The Pacific region’s leading environment organization today took the first steps towards more energy efficient transport with the click of a fuel button.

Partnership with the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programmes (SPREP) will, as of today, begin using biodiesel in its fleet of vehicles.

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel to diesel, based on a mixture of fuel made from renewable plant sources and diesel. Supplying the SPREP vehicles with this Samoa-made biodiesel is a key milestone for SROS in the future development of a cleaner and more sustainable fuel opting for Samoa.

“We hope the small seeds planted today by the use of biodiesel in SPREP’s vehicles will take root and make a difference to efforts to move to an energy efficient future for Samoa,” said David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP (pictured).

In his opening remarks at the launch e vent held at the SROS headquarters in Avele today, the Director-General highlighted the challenge of climate change to Pacific people’s way of life and to national security.

“Even though the Pacific contributes just 0.03% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, our region has taken the stance that it is our mortal duty to act,” he said.

“We have an opportunity to show the rest of the world that Pacific Islanders, while among the most vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate, are committed to taking practical action to reduce emissions.”

SPREP is working with Pacific countries and territories, including Samoa, to respond to climate change, while improving sustainable management of ecosystems and biodiversity. At the same time, the organization is implementing the UNDP/GEF-funded Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP). This project supports low-carbon development schemes in eleven Pacific Island Countries, including Samoa, through support for renewable energy strategies and for the development of related projects propels.

The Director-General congratulated SROS on leading efforts in Samoa in developing clean, efficient and renewable alternatives to replace some imported diesel and expressed SPREP’s support for further action in this area.

“This is good for the environment of Samoa and it is also good for the economic bottom line,” he said.

The volatility in world oil prices is also a key driver for encouraging renewable energy and energy efficiency development. Renewable energy has been indicated as a major priority for the region by Pacific leaders.

“Government should strive to achieve these goals through meaningful fiscal and regulatory measures.”

“I would also urge SROS to find ways and means to increase the percentage of renewable energy components in this biodiesel, to ensure that its sustainability can be enhanced and its contribution to GHG reductions increased,” said the Director-General.

The Rapid Biodiversity Survey (BIORAP) covered around 100 square kilometres of extremely rugged and inaccessible terrain to a height of 1,870metres (6,100 feet) above sea level.

“We are all now much more aware why there is a dearth of information on the fauna, and to some degree the flora, of this very remote and little visited area,” said Bruce Jefferies, SPREP’s Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Officer.

Mr Jefferies explained that getting equipment, food and water to the top of the cloud forest was a major undertaking and, coupled with uncertain weather conditions, makes carrying out such a survey generally impossible.

“In fact, without the significant support provided by the New Zealand Defence Force helicopter squadron, covering this area would have been an impossible objective.”

The survey was timed to coincide with the New Zealand Defence Force presence in Samoa during the nation’s 50th Independence anniversary celebrations.

“Unfortunately, this meant that we were also at the mercy of the uncertain May weather,” said Mr Jefferies.

Samoan-Moorhen

The survey strategy involved dropping teams of experts at various pre-indentified helicopter landing zones for 1–2 nights and then to relocate them to other sites. Unfortunately, the poor weather conditions meant that at one stage 3 teams totalling 12 people were stranded in very wet conditions. The low cloud and rain also meant that helicopter evacuations were impossible and for a couple of days all that could be done was to wait for a weather clearance.

“To give an idea of the amount of rain that fell before the evacuation when the teams landed in the crater where they set-up their camp the floor of the cater was completely dry – after 24 hrs of rain about 2.5m of water had accumulated and was forcing the research teams progressively up the side of the crater wall. At one camp, people were swimming across the crater to retrieve survey monitoring equipment!”

Despite these set-backs, the teams of experts on birds, insects, reptiles and plants are confident that they have enough information to make an initial analysis of the biodiversity of the cloud forest.

However, information will not be available for some months as the scientists now need to undertake the time consuming process of examining their findings and collections in detail in order to verify new species.

The survey did produce some sobering news in terms of some of the bird species that are of particular significance because of their national and global status.

Dr David Butler, who coordinated the bird teams, commented that: “In brief, the teams made only one uncorroborated sighting of a manumea during the survey and heard only one or two sequences of calls that could be attributed to this species but which we thought equally likely to be being made by the Pacific pigeon or lupe.”

He added that the team did sight good numbers of lupe and the white-throated pigeon or fiaui.

“While the survey was not specifically designed for the manumea alone and the timing may not have been the perfect time of year to detect this bird, we saw enough to conclude that upland Savaii is not the stronghold for this species that we had hoped,” said Dr Butler.

The bird team were also not able to find the Samoan woodhen, or punae, leading to serious concerns that it may indeed be extinct, as earlier feared.

The insect team collected a significant number of specimens and it is confidently expected that a percentage of these will be new discoveries for both Samoa and science generally. The snail expert also thought that several of the specimens collected would be new species.

A small team focused on reptiles – skinks and lizards – and as part of their work, an altitudinal transect from sea level to 1700m, was completed. This work, when the findings have been fully analysed, will provide new data on the distribution of skinks and lizards in Samoa.

Under the very experienced direction of Dr Art Whistler, the botanical team undertook a number of vegetation transects within different forest types and elevations. Of all the scientific specialities, the botany of the Savaii uplands is arguably the best known and documented. In spite of this, new plant species are expected to be announced when findings from the BIORAP are collated.

The BIORAP Survey was funded by the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) and was undertaken by the Secretariat for of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) and local communities on Savaii.

The World Wetlands Day theme for 2012 is “Wetlands and Tourism” and with tourism being a major income earner for the Pacific Islands, this industry is set to grow over the coming years. While there are many examples of environmentally sustainable tourism, there are also a number of unsustainable examples of tourism, which generate waste and pollution and cause damage to our wetlands.    

The Clean Pacific campaign is a regional waste management and pollution control campaign coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in partnership with its member countries. The campaign will galvanise actions at all levels to improve the management of wastes and pollution through promotion of a range of activities, which contribute to a healthy environment, including wetlands.

SPREP will support relevant grass roots activities for waste reduction and management, pollution prevention, and hazardous chemical management during the campaign year.

“There are major problems on the management and disposal of solid waste throughout the Pacific, so the programme is focussing on raising awareness and building capacity in this important area,” said Mr. David Sheppard, SPREP’s Director General.

 “SPREP is pleased to embark on this campaign and we look forward to good work to come as we all unite on our Clean Pacific campaign.”

 In the Pacific region, isolated populations and remote locations are challenges beyond our control and often make sustainable waste management and pollution control difficult.  At the same time they underscore the need to focus on local solutions that can be sustained regardless of external factors such as fuel prices and shipping costs.

Recognising these and other challenges, the Clean Pacific campaign focuses on ensuring that the right practices and policies are adopted by Pacific island countries to support sustainable management of waste and prevention and control of pollution.

The campaign will also show that a clