employed for the review of environmental concerns for the IWP project comprise of the following:
· Briefing by the Vanuatu IWP Coordinator on what is required
· Meetings and discussions with the Government, private sector and the Non-governmental organization officials
· Review of written documents
The
consulting team compromised Abel Tapisuwe, Albert Williams and Michael Vari
1.2 The International Waters Project
International Waters is one of the four focal areas of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which was created in 1994 to provide a unique niche – that of providing financing for programs and projects to achieve global environment benefits in four focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters and ozone layer depletion and also in land degradation as it relates to these focal areas.
International Waters extend far inland and far out to sea. This is because the global hydrological cycle links watersheds, air sheds, estuaries, coastal and marine waters through the trans boundary movement of water, pollutants and living resources.
It has two main components: Oceanic and coastal
Sustain ably managed and effectively conserved coastal and marine resources and habitats in the Pacific islands region.
Oceanic component: “to enable conservation and sustainable yield of ocean living resources”. This is being done through a coordinated program involving the SPC and Forum Fisheries Agencies to provide improved information on the exploitation of the tuna resource in the region.
Coastal component: “to address root causes of the degradation of international waters in coastal regions through a program focused on improved integrated coastal and watershed management through community level to address priority environment concerns within countries relating to:
§ Marine and fresh water quality
§ Habitat and community modification and degradation
§ Unsustainable use of living marine resources.
To achieve this, regionally the IWP will support the establishment of 14 pilot projects, one in each of the participating countries. Each project will seek to strengthen capacity and provide lessons for best practices and appropriate methodologies for sustainable resource management and conservation in four focal areas relating to:
§ Marine protected areas
§ Sustainable coastal fisheries
§ The protection of freshwater resources
§ Community based waste reduction
2.0 Physical
Context of Vanuatu
The
2.1 Population Dynamics
Some key aspects of the population dynamics taken from the 1999 Population Census can be seen below:
§ The average annual growth rate between 1989 and 1999 was 2.6% of which the urban growth rate was 4.2% and the rural growth rate was 2.2%. The rural population was 78.5% down from 81. 8% in 1989
§ The age dependency ratio (i.e. the sum of the young and old as a portion of the working age population of 15 – 64) was very high at 85% with 42.7% of the population under 115 years and 3.4% over 65 years
§ Crude birth rate per 1000 is 33
§ Fertility rate is 4.5% with child bearing starting at age 15
§ More males than females were in paid employment (30.1%) compared to 19.8% and more females than males were subsistence farmers (72.9% compared to 62.5%)
§ Infant mortality rate is 25.5% for female and 26% for male
§
Crude death rate
per 1000 is 6% (8-10% in 1999) with life expectancy for females now is 70 years
and male 67 years
2.2 Political/Geographic Structure of the Country
The Republic is a parliamentary democracy with executive power vested in the Prime Minister and the council of thirteen Ministers (2000 figures), which is responsible for government departments, national administration and the provision of government services. The Head of State is the President. The exception was that if chiefs stand for public office, they relinquish their chiefly titles, although this appears to be changing. The acceptance of the democratic process and the right to vote is seen in voting turnouts of 81% of eligible voters in the 1987 election and 71% in 1991.
The Decentralization Act passed at independence established
eleven Local Government Councils (LGC) to be the communicating link from
government to rural areas, and formalized the formation of a national council
of chiefs (the Malvatumauri) and island councils, which play an advisory role
to local and national government. These LGC were later replaced with the
current six Provinces comprising: TORBA, SANMA,
PENAMA, MALAMPA, SHEFA and TAFEA provinces. A map of
It is anticipated that the Provincial Government Centres
will become vigorous growth centres, in a better position to address the widely
different circumstances and needs of rural districts and to ensure that rural
areas get an equitable share of government services. They have recently
launched their Rural Economic Development Initiatives (REDI)
plans (2002) as bases for their 5 year development programs. These initiatives
have had wide consultation to include affected communities whose inputs whose
inputs have been incorporated. It is still very much too early to comment on
their successes. An important element of success would be the funding levels
these Provinces get to implement their REDIs. Five percent of the 1995 national
budget was allocated to build the Provincial Governments into effective units
and the devolution of financial and administrative decision-making to
provincial Governments is a long-term goal. The country has two urban
municipalities, the Port Vila Municipal and the Luganville Municipal located on
the islands of
2.3 Culture
About one million people were living in the islands of
The symbiotic reliance was very much a part of every day living: man had a large respect for his environment for his well- being and the forests, swamps and sea and their flora and fauna had high respect for the man through its spiritual beliefs that man had towards particular plants possessing certain spiritual powers such as the kok tree in the Apma language of Central Pentecost and the large nambanga trees who were known to live in these trees and guard the surrounding areas (pers.com). Fauna too were believed to possess spiritual powers, such as the snakes that were often believed to be the spirits themselves. Some areas were even established as tabu areas with guardians of these fauna species.
Such places were not widely called conservation areas, but were established in memory of an event: a chief’s death, rank taking ceremonies and someone being killed in a location. However, such sacred places played an important role in the biodiversity conservation such as around pools, creeks and plants (Naupa, 2001.). Naupa cites that hunted animals on entering these areas were left alone incase the spirits are disturbed.
The reasons for making a place sacred, clearly demonstrates that conservation areas in today’s context were established with other primary aims in the past in traditional resource management context which were to:
a) Appease the spirits who guarded or lived in certain areas
b) In memory of a traditional ritual ceremonies performed in specific locations
c) Value a clan’s origin etc
This is contradictory
to Naupa when she says that in the
· Changes in time taken to harvest a certain volume of specified species
· Changes in the abundance of target species
· Volume of resources harvested
· Changes in the average physical sizes of resources caught
· Abundance of resources in their locations especially of fauna in both sea and land
· Adequacy of harvest.
The current low population has over only a period of 100 years over exploited resources to near extinction. Hence there is an important need for conservation initiatives to be taken.
Naupa defines conservation as any activity whose direct or indirect purpose is to maintain, replenish or manage the use of natural resources.
Today, the documentation of the traditional resource
management systems in
In
During pre-colonial days, land and the sea provided everything needed by people to live a full life. What was provided was well managed by various methods and means. To safe guard this system, chiefs were appointed to serve their communities to uphold peace and stability. At the same time they were appointed as traditional leaders with the obligation to protect and uphold all that is regarded as custom, culture and tradition. They played the role of supervisor, judge, prosecutor, investigator, developer and police, making it a most effective and cheap system of governance to ensure peace and stability (Garu et al, 2001).
Respect was the key tool of the highest- ranking chief in the area. He held authority over all matters including over live and death (Garu et al. 2002). As Father Lini once put it, “Respect is honorable”. Respect is a two- way behavior: Chief respects his people and his people respect him. If there is no respect then something definitely is very wrong. The respect was also shown to the traditional resource management systems that existed under the chief’s authority to ensure that peace and harmony is maintained between the people and the nature.
2.4 Education
The census figures show that of the population aged 15 years and above:
§ 18% had never attended school (22% in rural areas)
§ 55.5% reached no higher than primary school
§ 21% attended vocational schools or post secondary schools (teacher’s college and nursing schools)
§ 1.3% attended a tertiary institution.
In relation to gender differences, more women than men had not been to school (20.6% compared to 15.5%), more men than women received some level of secondary school certificate (15% compared to 12%) and more men than women attained qualifications at university level (1.8% compared to 0.8%).
The literacy rate in 1999 was 74% with the literacy rate in urban areas at 90% compared with rural areas at 69%.
2.5 Economic Activity
Of the working population of 97,642 between 15- 64 years:
§ 67.2% were subsistent farmers
§ 25.5% worked for pay/ salary/ profit
§ 5.7% did unpaid work
§ 1.6% were looking for work
§ 21.3% were economically inactive
2.6 Land
One quarter of Vanuatu is mountainous; only 5% is of the land area is raised coral terraces; 22% is stepped terraces and plateau and highly dissected by creeks and; relic volcanic cones occupies 7% and volcanic foot slopes occupy 10% of the area; about 7% is taken up by rivers and freshwater lakes and comparatively lowlands useful for agricultural activities take up to 41% (Nimoho et al, 1988).
The Constitution provides that
land tenure is based on traditional systems and that only indigenous
The Constitution also allows the Government to declare portions of land to be public land if it sees it to be beneficial to the country for example the establishments of townships.
Land is inherited through paternal lines on some islands while in some through matrilineal lines. On some islands both systems exist.
Approximately 41% of the land in
3.02.7 Review
of current and planned capacity building projects
Table 1. Summary table detailing the donor agencies
programmes in
|
Assisting Agency |
Program |
Implementing Agencies |
Environmental focus |
Implementation dates |
|
ADB |
Urban Infrastructure
Project |
NPO PWD Environment Unit |
·
Urban Growth Management Strategy ·
Sanitation Master Plan ·
Environmental Legislation ·
Forestry Legislation |
1997 onwards |
|
|
Institutional
Strengthening and Environmental Statistics |
NSO |
·
Environmental Resource Information ·
Technical training? |
1998 |
|
AusAID |
|
DOF |
·
Improved forest management, planning and
monitoring |
1995-2000 |
|
|
|
DOL |
·
Improved planning through sound natural
resource information |
1995-2000 |
|
|
Hydrological Baseline
Surveys |
DGMWR |
·
Community training in environmental
monitoring and awareness ·
Drafting of mineral regulations |
|
|
|
Waste Management
Studies |
REGIONAL |
·
Review of waste disposal strategies |
|
|
EU |
PASEP |
CDC |
·
Educational infrastructure ·
Curriculum development |
1996 |
|
|
Economic Development
Potential Survey? |
Private (BEST) |
·
Ecotourism potential studies |
1996-1997 |
|
|
PGRFP |
DOF/GTZ |
·
Indigenous forest management |
1997-2002 |
|
|
PRAP |
DOA |
·
Agro forestry |
On-going |
|
|
Other |
NPO |
·
Provision of TA |
|
|
GEF |
PICCAP |
NPO/EU |
·
|
1997-2000 |
|
|
SAP for International
Waters |
Foreign Affairs |
·
Integrated resource management ·
Environmental Resource Information |
Planned |
|
NZODA |
Education and Training
programs |
DOE |
·
Training for the transfer of skills to
further |
|
|
|
Rural and
Infrastructure programs |
DGMWR |
·
Preparation of a strategic plan for water
supply |
Planned 1999 |
|
|
Quarantine Services |
DOA |
·
Enhancing ability to deal with imported
pests and diseases |
On-going 1996-2001 |
|
|
Natural Resources: Soil
Erosion and conservation |
DOF |
·
Environmental management, education and
awareness ·
Job creation and sustainable livelihood
associated with Erromango Kauri Reserve |
On-going |
|
UNDP/SPREP |
Persistent Organic
Pollutants |
DOA |
·
Improved chemicals management |
1998-2000 |
|
|
SPBCP |
Environment Unit |
·
Conservation management |
1994-1999 |
|
UNEP |
National Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan |
Environment Unit |
·
Environmental Resource Information |
1997-2000 |
Source: Corrigan, H., and Williams A.A (1998) capacity
Building for Environmental Management in the Pacific (CBEMP). Stakeholder
Consultation for
4.03.0 Waste Management
The following section outlines the key waste management issues and outlines the key environmental management tools such as legislation, policies, etc; and also looks at the various threats, vulnerabilities and opportunities for the sector[2].
Waste
management is a serious environmental problem in
43.1 Solid waste management
Vanuatu’s
Waste Management Policy recognises that solid waste management in Vanuatu is
not just a matter of solving the problems of litter and solid waste disposal –
a full solution has social, economic, environmental, health, education, and
commercial and international relation dimensions. It was also recognized that
for
Waste characterization is very important in giving reliable baseline data to guide targets for disposal, reduction, reuse and recycling, and to raise public awareness of the general public, the decision makers and the legislators. The only recent waste characterization study has been of waste generated in the Port Vila urban area (Sinclair, Knight Merz, 2000). The information presented below comes from this study.
In the one-week study an estimated 172 tonnes (900 cubic meters) was delivered to the landfill. The equivalent of 0.65kg/person/day. The composition of this waste is characterised in table 2. From which it can be noted that:
· Biodegradable material is very high at 71%. of waste by weight. Much of this could be composted and removed from the waste stream, extending the life of the present land-fill site from 30 years to 100 years. This would be a considerable economic and environmental saving to Port Vila Municipal and its residents.
· Paper wastes is also very high at 11.4% of waste by weight.
· Plastics are high at over 7% of waste by weight.
· Very few returnable bottles were reaching the land-fill- suggesting that in town bottle recyling is working.
· Some 60 tonnes of Aluminium cans are reaching the tip each year, and this could potentially be recycled.
· Over 80% of waste going to landfill could be recycled or composted.
Recommendations include that waste reduction activities are important to halt or slow down the increasing rate of waste generation per capita. This includes greater separation of wastes so that wastes that can be composted or recycled are dumped in the landfill, education about waste management and legislation to guides the private sector, importers and consumers, possibly even placing legal responsibility on the importer to return some waste to their source.
The study also concluded that the Municipal council is under-funded and under- resourced as far as waste management is concern. As a result there is “no true environmental cost recovery” with the operations of the Port Vila Landfill by the PVMC.
Table 2: Waste
classification Port Vila Municipal Tip, 2000.
|
Primary
Waste Classification |
Secondary
Waste classification |
Average Percent (% weight) |
|
Paper |
Cardboard
Boxes Sanitary Other
– magazines, newspapers, office, tetrapak, packaging |
4.1% 1.7% 5.6% |
|
Plastic |
Polyethlyene
terephthalate (PET) plastic Rigid
High Density Polyehtylene (HDPE) Plastic Flexible
HDPE & other plastics |
0.3% 0.4% 7.0% |
|
Glass |
All
Glass |
3.3% |
|
Metals |
Aluminium
Cans Other
metals |
0.7% 2.9 % |
|
Biodegradable |
All
organic |
71% |
|
Textiles |
All
textiles |
1.6% |
|
Potentially
hazardous |
All |
0.7% |
|
Construction
& demolition |
All |
0.7% |
|
Other |
Including
rubber & other |
0% |
|
TOTAL |
|
100% |
(Source: Sinclair, Knight,
Merz, 2000).
34.2
Liquid waste management
There has been limited attention to liquid waste management outside of the Port Vila and major resort developments.
The Port Vila Sanitation Master Plan Project has three important objectives:
· To improve the standard of hospital sewage treatment to an acceptable modern standard to cope with the current and future wastewater loads arising from a proposed 150 bed expansion of the hospital.
·
To improve the health and well being of the
residents
· To halt the disposal of treated sewage effluent to the Ekasuvat lagoon by disposal of the disinfected hospital sewage effluent by sprinkler irrigation on hospital and nearby Municipal land.
Both Port Vila and Luganville have had funding from ADB to develop a Sanitation Master Plan (SMP) though funding for their implementation is slow to materialise. The most recent SMP is probably the sixth time feasibility study has been done for Port Vila.
The two urban centres rely on conventional on-site storage septic tanks for their liquid waste management. Most of these are in poor order and lack proper operation and maintenance. This continue to pose a serious threat to the coastal marine waters and freshwater resources in marine areas close to Port Vila.
Major resorts are required to have on-site mini sewerage treatment plants. However, these are not monitored, and break downs are often reported. Requiring the resorts to dispose of their treated effluent on site (e.g. sprinkling onto gardens and golf-courses) would be preferable to the present policy of discharge to sea.
There
is provision for storage of septic tank effluent at the PV sanitary landfill.
However at times management of this facility has been questioned as wastes oils from garages and other
hazardous liquid wastes are continuously being emptied into the ponds that were
designated for sewage.
34.3 Toxic and hazardous waste disposal
The introduction of “persistent toxic substances” (PTS) into the environment and resulting effects is a major issue that gives rise to concerns at local, national, regional and global scales. Many of the substances of greatest concern are organic compounds characterised by persistence in the environment, resistance to degradation, and acute and chronic toxicity. The lipophilic character of these substances causes them to be incorporated and accumulated in the tissues of living organisms leading to body burdens that pose potential risks of adverse health effects. There is a need for a scientifically based assessment of the nature and scale of the threats to the environment and its resources posed by persistent toxic substances that will provide guidance to the government and the communities concerning the priorities for future remedial and preventive action (Vari, 2002).
Present issues identified include
· Chemicals used in timber treatment. While operating sites should be managed in accord with forestry guidelines, there is limited monitoring to ensure this is the case. Reports of contaminated ground from present and old treatment sites have been made, and there are concerns that these could enter the human food chain through inhalation of dust or absorption into food crops. These chemicals are also a threat to marine organisms should incorrect disposal occur.
·
Potentially contaminated world war two sites on
Santo and to a lesser extent
· Insecticides used many years ago for mosquito control.
43.4 Special wastes
Quarantine Waste
VQIS
is responsible for management of quarantine wastes which are collected from
ports and airports. These waste are burned at a designated trench at the Bouffa
Landfill although an incinerator was funded by NZODA, this is no longer
functioning and is located at the
Clinical
Wastes
Most clinical wastes except the
Healthcare waste could be addressed by IWP as a pilot project that if proven successful could be transferred to other island communities. It should be noted that the Vila Central Hospital Incinerator continuously breaks down which means that clinical wastes need to be transferred to the Designated Trench at the Bouffa Landfill for burning often with minimal supervision because of ill preparation by the waste handlers eg. Foul smell.
Industrial
wastes.
The
nature of industrial waste generated in
Other waste streams include paint wastes from Apco Coatings (formerly Asian Paints), antifouling paints from slipways, used oils or lubricants and other hazardous materials such as used car batteries etc.
43.5
Oil pollution
The National Oil
Spills Contingency Plan developed by the Vanuatu Maritime Authority provides
the overall framework for oil spill responses throughout
43.6 Existing framework for Waste Management
Currently
there is no agency or department with the overall responsibility for waste
management. The National Waste Policy as endorsed in March 2001 has the
Environment Unit as the Waste Coordinating Agency but very little is done and
there is no technical expertise within the office. Nonetheless a number of
government and local government councils play some participatory role through
the management of urban solid waste management landfills.
The Port Vila sanitary land-fill regarded as one of the best sanitary land fill in the pacific region. However the area is currently under land dispute, has poor management, and PVMC has a lack technical expertise in the areas of land fill management.
The Ministry of Health retains an important responsibility for many waste management activities. The Ministry acknowledges the need for minimum standards in the areas of Environmental Health: clinical waste, food, water, solid waste management, housing, pollution, and sanitation and port health. The Ministry recognizes that there are special stresses/ problems faced by the urban environment including: collection and disposal of large quantities of rubbish, sub-standard housing, water quality, water supply not keeping up with population growth, unhygienic conditions of food for sale, industrial pollution, and lack of proper drainage system.
The
Ministry further recognizes that inter-sectoral collaboration is essential in
the implementation of environmental health programmes (Environmental Health Policy, 2002).
43.7 National Waste Policy
The National Waste Policy with the Department of Environment that was endorsed in March of 2001 seeks to address these specific waste management issues.
· Lack of Education and Awareness of the population on waste (management) issues both at the Municipality and Provincial Level
· Lack of proper management of waste at both the Municipality and Provincial Level
·
Inadequate waste minimization initiatives such
as recycling, reuse and reduction programmes or activities in
·
Absence/Lack of a government focal coordinating
agency/unit for waste issues in
· Lack of training and support to local authority personnel handling/ dealing with waste
· Lack of access to proper facilities and equipment to facilitate proper storage, collection, transportation, and disposal/treatment at both Municipality and Provincial level
·
Lack of a comprehensive National Waste management
Act/Legislation and appropriate regulations to regulate waste in
The overall goal of the policy is “ to prevent, protect and control the adverse effects of waste on human health, environment and the economy of the country.”
The objectives of the policy are two –fold
(i) To minimize and ensure proper waste management through ways that:
· Protects the environment by reducing adverse impacts,
· Promotes human health
· Facilitate socio-economic developments and
·
Is acceptable to the people of
(ii) To increase public knowledge and understanding on Waste Minimization and Management issues to ensure their active participation in programmes and initiatives developed to achieve the above goal.
34.8 Regulatory Framework for Waste Management
in Vanuatu
Legislative framework addressing waste as an
environmental issue is lacking and undeveloped although there are a number of
pieces of proposed legislation that have implications on solid waste
management. A Draft Waste Management Act for the
· Public Health Act ( ) - controls of disposal of waste in public places and littering
· Environment Management and Conservation Act (2002) - provision for waste management, pollution and hazardous substances or materials such as Ozone Depleting Substances.
· Water Resources Act (2002) - provision of pollution control and protection of water catchment
· Pesticide Registration Act (____)
· Occupational Health and safety Act (____)
It should be noted that the coordination for implementation
of these national laws is very poor.
Local by-laws that deal with solid waste management issues in the Municipal councils of Port Vila and Luganville include:
·
Prohibition of
Disposal of Litter and Rubbish By-law No.3, 1992
·
Cleaning of
Premises, By-law No.5 1992
·
Public Cleansing
and Prevention of Nuisance, By-law No.1 1994
·
Litter By-law,
1997
All
above by-laws try to address littering or illegal waste disposal in public
areas or unoccupied and occupied land, and cleanliness of properties to reduce
the breeding sites of vectors. They also have a maximum penalty and offence of
vt20, 000 and/or imprisonment of 6-12 months. There is negligible enforcement
of these by-laws.
43.9 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
· Components of waste management relate to the work of the Health Department, Public Works, Environment Unit and Municipals. However, none of these agencies take a coordinating responsibility and so work tends to be fragmented and poorly coordinated.
· Very little is known about waste generated outside Port Vila, and this is a real obstacle to creating appropriate waste management and minimization plans.
· Sanitation in Black Sands area is very poor as most people do not have water supply, rely on pit latrines and dispose of waste indiscriminately into the river.
· During consultations in year 2000 several provinces expressed concern about waste management at the Provincial Headquarters, and the need to create sanitary landfills. However they lack capacity to select suitable sites, negotiate with landholders and to dispose of rubbish in any other than the most rudimentary ways. There has been very little change in this situation over the past 3 years. Waste disposal outside of Port Vila and Luganville remains problematic.
·
Management of wastes from
· Extremely limited capacity for clinical waste management at Provincial hospitals.
· People in the two urban areas are aware that waste is a problem, but have not moved to change their waste management and disposal practices. There is a need to better understand how to motivate change in behaviour, not just create awareness, and put in place the infrastructure and legislation that would enable people to move to better waste management practices.
· There is inadequate monitoring at the Port Vila Bouffa Landfill as the monitoring bore holes that were installed at Bouffa Sanitary Landfill but have since been destroyed. Formal requests for the boreholes to be reconstructed through the government investment programme have not been successful.
· There is limited capacity to monitor wastes produced by industry, business houses and agriculture. Management of waste oils and petroleum products, chemical residues, chemicals used in printing and film developing and other commercial and industrial wastes needs to be improved.
·
1.
Agricultural chemical, (
2. Wood preservation chemical,
3. Industrial effluents, (heavy metal residues, oil, ink acids and alkaline, solvents, etc)
4. Substances used in medical treatment and clinical waste, and explosives.
43.10 Opportunities
·
An extremely detailed survey of knowledge,
attitudes and practices toward waste management was undertaken as part of the
Solid Waste Management and Minimisation Project (2000). This data has not been
analysed. It would be very useful in informing urban waste awareness, education
and management decisions. The cost of analysing this information has been
estimated at only 300,000VT. Should IWP choose to address waste related issues
in either of
· Waste characterization studies have not been undertaken in the past decade outside of Port Vila. These are important in informing any decisions about waste management and minimisation in Luganville and the 6 Provinces. Should IWP choose to address waste management issues they will be an important first step in any work.
·
Presently 80% of the solid waste taken to Port
Vila Landfill site could be removed from the waste stream through composting and
recycling. Demonstrating this, and setting in place appropriate practices,
could be a useful goal of the IWP project in
·
There is currently no single authority
responsible for waste management in
· As part of the Solid Waste Management and Minimisation project the provinces developed waste management plans. There is opportunity to work with the Provinces to begin to implement these plans.
54.0 Agriculture and Livestock
5.14.1 Introduction
About 41% of land is cultivable with good quality soils and
favorable agro-climatic conditions.
Agriculture accounted for 16% of total GDP in 1999. Self-sufficiency agriculture (subsistence agriculture) made up 51% of the total contribution of agriculture to the GDP. Agriculture, fisheries and forestry combined account for 23% of the GDP (ADB, 2002 p.11). The main agricultural commodities are mainly copra, beef, cocoa and kava. Other minor commodity exports are timber and shells.
Over 78% of Ni-Vanuatu live in rural areas and are engaged in agricultural production and are the main producers of agricultural crop commodities. Agriculture provides a large percentage of the population with their basic needs for food and shelter while sales of surplus commodities generate the cash income necessary to obtain daily essentials such as sugar, salt, matches, kerosene etc. and to pay for education and other services.
5.24.2 Existing framework for the agricultural
sector
The current subsistence and commercial production level is unsustainable to environmental management especially to the biodiversity of our resources. As we are very much driven by market prices and material wants, our production patterns increase substantially when a commodity price increases. This trend has been witnessed since the inception of commercial plantings from cotton production to coffee production and copra production the early 1900s to cocoa, spice production in 1980s and kava production in the late 1990s. When commodity price increases, farming communities would like to get the maximum production possible to get maximum income possible thus putting more new land areas under production.
With the rising population, more and more land is cleared
for subsistence agriculture now accounting to
51% of the total contribution of agriculture to the GDP.
5.34.3 Corporate plans and strategies
The government through the Department of Agriculture and the Vanuatu Quarantine and Inspection Services acknowledges the need for an efficient and effective Extension Services in providing farming communities with the following:
· An increase in rural income
· Enhanced food security through improved and sustainable cropping and animal husbandry systems with particular emphasis to disadvantaged high population pressure, soil degradation and other factors
· Paying more attention to research and development through the consultative research between the researcher and farmers in setting research priorities into identification of improved plating materials and the need for the diversification income sources
·
To protect
·
To enhance market access for
· To safeguard public health by inspection of food at food production, processing and retailing premises to ensure compliance with relevant legislation.
5.44.4 Legislation and regulations
Important legislations and regulations that are in place are:
· The Constitution which favors Ni-Vanuatu to own land on traditional guidance, gives provision of land use by foreigners and the acquisition of land by the Government for the purpose of public interest
· Land Lease Act of 1984, which regulates the land use by outsiders,
· Pesticides Act of 1994, which regulates the registration and use of pesticides
54.5
Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
Coconut plantations for copra production are important, but they have taken up virtually all the arable land found along the coasts and flood plains and are increasing taking up plateau areas as well as hillsides. Though quite important, economically, environmentally it is unfriendly. It assists to destroy resource species. It is a common belief among rural communities that food crops cannot be grown under coconuts. For this reason, new areas are cleared annually for food production as well as for growing other cash crops such as kava, cocoa and spies thus the increased level of displacements of resource species due to the destruction of habitats.
Commercial livestock production will continue to be in the hands of the foreign investors as Ni-Vanuatu lack management skills, lack the capital start up necessary to mass production and the land tenure system which favors full family consensus on their land use. Lease agreement is much more favorable.
54.6
Opportunities
Opportunities exist in the following areas:
· Identifying through research the best farming alternatives for both subsistent and commercial production that cater for sustainable farming without the need for new areas of land clearing which displaces natural resources
· Revisit the land Lease Act to enable Ni-Vanuatu to have favorable land leases which are not too expensive for the purpose of commercial production
· More emphasis should be given to capacity building on commercial production especially on livestock production, which is more environmentally friendly
· Better land use advice
· Commercial Production must consider sustainability to the natural resources
· Establish laws to control subsistent consumption
65.0 Forests
The National Forestry Inventory took place in 1993 to
identify the forest resources of
Table 2: Vegetation
Cover of
|
Vegetation type |
Area |
% Of land area |
|
Mid height (20 –30 m) |
205,307 |
16.73 |
|
Low forest (10-20 m) |
234,089 |
19.08 |
|
|
386 |
0.03 |
|
Thickets (3-8m) |
433,941 |
35.37 |
|
Scrub (less than 3m) |
45,018 |
3.67 |
|
Grassland |
51,128 |
0.04 |
|
Swamp communities |
2,261 |
0.18 |
|
Mangroves |
2,261 |
0.21 |
|
Bare ground/ man made |
252,256 |
20.56 |
|
Total land area |
1,226,905 |
100 |
Source:
65.1 Forest Use
65.1.1 Subsistence use
Rural communities have been using their forests for time immemorial to get food, fuel wood, building materials, medicinal treatment remedies and cultural materials.
6.1.25.1.2 Logging
Some 36% of the total land area of
Table 3 below shows the sustainable yield of timber
by islands:
|
Island |
Sustainable
yield in cubic meter per year |
|
Banks/Torres |
9,700 |
|
Santo/Malo |
30,000 |
|
Ambae/
Maewo |
3,500 |
|
Pentecost |
1,800 |
|
Malekula |
6,500 |
|
Ambrym |
1,000 |
|
Epi |
1,000 |
|
|
6,500 |
|
Tanna/Aneityum |
2,000 |
|
Erromango |
6,000 |
|
|
68,000 |
Source: National Forest Policy Statement. P.37
Table 4 below shows an allowable sawmill cuts by
islands:
|
Island |
Max.
Annual cuts for mobile mills in cubic meters per year |
|
Ambae |
1,500 |
|
Ambrym |
1,000 |
|
Aneityum |
1,000 |
|
Banks/Torres |
1,500 |
|
|
1,500 |
|
Epi |
1,000 |
|
Erromango |
2,000 |
|
Maewo |
200 |
|
Pentecost |
1,800 |
|
Malakula |
1,500 |
|
Santo/
Malo |
5,000 |
|
Tanna |
1,000 |
|
|
19,000 |
Source:
National Forest Policy Statement. P.37
Only 20% of forest is commercially available due to steep slopes, dissected landforms, low saw log volumes and cultural reasons.
6.25.2 Plantations
Due to the recognition of failures to regenerate forest on land that has been logged or otherwise cleared, 2002 was the Year of Forest Planting. However, it had limited impact.
From the late 1970s to current, the Department of Forests,
in an attempt to increase the timber quality of the forests had established the
following forest local supply plantations on the islands of Vanua Lava, Santo,
Malakula, Ambae, Maewo, Pentecost and
Other plantations established include:
· Aneityum Pine Plantation with 890 hectares
· Ipota Industrial Plantation with 260 hectares
· Santo Industrial Forest Plantation and Research with 350 hectares
· Melcoffee white wood plantation with 250 hectares
6.35.3 National Forest policy
Department of Forest Policy statements of 1997 are outlined below:
1 Forest management
objectives:
· Manage the nation’s resources sustainably as a renewable asset
· Identify forest land best suited for timber production, conservation and conversion
· Improve the knowledge of timber resources and other values
· Utilize natural forest in a manner which causes the least disturbance to the environment and conserves ecosystems
· Improve the management of sandalwood and encourage the development of sandalwood industries
2. Environment and conservation:
· Protect and conserve biological, germ-plasm, cultural, historical and other NTF values for the current and future generations
· Establish and manage conservation areas with landowners’ participation
· Identify potential environmental impacts before new licenses are issued
· Encourage communities to minimize soil erosion and to rehabilitate existing eroded areas
· Conserve mangrove ecosystems and restrict any non sustainable uses of them
3. Landowner and communities:
· Improve knowledge and awareness of environment values and sustainable forest management
· Encourage the recording of indigenous knowledge of forest resources
· Encourage increased Ni-Vanuatu participation in the forestry sector
· Foster rural development and self reliance through community forestry
· Protect the rights of landowners regarding the use and protection of their forest resources
4.
· Increase timber processing to meet local demands and to increase value added processing
· Utilize the nation’s forest resources to provide economic and employment growth
· Develop efficient and internationally competitive forest industries
· Increase employment opportunities and develop highly skilled Ni-Vanuatu work force for the forestry sector
· Expand export capacity for value added timber products
· Control and support the development of mobile saw mill
5. Forestation and the Extension Activities:
· Promote private sector led establishment of plantations of commercial timber species
· Establish at least 20,000 hectares of commercial plantations to give a sustainable yield of 160,000 cubic meters of timber per year
· Utilize local supply plantations with the assistance of local communities or return land to landowners
· Promote the development of agro-forestry systems
· Promote advice and awareness to landowners about the importance and uses of trees
6.
· Establish effective laws for sustainable management of forests and the development of forest sector
· Strengthen the Department of Forest to ensure that forestry administration is efficiently carried out
· Establish mechanisms to provide sound advice to government on forest policy
6.45.4Legislation
and regulations
An important legislation currently in use is the Code of Logging Practices Act of 1998. Though, it has been in place for some years, the Department of Forest cannot implement it effectively as sawmill operators are ignorant of the law. They are currently training sawmill operators the correct methods of logging, milling, putting in roads and other areas to ensure least damage to the resource species and the ecosystems. The training ensures that both the forest and operators’ safety.
Additionally the Forestry Act (1982) places the political and regulatory responsibility with the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Act governs the harvesting of logs for any purpose, under license, relations with custom owners, environmental damage including pollution, reforestations charges, royalty payments, annual reporting of logging operations and work plans for the subsequent year of operation. One of the other provisions of the Act is the establishment of Local Supply Stations whereby local farmers are encouraged to afforest their land through a complex system of Forest Plantations Agreements.
The New Forestry Law funded by FAO in 2000 though yet to be submitted to parliament has the following features as shown in Table 5 below.
Table 5:
Features of the Draft Forestry Law.
|
Main
feature |
Aim |
|
New
Forestry Lease |
Set
up a new forestry ease system to encourage reforestation |
|
Financial
Impact |
Increase
government revenue through higher forest management charges |
|
Reforestation
Incentives |
Provides
forest management charges rebates for firms establishing plantations of
regenerating natural forest |
|
New
Forestry Board |
Establish
a new Forestry Board including national and local government representatives
to approve Timber Rights Agreements between logging companies and landowners |
|
|
Set
out a clear new system for planning in
the forest sector |
|
Broader
Range |
Cover
a broad range of issue than the previous Forestry Act |
|
Better
system |
Assist
developers through system for reducing disputes between landowners and
developers |
|
Special
Licenses |
Provide
special licenses for the sale of nonwood forest products such as seeds, oils,
tam-tam, etc |
|
Exports
of plant material |
Establish
controls on exports of planting materials to protect ni-Vanuatu intellectual
property rights |
|
Site
protection |
Enhance
environmental and cultural site protection |
Source:
ADB, 2002
65.5
Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
1. Logging for commercial timbers and agricultural production have had huge impacts on the environment such as:
· Encourages opened up areas to be taken by invasive pests
· Compact soil surfaces
· Damage to species
· Opened up areas vulnerable to soil erosion
Commercial logging is benefiting
rural communities on Santo, Malakula,
However, due to the impacts above and the fact that commercial timber is
becoming scarce, few large millers are currently in operation. Many have scaled
down. For example, the one on Pentecost has pulled out.
There definitely is a need to look at alternative sustainable source of income and tap on them even before logging can be advised
2. While the Department of Forests have gone ahead and have the Code of Logging Practices (COLP) enacted the Agriculture Department has not gone ahead to legalize the land clearing criteria that were identified under the Livestock Pasture Improvement Project. This gap becomes a problem especially when loggers are restricted to log in a certain area such as along river creeks, gardening can take place quite normally. In other words, while by law a tree or a site is protected by law, it could be destroyed naturally by agricultural activities without anyone taking notice of the depletion that is taking place.
3. Cordia alliordora that were previously encouraged as a timber species is now considered an invasive pest due to its fast re-growth displaces natural biodiversity.
4 COLP has been slow in its implementation, not so much due to the gross incapacity of the staff of the Department, but due to the fact that loggers are ignorant of the requirements set by the law. They are being trained. It is now a requirement that licenses are only permitted after such training.
5 Due to limited budget constraints it seems to be that monitoring of the COLP is done largely through sieving through questionnaires on logging that had been done sometime ago. That is, the staff seems to rely on forms that had been dished out. Though, there is no proof, some bright loggers may record something to please the Department, but act differently
6
The level of soil exposure due to logging is at this
stage minimum (Bani et al 1989) , however, land conversion activities have hand
some impact on soil erosion for example carol bleaching around the Hide Away
Island Resort caused by soils and debris deposited on the reef by the Mele
rivers. This is an issue that the IWP is recommended to consider especially
where there is high land conversion taking place around the Provincial head
quarters such as in
65.6
Opportunities
Opportunities that exist for the forest sector are:
1. Continue to strengthen the capacity building of the resource users on the Code of Logging Practices Act. It is expected that the newly drafted Forestry Act would address a lot of the limitations and weakness of the Code of Logging Practice Act and the Forestry Act.
2. There needs to be an independent report outside of the Department of Forests to determine the extent of the impact the cordia is having on local resource species and to determine what actions to take to address it. The writers believe it is currently reducing the species richness of resources in
Areas affected.
3. The Agriculture Department needs to enact the land practice criteria that were developed under the Vanuatu Livestock Pasture Improvement Project so that there is a fair treatment of the environment.
4. The Forestry Department needs to work closely with local communities so that they could be responsible for monitoring logging operations in their village areas.
5. More research should be taken to get the impacts of high land conversion so that appropriate measures could be taken to alleviate or control these activities.
67.0 Biodiversity Conservation
76.1
Traditional government
In pre-contact days, the highest- ranking chief in an area was the government with immense power overall matters including life and death (Garu,2001). They had and still are still expected to have the obligation to protect and uphold all that is regarded as custom, culture and tradition. Their current expected roles are:
· Maintain peace, order and stability. They are doing this quietly, but effectively with 100% of the population in both the rural and urban centers. Yet they get very little recognition. They spend more of their free time to settle all kinds of disputes or conflicts. Yet they do not get paid for the job they are very sincerely carrying out. Perhaps it is due to what is expected of them that enables them to enjoy what they are doing
· Being supervisors, judges, investigators, developers and policemen roll into one making it a most effective and cheap government systems (Garu, 2001)
A very important tool, though, somewhat eroded by the outside influence, is respect which assisted chiefs and their subjects to be very effective in keeping peace and stability. Respect was a two way process: the chiefs respected their subjects and their subjects respected the chiefs. Without respect, traditional systems begin to break down such as the observations of conservation areas in today’s context and a wide range of other areas including the social, economic and political systems.
Despite the erosion of the respect and roles played by the chiefs, they are very much active and acknowledged by the Church, the Government and non- government organizations.
76.2 Vanuatu
According to the Vanuatu National Conservation Strategy
(1999)
However, work undertaken under the NBSAP project proves that
the biodiversity in
· Because of the use of cultivated and wild and biological resources by rural communities for food, firewood, medicine, construction materials, fodder for domestic animals etc
· because of the restricted range of many species and significant level of endemism
· Because of the use of cultivated and wild biological resources for commercial purposes
· Because of the local custom importance of particular species and places
The NBSAP project has also
recorded threats that are impacting upon the status of terrestrial biodiversity
in
· Over-exploitation of many plants and animal resources causing a decline in the abundance and distribution of many species.
· Degradation of ecosystems due to development practices
· Declining respect for traditional resource management systems and authority structure
With respect to freshwater biodiversity the NBSAP in the
assessment of freshwater ecosystems in
Assessments under NBSAP noted that some islands have relatively healthy freshwater resources such as on the interior of Aneityum and Erromango. Interestingly according to NBSAP in other areas freshwater habitats have been degraded and diversity is much reduced as a result of the following:
· Clearing of vegetation and agricultural activities in the riparian zone
· Failure to manage use of key catchment areas such as springs and headwaters of rivers
· The clearing and subsequent heavy use of land within catchments for the commercial or subsistence agricultures, leading to decline in water quality and reduced dry season water flows
· Over extraction of water, primarily for taro irrigation
· Wild and domestic fouling of rivers, streams and springs
· The impact of introduced species, and Tilapia and Gambusia in particular, on the distribution and abundance of native fauna
As far as coastal and marine biodiversity is concern the NBSAP project identified over-harvesting of resources as the key management issue. This is mainly because of the following:
· Introduction of new technologies such as finer fishing nets and night time spear fishing
· Increased population in coastal areas creating additional demand or pressure for marine resources
· Declining respect for traditional resource management systems and authority structures
· Disregard for the resource conservation control brought under the fisheries legislation
Since 1990’s government, Non-governmental organization and other stakeholders have realized the importance of identifying problems facing eh country as far as natural resource management was concern. The findings of these interventions are alarming such as, the natural resources are declining from a once abundance state to quite a scarce level, almost to the extinction of some species especially those of commercial and home consumption values.
The major contributing factors to this decline in abundance
of these natural resources are: Increase population throughout
· Negative attitudes towards wild life
· Improved technology/method of production or harvesting
· Diversity of national economy (forestry, fishing, agriculture, tourism, mining etc)
· Increased perceived wants of material goods
76.3
Types of conservation initiatives
7.3.1Traditional Resource Management Systems:
Out of Documentation of the traditional resource management
systems in
The systems are outline in Table 6 below:
|
TRM
Purpose |
Who
establishes |
Resources
used |
Methods
used Marker
leaves |
|
Tabu
area following rank taking ceremonies |
Chief
taking the rank ceremonies |
Certain
flora and fauna of high value |
Placed
around the boundary of the restricted area |
|
Family clans |
Family
clans |
Resources
believed by clans that are their origin |
Restricted
from total consumption |
|
Conservation
area |
High
ranking chiefs |
Certain
flora and fauna of high value |
Fauna
killed and leaves placed around the area |
|
Ensure
fruits have sufficient time to ripen or to deter someone using a resource
e.g. bambu |
Chiefs
and or individuals depending on value of resources used |
Certain
flora and fauna of high value |
Leaves
tied to fruit trees or the restricted resource |
|
In
memory of a chief’s death |
High
ranking chief |
Certain
flora and fauna of high value |
Fauna
killed and leaves placed around the area |
|
Kinship
access to certain land areas |
Family
land holding groups |
Decision
taken by the group |
Declaration
to the public |
|
Males
may not eat female animals |
Tradition
belief passed from generation to generation |
Traditional
belief |
Traditional
restriction |
|
Females
may not eat certain plants and animals during pregnancies and menstruations |
Traditional
belief passed from generation to generation |
Traditional
belief |
Restricted
consumption of the said resource species |
|
Exclusive
access rights |
Sorcerers
|
Sorcerers
declaration |
Traditional
rights |
|
Sacred
areas good for certain activities e.g. area good for food production |
Chiefs
emphasizing the importance |
Traditional
belief |
Traditional
belief |
|
Magical
stones with special powers for good food production harvests |
Stone
owners |
Special
stones |
Traditional
belief |
|
Specified
resource use by different chief ranks who have bought the access rights |
Chief
having the access rights sells the right to another chief during rank taking
ceremonies |
Certain
flora and fauna of high value |
Traditional
practice |
From studies made by Tapisuwe in 2001on conservation areas
in
The other types of resource management tools currently in use are:
· Lease hold agreements e.g. Erromango Kauri Reserve
· Legal backing such as the use of lawyers e.g. Aneityum, the restriction on harvesting species and Code of Logging Practices Act.
· Financial backing by international communities e.g. Vathe and Loru Protected Area
Tapisuwe et al on studies of conservation areas in 2002 identified the main initiators of conservation areas as:
· Community as part of customary practices
· An executive committee of a community
· Communities or individuals who may need to emphasize their land rights
· Government and NGOs who sees the need to conserve endemic, rare, endangered and vulnerable species
· External friends and institutions who have a direct influence to conserve an area with specific resource species
· A chief whose endorsement carries more weight in the affected communities
Tapisuwe et al (1998) while gathering information for a Vanuatu Benefit Generating Activities and Sustainable Use Directory on Santo, Malakula, Tanna and Efate, identified that there is limited knowledge of all but a few commercial flora and fauna species, therefore authorities cannot guide communities towards sustainable harvesting systems or advise them on the sustainable management of the most heavily used or displaced species such as ferns and bread fruit trees on Ambrym.
76.4
Alternative resource conservation approaches
Tapisuwe et al (2002) identified the reasons for communities to establish non traditional conservation areas as:
· Due to depleting resources
· Having the interest to maintain wild life
· Need to control indiscriminative destruction of resources
· Need to maintain traditional management practices
· Need for the generation of income through ecotourism
· Need to retain land rights formerly under dispute or alienation
· Conservation of resources believed to have traditional ties with families
· Ensuring the maintenance of well being
· Establishing a center for environment studies and research
76.5 National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy
The mission statement for the NBSAP sets out the rational
goals for biodiversity conservation in
· To manage and safeguard biological resources through government, provinces and local communities somas to maintain fully our natural and cultural heritage for ni-Vanuatu
·
Guide government, provinces local communities
and landowners to sustainable management of
· Ensure that all ni-Vanuatu, including future generations are able to benefit from biodiversity and enjoy its use
· Protect the custom, intellectual and legal rights of ni-Vanuatu as resource custodians and users
76.6
Legislation and regulations
Specific legislations for biodiversity conservation include the Fisheries Act (discussed previously under the section on fishery sector), the Act of 2002 and the Wild Bird Protection Regulation (1962).
The principal purpose of the newly enacted Environment
Management and Conservation Act (EMC) (2002)
is to provide for sustainable development in
The Wild Bird Protection regulation (1962) on the other hand makes it unlawful to kill, capture, wound, or take eggs of certain species of bird unless the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries so grant a permit to do. The regulation also impose closed seasons and ban limits for 11 bird species including the black duck and Megapode which maybe subject to additional regulations prohibiting the hunting of these species on certain islands “ to allow them to re-establish their populations.”
7.3.4 International obligations
for Biodiversity Conservation
Specific international obligations for biodiversity conservation are listed in Table XX in the Section 11.1.4.
76.75 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and
problems
The major vulnerabilities, weakness and problems facing biodiversity conservation as outlined by Tapisuwe (2002) are as follows:
1. Effects of invasive pests:
· Decreased dominance of native species
· Decreased overall species richness of native plants
· Decreased plants and animals that depend on lost species
· Fewer vertical tiers of plants (canopy, sub-canopy, etc)
· Changes to processes such as water table levels, fire regimes, soil quality and nutrient cycling
· Decreased productivity
2. Not meeting the needs of communities:
· Benefits are not spread equally throughout villages
· Limited opportunities to meet perceived needs and wants
· Lack information about alternative income sources
· Unsuitability of some income generating activities
3. Commercial Production factors
· Unequally distributed land resources causing declining fallow and greater pressure on resource use
· There has not been any attempt to require commercial activities to be conducted in an environmentally responsible manner
· No control on use or management of chemical, hazardous substances or pollutants. No laboratory capacity is available to conduct analysis
4. Activities that threaten forests
Malosu et al (2002during a consultation workshop and participatory vegetation and mapping on Tanna noted that the following are threatening the forests:
· Bush fires intentionally fired on grassland areas
· People slaughtering feral animals for consumption, but only using part of it
· Deliberate cutting down of trees without any reasons
· Clearing of forest for Dioscorea alata’s planting
· Animals especially cattle, goats and pigs grazing into existing forest
5. Unplanned Land Use Initiatives
Land use in the form of agricultural and forestry activities are unplanned. There is no effort to assist landowners and rural communities to make wise and viable decisions on how best they could use their land to ensure that there is a balanced growth between the social, economic and environmental development
Often, the extension services of the Departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries give only the positive sides of programs that are project funded to ensure that these programs are carried out so that targets could be met so that funding could be continued. The classical examples are:
· The planting of cordia in the late 1970s that is now becoming a pest
·
The introduction of the Eugualandina snails as
predators of the giant African snails that in
7.6.86 Other factors:
· Ineffective legislation against subsistence production where for commercial harvesting can be scrutinized, however, subsistent harvesting is not
· Ineffective monitoring of legislations covering natural resources due to limited personnel and funds
· Landowners will make decisions according to their needs
· Though producers are producing in quantities are not always producing quality products. For example better and improved farming practices would ensure high quality produce on the same piece of land for a much longer period without the need to clear new lands every year
· Value added products are slow in being realized for producers to get the most benefit from selling their produce
7.66.9 Opportunities
Opportunities for better biodiversity rest with the newly enacted Environment Act (2002) though other best land use practices are:
·
Better monitoring and
controlling of pests by involving communities
·
Better research before
establishing conservation areas to meet the needs of communities
·
Educate people to
respect their environment through wide awareness programs
·
Effective legislation
against subsistence production to ensure that resources are better managed. For
example the agricultural land clearing that was made by the Pasture Improvement
Project
·
Effective monitoring
of legislations covering natural resources by increasing consultative
monitoring by rural communities
·
Assist landowners to
make decisions that will cater for their needs, does not directly affect
natural species
·
Promote quality
production methods to save more new lands being cleared and reduce resource
species displacements such as improved gardening practices, contour farming
etc.
·
Actively promote value
added products especially in non -timber forest products such as rattan
furniture making, jewelry etc.
The IWP should assist in
addressing these issues especially those relating to marine and freshwater
resources:
·
Through capacity
building of rural communities so they are co- monitors of existing environment
related laws
·
Assisting land owners
to make wise decisions in the use of their land so resources are not depleted
·
Assisting the
Agriculture Department to legalize land clearing practices adopted by the
Pasture Improvement Project
78.0 Health
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and
social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO
Constitution 1947).”
Good health is one of the most precious assets of any population, but it is particularly important for populations that are poor and vulnerable. A fit, strong body is the key to productivity. When breadwinners suffer serious ill health or injury entire households can suffer due not only to loss of income but also due to the high direct cost of medical care in the absence of insurance systems. This is a common cause of impoverishment itself. On that basis the protection and improvement of health status of poor and vulnerable populations is central to the entire process of poverty reduction and human development. As such this should be a goal of development policy shared by all sectors – social, economic and environmental.
Efforts to protect and improve health are left mostly to the health sector. Yet the major determinants of ill health, including poverty, lack of education and environmental degradation are beyond the control of health services. Development experts often recognize health’s contribution in general terms of building individual capability, human and social capital. But they are often not sensitive to the ways in which this is brought about. New approaches are needed to combine more effectively poverty reduction and health protection and health promotion.
87.1 Existing framework for health
management
The Ministry of Health is responsible to provide health
services to all people living in
87.1.1 National Health policies
Public health and public policy is therefore challenged to outline the major social, economic and political investments necessary to ensure the health of populations, to translate measures into an organized community effort and make proposals for the adequate social machinery, which will ensure the promotion and maintenance of health into the 21st century.
The Ministry of Health Policies cover aspects such as community based public health management, patients rights, devolution, equity, drug use, private health practitioners and Environmental Health to name a few. For environmental health the policy states “….need for minimum standards in … clinical waste, food, water, solid waste management, housing, pollution, and sanitation and port health.”
87.1.2 National Health Legislation and regulations
The Ministry of Health executes a number of laws relating to health namely:
· Public Health Act No. 24 of 1994
· Food Control Act No. 21 of 1993
· Health Practioners Act of 1998
· Pharmacies Act of 1988
· Sales pof Medicine Act of 1998
87.1.3 International obligations
for Health
The Vanuatu Government has agreed to several international and regional declarations and agreements, which, emphasis the importance of intersectoral collaboration in public health programmes as per the principles of the primary health care (PHC). A number of these conventions include:
·
·
·
Healthy
· Rarontonga Agreement and
· Numerous other resolutions in the World Health Organisation Regional Committee for Western Pacific in the areas of Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV Infection and AIDS, TB Prevention and Control, the prevention of Non Communicable Diseases
All the above agreements and conventions place emphasis on health protection and health promotion.
With respect to the skills and capabilities
for sound environmental health
While the MOH employs more than 700 personnel the capacity for sound
environmental management within the Ministry rests with approximately 8
qualified Environmental Health Officers, a majority of which are located in the
Port Vila Environmental Health Office, with the rest in the provinces of Tafea,
Penama, Sanma and Torba . These group of technical people are only concentrated
in the two urban areas while there is some tendency now to have some posted to
other provincial headquarters.
With respect to funds allocated for public
health or preventative health activities the Ministry of Health allocates less
than VT20 million for Environmental Health activities with additional funding
for specific programmes such as Vector control and the Rural Sanitation Project
from AusAID, UNICEF, WHO, and other funding agencies. This is a positive step
given the economic difficulties that the government is faced with; however,
sound environmental management also plays a very important role for good
health.
87.2 Vulnerabilities,
weaknesses and problems
The MOH acknowledges the contribution of NGO activities in the health field though it feels that such activities needs to be monitored and evaluated collaboratively to enhance effectiveness.
Key issues that needs the attention of the government and other stakeholders icluding the IWP project include:
·
Potential for serious public health problem in,
Fres Wind, Black Sands and Mele/ Maat.
There is continuous threat for possible outbreaks of communicable diseases in
these communities especially the Black Sands as there is no provision of safe
and portable water most people at Black Sands rely on groundwater and some get
their water directly from the
·
The issue of limited “safe” water is not only a
problem for urban areas or hinterlands of Port Vila, some island communities
also face similar problems such as parts of Tanna, Paama, Aniwa. This increase
the potential for disease outbreaks as there is less or no water for proper
personal hygiene
·
The increased feacal pollution or contamination
of
Community partnership, intersectoral co-operation; appropriate technology; suitable health manpower; self-reliance; equitable distribution of health resources; appropriate health system infrastructure (quality of health care); are a continuing threat to the effective and efficient health service delivery and the sustainability of health projects or programmes both at the national level and community level.
Also as a threat is the need to protecting staff from potential ill effects of handling chemicals and agents especially those harmful chemicals used for vector control.
87.3 Opportunities
A number of opportunities exist for better health service delivery or management. These include the devolution of health services especially the functions of human resource management (recruitment, promotions, salary payments etc); Private Health Sector Development (the recognition of private healthcare practitioners, professionally associations such as the Ni Vanuatu Doctors Association, Health Practitioners Board, Nurses Association, and the Environmental Health institute (VIEH).
Interestingly now, the ADB ad SOPAC are both looking at funding disaster mitigation projects in the Black Sands, Mele/Maat Area. This is a very good opportunity for any IWP Project in the two areas although it is not clear at this stage how the two donors would complement each other’s activities. Nonetheless it is a possible partnership that IWP may wish to get more information on prior to deciding on any activity at Black Sands or Mele village.
With respect to feacal contamination the DGMWR are currently
doing a biannual Coastal Water Monitoring of the
The regulating and recognition of the contribution of traditional medicine (herbal medicine) is a positive step toward a more local, community based health service. Another potential for better health service delivery lies in the proposed establishment of Health Services Commission (HSC) and an Environmental Health Authority. The HSC would more or less perform the same functions that the PSC is currently performing such as human resource management and human resource development (e.g. recruitment, discipline and training)
Finally it should be noted that Public health is ecological in perspective, multisectoral in scope and collaborative in strategy. It aims to improve the health of communities through an organized effort based on advocacy for healthy public policies and supportive environments, enabling communities and individuals to achieve their full health potential and mediating between differing interests in society for the pursuit of health.
98.0 Water Resources
In
Apart from the two urban water supply systems, most rural water supply systems are quite poor or do not exists. According to DGMWR an estimated 45% of ni-Vanuatu population in the rural areas are still without portable water system, which at though available is insufficient such as during droughts or prolonged period of dry season and subjected to bacterial contamination during wet season.
98.1 Existing framework for Water Resource
Management
The overall responsibilities for water resources management rest with the DGMWR under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. There are approximately six programme areas within DGMWR as follows:
(i) Corporate services
(ii) Minerals (
(iii) Water Resource Assessment
(iv) Bore hole Drilling
(v) Geo-hazard Mitigation and
(vi) Rural Water Supply.
The newly enacted Water Resources Act gives the Director of the DGMWR overall power to establish groundwater protection zones among other powers vested by the Act.
The rural water
supply section (RWS) aims to increase rural water supply coverage in the rural
population to ensure that communities have access to safe, portable water. It
also emphasizes the need to involve communities in the early stage of project
development of each water supply systems so as to foster a sense of ownership
for the overall operation and maintenance of the system.
98.1.1 DGMWR Corporate plans
The mission of the DGMWR is to develop and manage the nations’ non-living natural resources, mitigate against potential impacts of geo-hazards (e.g. Volcanoes, earthquake, and sea-level rise) plan for safe environmental management of urban harbours and lagoons as well as being responsible for the provision of water and geo-technical investigations for the social and economic well being of the people of Vanuatu.
98.1.2 Legislation and regulations
With respect to legislation, the key laws relating to the water sector are the Water Resources Act and the Public Health Act.
Water Resources Act No. 2002
. The Act defines the following aspects:
· The rights and general rules in respect to the utilization and prevention of water resources
· Administrative aspects and the formation of a National Water Resources Advisory Committee,
· Water resources planning, management and development plans, designation of water protection zones,
· Access over adjoining lands
· Water utilities (formation of water utility board to facilitate the management, control and regulation of water utilities involved in water supply services)
· Water quality guidelines and criteria
Public Health Act No. 22 of 1994 and Commencement Order No.10 of 1995
This Act enacted in 1994 under the Ministry of Health but has just recently been gazetted and enforced. With respect to the water sector there is a chapter for “ the Provision and Protection of water Supply.” Other aspects relating to the water sector as defined by the Act are as follows:
· The administrative powers of the Minister (of Health) of supervision and inspection over local authorities in all matters relating o maintenance and promotion of public health
· Obligation of provision of proper and sufficient supply of wholesome water to al buildings and premises within the Municipal council area and all inhabitants of the rural area within local government council,
· Powers of Environmental Health Officers to enter any premises, land at all times for the purpose of, water sampling for examination of the source of water supply, and to inspect the appropriateness and adequacy of sanitation system
· Obligation of maintaining clean conditions and protection from contamination of any storage of water,
· Powers of local authorities to examine sanitation and water supply apparatus and facilities,
· The right of the Minister to make regulations prescribing all matters that by the Act are required or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act, as: the standard, quality and adequacy of water for domestic purposes” and as “ for the control and maintenance of general Environmental Health quality in matters such as to prevent soil, water, noise and air pollution.”
98.3 Water
quality
According to
In the Port Vila the influx of people into the water catchment (Freswind Subdivision) is a major concern that government, UNELCO, and Non-governmental organizations working in the water sector needs to address. Although documented earlier by Depledge (1994), Hydroplan (1994), and Asian Development Bank (1998) no appropriate actions have been undertaken.
According to Williams
(1997) five sites selected for sampling
and analysis for faecal coliform, and E.Coli along the
98.4 Water
Supply
In
Throughout
The focus for the future according DGMWR is to ensure:
· Full coverage of water supply systems to cover everyone
· Institutional strengthening and capacity building on the know how to manage and maintain water supply system,
· Public awareness on the hygienic uses of water supply, and
· To have in place technical expertise on water sampling, monitoring and surveillance to ensure all water supply systems are safe for human consumption
In rural areas the Rural Water Supply Section of the DGMWR
is encouraging the establishment of Village Water Committees to operate, manage
and maintain the water supply systems. Quality monitoring and surveillance
according to
98.5 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
98.5.1 Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance
Capabilities in Vanuatu
According to
For instance Port Vila is the only location throughout
However, requirements for reporting are very unclear especially
from UNELCO to appropriate authorities such as the DGMWR, MOH, and
Monitoring in rural areas is on an adhoc basis such as during communicable disease outbreak and natural disasters (e.g volcanic eruptions and cyclones) and upon the request of Village Water Committees.
98.5.2 Catchment Management
A very important area for any focus for IWP could be
development of management capabilities in the area of water catchments in
The Port Vila GPZ in particular has been documented in
previous reports such as the Depledge (1994), Hydroplan (1994) and ADB (1998)
where a series of three zones have been designed to protect the water supply
catchment from pollution through bye-law and physical plans controls to limit
existing uses and prohibit any new construction or sewage discharge within this
zone. This has not be adhered to as current approvals by the Port
98.5.3 National Standard and Policy
While the newly enacted Water Resources Act provides some
measures for the utilization and management of water resources including the
supply of drinking water and quality monitoring, there is no quality standards
yet for
98.5.4 Manpower shortages
As a result of the CRP redundancy exercise in 1998, the
Water resources section of the DGMWR have been reduced to 3 staff from the
original 8. This is a major setback for water resource assessment throughout
98.6 Opportunities
98.6.1Water
Quality Laboratories
While Water quality laboratories may not be up to standard, they reflect government commitments to providing safe and portable water. These quality management capabilities could only be improved. A brief overview of the laboratories is given below.
DGMWR Water Laboratory
This laboratory funded by NZAID (formerly NZODA) is used for the analysis of raw waters and also drinking water samples from Port Vila and Luganville and rural areas. The laboratory is capable conducting the following analysis: bacteriological (total coliform, E. Coli), chemical (ammonia, COD, BOD, CaCO3, hardness, mg, nitrate, phosphorous and suspended solids) and physical (temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, TDS, turbidity and clarity).
All analysis done are stored into a database by Microsoft
Access software, including an inventory of the quality of all water resources
throughout
Unelco Water Quality Laboratory
This laboratory owned and operated by Unelco is capable of analyzing bacteriological, chemical and physical analysis. However, most of the physical analysis (pH, turbidity, conductivity and residual chlorine) is done in the field using portable water testing kits. The laboratory also does analysis on request from private individuals and business houses such as hotels. A technician who also collects samples for analysis and records the data of analysed parameters onto a computer mans the laboratory.
World Health Organisation funded this laboratory for the
Ministry of Health Environmental Health Section. However, now it is located at
The laboratory does not analyze water samples on a periodic basis and is more or less like the DGMWR Laboratory that receives samples only during natural disasters and out breaks or upon requests. There is a laboratory technician who is also a medical laboratory technician at VCH. All data or results of analysis are presented to clients if private and recorded in laboratory notebooks.
Water Resources Act (2002)
A milestone achievement for the water sector is the newly enacted Water Resources Act. The Act as previously outlined in Section 9.1.2.
Particularly sites that may be relevant to IWP include are the Port Vila Water Catchment (GPZ), Luganville Catchments (GPZ), Waimemea (Ambae) and the Lenakel/Isangel Catchments. All these catchments serve a huge population with the two urban areas being of serious concern, both because of the legal and illegal developments into the GPZ. Any IWP pilot project into one of these areas has a high potential to address at least two key focus areas of IWP of freshwater/marine quality and community waste reductions.
Training provided and funded by SOPAC, NZAID and the Chinese
government to the DGMWR is also an opportunity to increase the capabilities of
water quality technicians of the DGMWR, MOH Environmental Health Section,
Finally there have been numerous water projects implemented
in country from which lessons could be drawn for any activity targeting the
freshwater quality or marine quality focus of IWP. One such being the Catchment
and Communities with financial support from UNESCO. The projects are
implemented on Epule (
109.0 Fisheries Resources
The fisheries
resources of
Coral reefs and
associated sea grass beds have traditionally provided a harvest of valuable
protein for ni-Vanuatu population and have value as a tourist attraction.
However as Done and Navin (1990) noted “ the greatest financial value that a
fringing coral reefs and sea grass beds provide to
The temperatures of
the waters surrounding
The tuna resource is
most likely near to being fully exploited by long line and purse seine vessels
operating under permit in
109.1 Existing framework for Fisheries Resource
Management
The Fisheries Division under the Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock, and
109.1.1 National Fisheries Policy
The principal national goal for the fishery sector is to
ensure sustainable development, management and conservation of
The specific national objectives are:
· To improve resource management and conservation
· To improve participatory and integrated policy development
· To increase quantity of landed fish and other marine product
· Increase rural income through subsistence and commercial fishing and improves livelihood
· To improve fisheries research development
· To conduct Fisheries Training and Education
· To improve fisheries surveillance & enforcement
· To improve and strengthen Fisheries Administration
· To increase departmental revenue
109.1.2 Legislation and
regulations
The Maritime Zones Act (1981) establishes
Other relevant provisions include the protection of marine mammals and the prohibition of destructive fishing practices. Regulations promulgated in 1983 and 1986 supplement the Act with details of licensing requirements for various categories of fishing vessels, conditions for the operation of fish processing establishments, specific conservation measures for selected species (e.g. Turtles, coral, trochus, bech-de-mer, coconut crab and green snail) and the prohibition of destructive fishing practices. The only management plan currently in place is the Tuna Management Plan for Offshore fishery.
Other legislation in the Marine sector include:
·
Vanuatu Maritime Act No. 29 (1998) including
amendments of 2002 and
·
Shipping Act (CAP 53)
·
SPC Draft Model Shipping and Maritime Bill
109.1.3 International obligations
in the Fisheries and Maritime Sector
Table 8: Environmental Conventions, Agreements and
Treaties that
|
International
Environmental Treaty |
Status |
|
United
Nation Convention on Biodiversity |
Ratified
1992 |
|
United
Nation Convention for Climate Change |
Ratified
1992 |
|
|
To
be ratified |
|
|
To
be ratified |
|
Convention
on the prohibition of Fishing with Long Drift Nets in the South Pacific |
Ratified1991 |
|
United
Nation Convention on Law of the Sea |
Ratified1982 |
|
Protocol
of 1978 Relating to the international Convention for the Pollution from Ships |
Ratified
1989 |
|
Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. |
Ratified
1989 |
|
International
Convention on the Establishment of an international Fund for Compensation for
Oil Pollution Damage. |
Ratified
1989 |
|
International
Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage |
Ratified
1983 |
|
International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil |
Ratified
1983 |
|
Plant
Protection Agreement for the |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on the High Seas |
Not
Ratified |
|
International
Convention Relating to the High Seas in case of Oil Pollution |
Not
Ratified |
|
Protocol
relating to intervention on the High Seas in case on Marine Pollution other
than Oil |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on Wetlands of International Importance |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Waste and other Materials |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on the Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
on the conservation of Migratory species of Wild Animals |
Not
Ratified |
|
South
Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty |
Not
Ratified |
|
Convention
for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific
Region |
Not
Ratified |
|
Protocol
Concerning Co-operation in combating Pollution Emergencies in the South
Pacific Region |
Not
Ratified |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harmonized
Minimum Terms and Conditions for Foreign Fishing Vessel Access |
|
|
|
|
|
Convention
for the prohibition of fishing with long driftnets in the South Pacific
Region |
|
|
Regional
Register of Foreign Fishing Vessels (maintained by FFA) |
|
|
Vessel
Monitoring System (maintained by FFA) |
|
|
Air
Surveillance and Ground Control- |
|
|
Joint
Fisheries Research and Statistical Monitoring through SPC |
|
109.2 Vulnerabilities, weaknesses and problems
A key weakness in the fishery sector according to Crowley et al. (2001) is the lack of fisheries policy and a poorly developed and implemented regulatory framework as serious impediments to sustainable development, management and conservation of fisheries resources.
Another vulnerability lies in the Decentralization and Local Government Act (1994) that states that provincial councils can develop by-laws affecting marine resources. This according to William (pers. com) is a serious threat as provincial government are also requesting that they be allowed to issue fishing license although they lack the necessary management skills.
Furthermore the marine sector in general is faced with another potential threat to the marine environment in the amendment to the Maritime acts that see the decision making powers of the commissioner removed and included as one for the minister. This is a real problem as far as the overall management of marine environment is concern as it means that the decision making power could easily be abused as has been seen in the past, and especially in the context of transparency and accountability. Interestingly too the commissioner is no longer a member in the Board of Director (BOD) for VMA while the composition of the BOD could also justify this threat, as out of 7 members, not more than two could be civil servants, the rest being political appointees.
Another threat lies in the search and rescue operation centre that is currently non-existent. This means that every now and then in case of emergencies such as lost at sea operations. One such incident in 2002 cost the VMA approximately 250,000 Vatu. This is a serious problem especially as if there is an Oil Spill in Vanuatu waters, it could proved very disastrous both environmentally but socio-economically too.
109.3 Opportunities
A potential opportunity is the fishery sector lies in the now endorsed Tuna Management plan with an overall scope for all highly migratory tuna species (Albacore, Yellowfin, Bigeye and Skipjack) other species taken in the course of fishing for tuna, covering all Vanuatu waters including Mathew and Hunter and all Vanuatu flagged tuna fishing vessels regardless of where they fish.
The management plan has permits and license issuance as its strength of terms of conditions. Of particular interest the plan allows for the proper management of by-catch, seamounts and marine reserves and pollution impacts.
Within the Fisheries Division two key sections that are of interest
to IWP are the Resource Assessment, Management, Computer and Information
Sections (RAMCIS) and the Rural Fisheries Development Programme (RFDP). RAMCIS
has an overall objective to devise marine resource management schemes through
stock assessment activities, effective collection of data, information
dissemination and revenue generation. RFDP on the other hand is focus on
small-scale fisheries and facilitate the sustainable development and management
of
The Department of Fisheries is also embarking an ACI
Most of the Department of Fisheries rural initiatives receive technical assistance from Fisheries Extension Services in the provinces.
Another very promising Programme that has been going on for approximately 5 years now is the Wan Smolbag Theatre Turtle Monitors Programme. This is a good information dissemination network in almost all the islands with over 100 Vanua-Tai Monitors (formerly turtle monitors) as they now not only focus on turtle awareness but other marine and terrestrial resources too.
A number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) have established in
The now completed National Oil Spills Contingency Plan
(NATPLAN) that has now been put forward for the consideration by the DCO for
further action is also a very useful tool for the management of the marine
environment from oil spill disasters in
The Aim of the NATPLAN for
· To plan and provide for an appropriate response capability to prevent/minimise damage to marine and coastal environments and resources from marine pollution events.
The Objectives of NATPLAN are:
· Provide the basis of planning for marine pollution and other maritime emergencies at a National level.
· To provide the organisational structure and procedures for the coordinated, timely and effective response to maritime spills of oil and other noxious and hazardous substances.
· To provide systems for the detection and reporting of marine spills within the area covered by the plan, including communications networks.
· To outline the counter-measures available to restrict the spread of a spill and minimise the environmental, economic and social impacts of a spill.
·
To
facilitate the implementation of the SPREP Pollution Protocol and OPRC 90 in
Finally for the better management of the marine, and fisheries resources the proposed amalgamation of the Shipping Act and the Maritime Act into the Secretariat of the Pacific Community template legislation (SPC Model Act) to be called the Shipping and Maritime Act as well as the review of the Fisheries Act to give more powers to the Director of Fisheries are good news for the marine sector in general
110.0 Recommendations and Conclusions
The consultation process to review priority environmental concerns for the International Waters Project (IWP) had been made with two main objectives:
·
Preparing
a written report summarizing available information on the state of the
· Describing priority issues for consideration by the International Waters Project (IWP) in choosing community level activities from within these IWP’s program areas of freshwater, waste management and coastal fisheries.
In that respect the consulting team recommends that the IWP considers a Pilot Project that brings about a holistic approach to land development for economic, social and environmental sustainability.
An important point is to note that land is owned on traditional systems. This entails that land does not belong to individuals, rather it belongs to family groupings who decide on what to do on their land based on their needs. It is important therefore that land development including biodiversity management initiatives be addressed with these family groupings as the main leaders in these initiatives to address their land, marine and freshwater resources they have, what their subsistent and income generations are and establish what they need to do with these scenarios.
From the review of major environmental
constraints the following priority areas of focus are recommended for the next
phase of IWP in
Below are some recommendations put forward by
the consulting team from the review of
key environmental sectors for consideration by the IWP. Comment and discussion on this draft
report will be used to select priority recommendations for work under the IWP
project in
10.1 Waste Sector
The following priority projects are recommended for IWP consideration in the waste sector
Priority Project 1: Waste Management KAP Survey Analysis Project
An
extremely detailed survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward waste
management was undertaken as part of the Solid Waste Management and
Minimisation Project (2000). This data has not been analysed. It would be very
useful in informing urban waste awareness, education and management decisions.
The cost of analysing this information has been estimated at only 300,000VT.
Should IWP choose to address waste related issues in either of
Priority Project 2: Provincial and
Municipal Councils Waste Management Plans Implementation
During consultations in year 2000 several provinces expressed concern about waste management at the Provincial Headquarters, and the need to create sanitary landfills and even went as far as developing a Provincial Waste Management Plan. However they lack capacity to select suitable sites, negotiate with landholders and to dispose of rubbish in any other than the most rudimentary ways. There has been very little change in this situation over the past 3 years. Waste disposal outside of Port Vila and Luganville remains problematic.
There is inadequate monitoring at the Port Vila Bouffa Landfill as the monitoring boreholes that were installed at Bouffa Sanitary Landfill but have since been destroyed. Formal requests for the boreholes to be reconstructed through the government investment programme have not been successful.
Waste characterization studies have not been undertaken in the past decade outside of Port Vila. These are important in informing any decisions about waste management and minimisation in Luganville and the 6 Provinces. Should IWP choose to address waste management issues they will be an important first step in any work. Very little is known about waste generated outside Port Vila, and this is a real obstacle to creating appropriate waste management and minimization plans.
Priority Project 3: Waste
Management Institutional Capacity Building
There is currently no single authority
responsible for waste management in
Components of waste management relate to the work of the Health Department, Public Works, Environment Unit and Municipals. However, none of these agencies take a coordinating responsibility and so work tends to be fragmented and poorly coordinated.
Management
of wastes from
Priority Project 4: Waste Reduction
in Vanuatu
People in the two urban areas are aware that waste is a problem, but have not moved to change their waste management and disposal practices. There is a need to better understand how to motivate change in behaviour, not just create awareness, and put in place the infrastructure and legislation that would enable people to move to better waste management practice
For
instance presently 80% of the solid waste taken to Port Vila Landfill site
could be removed from the waste stream through composting and recycling.
Demonstrating this, and setting in place appropriate practices, could be a
useful goal of the IWP project in
Priority Project 5: PTS Inventory
in Vanuatu
1.
Agricultural chemical, (
2. Wood preservation chemical,
3. Industrial effluents, (heavy metal residues, oil, ink acids and alkaline, solvents, etc)
4. Substances used in medical treatment and clinical waste, and explosives.
10.2 Agriculture Sector
Priority Project 1: Better use of coastal land currently under coconut plantations
Coconut plantations for copra production are important, but they have taken up virtually all the arable land found along the coasts and flood plains and are increasing taking up plateau areas as well as hillsides. Though quite important, economically, environmentally it is unfriendly. It assists to destroy resource species. It is a common belief among rural communities that food crops cannot be grown under coconuts. For this reason, new areas are cleared annually for food production as well as for growing other cash crops such as kava, cocoa and spies thus the increased level of displacements of resource species due to the destruction of habitats.
Identifying through research the best farming alternatives for both subsistent and commercial production that cater for sustainable farming without the need for new areas of land clearing which displaces natural resources
It is important that research work that has
already been done in the areas of intercropping and alley cropping at Monmatre,
Tagabe, and V
Commercial livestock production will continue
to be in the hands of the foreign investors as Ni-Vanuatu lack management
skills, lack the capital start up necessary to mass production and the land
tenure system which favors full family consensus on their land use. Lease
agreement is much more favorable.
Priority Project 2: Better use of coastal land
Land use in the form of agricultural and forestry activities are unplanned. There is no effort to assist landowners and rural communities to make wise and viable decisions on how best they could use their land to ensure that there is a balanced growth between the social, economic and environmental development
Often, the
extension services of the Departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
give only the positive sides of programs that are project funded to ensure that
these programs are carried out so that targets could be met so that funding
could be continued.
Rural communities
rely on the technical advice from the Extension Services for alternative income
generating activities. Very often, the advice they get is biased towards
project targets, which may not give an open overview of what is involved and
any constraints that may be met. It is important that they get a sound advice
on alternative income generating activities that best suit their land to assist
them to make decisions that will cater for their needs, does not directly
affect natural species
Promote quality
production methods to save more new lands being cleared and reduce resource
species displacements such as improved gardening practices and contour farming.
Though producers
are producing in quantities are not always producing quality products.
For example better and improved farming practices would ensure high quality
produce on the same piece of land for a much longer period without the need to
clear new lands every year
Assist landowners
to make decisions that will cater for their needs, does not directly affect
natural species
Priority Project 3: Establish laws to control subsistence consumption
While the Department of Forests have gone ahead and have the Code of
Logging Practices (COLP) enacted
the Agriculture Department has not gone ahead to legalize the land clearing
criteria that were identified under the Livestock Pasture Improvement Project.
This gap becomes a problem especially when loggers are restricted to log in a
certain area such as along river creeks, gardening can take place quite
normally. In other words, while by law a tree or a site is protected by law, it
could be destroyed naturally by agricultural activities without anyone taking
notice of the depletion that is taking place.
Fauna laws controlling harvesting needs to be revised to ensure that
there is a mechanism in place for monitoring of harvests that are for home
consumptions.
Capacity building should be an important component so that community leaders are able to monitor these laws.
10.3 Forest
Sector
Priority Project 1: Review the impact of Cordia alliodora and other introduced pests
Cordia alliordora that was previously encouraged as a timber species is now considered an invasive pest due to its fast re-growth displaces natural biodiversity. Not much is known of its impact on the environment nor of the other invasive pests species on the local species.
There needs to be an independent report outside of the Department of Forests to determine the extent of the impact the cordia is having on local resource species and to determine what actions to take to address it. The writers believe it is currently reducing the species richness of resources in areas affected.
Priority Project 2: Develop capacity building for Non Timber forest products Capacity
Though non forest timber products have been looked into by individuals, there is a need for a more intensive research into developing value added products such as snack fruits, furniture using rattans and other plant species, jewelry and other products that could bring income better income compared to paid royalties.
10.4 Biodiversity Sector
Priority Project 1: Better monitoring and controlling of pests by involving communities
Effects of invasive pests:
· Decreased dominance of native species
· Decreased overall species richness of native plants
· Decreased plants and animals that depend on lost species
· Fewer vertical tiers of plants (canopy, sub-canopy, etc)
· Changes to processes such as water table levels, fire regimes, soil quality and nutrient cycling
Capacity building should be an important component so that community leaders are able to do some of the monitoring themselves.
Priority Project 2: Community respect for their environment
Malosu et al
(2002during a consultation workshop and participatory vegetation and mapping on
Tanna noted that the following are threatening the forests:
·
Bush fires
intentionally fired on grassland areas
·
People slaughtering
feral animals for consumption, but only using part of it
·
Deliberate cutting
down of trees without any reasons
·
Clearing of forest for
Dioscorea alata’s planting
·
Animals especially
cattle, goats and pigs grazing into existing forests.
Educate people to
respect their environment through wide awareness programs
·
Effective legislation
against subsistence production to ensure that resources are better managed. For
example the agricultural land clearing that was made by the Pasture Improvement
Project
·
Effective monitoring
of legislations covering natural resources by increasing consultative
monitoring by rural communities
Priority Project 3: Assist Community Conservation Owners with their Action Plants
During consultation workshops that NBSAP organized in 2001 in Epau and Luganville, community conservation area owners had drawn up some action plans to better manage their conservation areas.
10.5 Health Sector
The following priority projects are recommended in the health sector
Priority Project 1: Water and
sanitation Project in Black sands, Freswind and Mele.
Potential for serious public health problem
in, Fres Wind, Black Sands and Mele/
Maat. There is continuous threat for possible outbreaks of communicable
diseases in these communities especially the Black Sands as there is no
provision of safe and portable water most people at Black Sands rely on
groundwater and some get their water directly from the
Sanitation in Black Sands area is very poor as most people do not have water supply, rely on pit latrines and dispose of waste indiscriminately into the river.
Interestingly now, the ADB ad SOPAC are both looking at funding disaster mitigation projects in the Black Sands, Mele/Maat Area. This is a very good opportunity for any IWP Project in the two areas although it is not clear at this stage how the two donors would complement each other’s activities. Nonetheless it is a possible partnership that IWP may wish to get more information on prior to deciding on any activity at Black Sands or Mele village.
Priority Project 2: Inventory of
Land-based activities/sources affecting Port Vila Luganville Harbour Tagabe River Vila
The increased faecal pollution or contamination
of
With respect to feacal contamination the
DGMWR are currently doing a biannual Coastal Water Monitoring of the
The issue of limited “safe” water is not only a problem for urban areas or hinterlands of Port Vila, some island communities also face similar problems such as parts of Tanna, Paama, Aniwa. This increase the potential for disease outbreaks as there is less or no water for proper personal hygiene
There is limited capacity to monitor wastes produced by industry, business houses and agriculture. Management of waste oils and petroleum products, chemical residues, chemicals used in printing and film developing and other commercial and industrial wastes needs to be improved.
10.5 Water Sector
The priority projects recommended in the water sector are:
Priority Project 1: Catchments Management Project
A very important area for any focus for IWP
could be development of management capabilities in the area of water catchments
in
The Port Vila GPZ in particular has been
documented in previous reports such as the Depledge (1994), Hydroplan (1994)
and ADB (1998) where a series of three zones have been designed to protect the
water supply catchment from pollution through bye-law and physical plans
controls to limit existing uses and prohibit any new construction or sewage
discharge within this zone. This has not be adhered to as current approvals
by the Port
Particularly sites that may be relevant to IWP include are the Port Vila Water Catchment (GPZ), Luganville Catchments (GPZ), Waimemea (Ambae) and the Lenakel/Isangel Catchments. All these catchments serve a huge population with the two urban areas being of serious concern, both because of the legal and illegal developments into the GPZ. Any IWP pilot project into one of these areas has a high potential to address at least two key focus areas of IWP of freshwater/marine quality and community waste reductions.
Finally there have been numerous water
projects implemented in country where lessons could be drawn for any activity
targeting the freshwater quality or marine quality focus of IWP. One such being
the Catchment and Communities with financial support from UNESCO. The projects
are implemented on Epule (
Priority Project 2: Water Quality
Monitoring and Surveillance Capabilities in Vanuatu
According to
While Water quality laboratories may not be up to standard, they reflect government commitments to providing safe and portable water. These quality management capabilities could only be improved. A brief overview of the laboratories is given below.
DGMWR Water Laboratory
This laboratory funded by NZAID (formerly NZODA) is used for the analysis of raw waters and also drinking water samples from Port Vila and Luganville and rural areas. The laboratory is capable conducting the following analysis: bacteriological (total coliform, E. Coli), chemical (ammonia, COD, BOD, CaCO3, hardness, mg, nitrate, phosphorous and suspended solids) and physical (temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, TDS, turbidity and clarity).
All analysis done are stored into a database
by Microsoft Access software, including an inventory of the quality of all
water resources throughout
World Health Organisation funded this
laboratory for the Ministry of Health Environmental Health Section. However,
now it is located at
The laboratory does not analyze water samples on a periodic basis and is more or less like the DGMWR Laboratory that receives samples only during natural disasters and out breaks or upon requests. There is a laboratory technician who is also a medical laboratory technician at VCH. All data or results of analysis are presented to clients if private and recorded in laboratory notebooks.
Monitoring in rural areas is on an adhoc basis such as during communicable disease outbreak and natural disasters (e.g volcanic eruptions and cyclones) and upon the request of Village Water Committees.
10.6 Fisheries and Marine Sector
The priority projects recommended in the fisheries and marine sector are:
Priority Project 1: Trochus and Green Snail Restocking Project
Within the Fisheries Division two key
sections that are of interest to IWP are the Resource Assessment, Management,
Computer and Information Sections (RAMCIS) and the Rural Fisheries Development
Programme (RFDP). RAMCIS has an overall objective to devise marine resource
management schemes through stock assessment activities, effective collection of
data, information dissemination and revenue generation. RFDP on the other hand
is focus on small-scale fisheries and facilitate the sustainable development
and management of
The Department of Fisheries is also embarking
an ACI
Most of the Department of Fisheries rural initiatives receive technical assistance from Fisheries Extension Services in the provinces
Priority Project 2: Review of
Marine Protected Areas and the Vanua-Tai Monitors Network Project
A number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) have
established in
Another very promising Programme that has been going on for approximately 5 years now is the Wan Smolbag Theatre Turtle Monitors Programme. This is a good information dissemination network in almost all the islands with over 100 Vanua-Tai Monitors (formerly turtle monitors) as they now not only focus on turtle awareness but other marine and terrestrial resources too. This work could be expanded and strengthened.
Priority Project 3: Review of
Fisheries Act ( 1988), Shipping Act and Maritime Act (amendment of 2002)
A key weakness in the fishery sector according to Crowley et al. (2001) is the lack of fisheries policy and a poorly developed and implemented regulatory framework as serious impediments to sustainable development, management and conservation of fisheries resources.
Another vulnerability lies in the Decentralization and Local Government Act (1994) that states that provincial councils can develop by-laws affecting marine resources. This according to William (pers. com) is a serious threat as provincial government are also requesting that they be allowed to issue fishing license although they lack the necessary management skills.
Furthermore the marine sector in general is faced with another potential threat to the marine environment in the amendment to the Maritime acts that see the decision making powers of the commissioner removed and included as one for the minister. This is a real problem as far as the overall management of marine environment is concern as it means that the decision making power could easily be abused as has been seen in the past, and especially in the context of transparency and accountability. Interestingly too the commissioner is no longer a member in the Board of Director for VMA while the composition of the BOD could also justify this threat, as out of 7 members, not more than two could be civil servants, the rest being political appointees.
Priority Project 4: NATPLAN Implementation Project
Another threat lies in the capacity to
implement the NATPLAN. This is a serious problem especially as if there is an
Oil Spill in Vanuatu waters, it could proved very disastrous both
environmentally but socio-economically too.
The now completed National Oil Spills Contingency Plan (NATPLAN) that
has now been put forward for the consideration by the DCO for further action is
also a very useful tool for the management of the marine environment from oil
spill disasters in
The overall aim NATPLAN for
· Provide the basis of planning for marine pollution and other maritime emergencies at a National level.
· To provide the organisational structure and procedures for the coordinated, timely and effective response to maritime spills of oil and other noxious and hazardous substances.
· To provide systems for the detection and reporting of marine spills within the area covered by the plan, including communications networks.
· To outline the counter-measures available to restrict the spread of a spill and minimise the environmental, economic and social impacts of a spill.
·
To
facilitate the implementation of the SPREP Pollution Protocol and OPRC 90 in
Priority Project 5: Tuna Management Plan Implementation Project
A potential opportunity is the fishery sector lies in the now endorsed Tuna Management plan with an overall scope for all highly migratory tuna species (Albacore, Yellowfin, Bigeye and Skipjack) other species taken in the course of fishing for tuna, covering all Vanuatu waters including Mathew and Hunter and all Vanuatu flagged tuna fishing vessels regardless of where they fish.
The management plan has permits and license issuance as its strength of terms of conditions. Of particular interest the plan allows for the proper management of by-catch, seamounts and marine reserves and pollution impacts.
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List
of people consulted
|
Person |
Title |
Organization |
Month of contact |
|
Hannington Tate |
Principal Extension Officer |
Forestry Dept |
Dec. 2002 |
|
Reuben Bakeo |
Policy Planner |
Forestry Dept |
Dec. 2002 |
|
Steven Tahi |
Director General |
Min of Lands |
Jan. 2003 |
|
Tony Tevi |
|
Geology Dept |
Jan 2003 |
|
Prim Rose |
|
IWP |
Jan 2003 |
|
Alicta Vuti |
|
Lands Dept |
Jan 2003 |
|
Katherine Malosu |
|
Environment Unit |
Jan 2003 |
|
Leo Moli |
Director |
Energy Unit |
Jan 2003 |
|
Brian Philips |
|
PICCAP |
Jan 2003 |
|
Mercy Nalawas |
Meteorology Officer |
Meteorology Dept |
Jan 2003 |
|
Pakoa Rarua |
Senior Environmental Health Officer |
Public Health Dept |
Dec 2002 |
|
Shirley Laban |
Assistant Environmental Health Officer |
Public Health Dept |
Dec 2002 |
|
Jonas Arugogona |
Senior Health Planner |
Ministry of Health |
Dec 2002 |
|
Astride Boulekone |
Assistant |
|
Dec 2002 |
|
William Naviti |
Fisheries Resource Manager |
Fisheries Division |
Dec 2002 |
|
John Chaniel |
Manager, Water Supply |
UNELCO |
Dec 2002 |
|
|
|
|
Dec 2002 |
|
Tony Ata |
Head, Environmental Health Officer |
|
Dec 2002 |
|
Malcolm Dalesa |
Environmental Health Officer |
|
Dec 2002 |
|
David Mackewen |
Water Resource Advisor |
DGMWR |
Dec 2002 |
|
Morris Malau Steven |
Senior Water Technician |
DGMWR |
Dec 2002 |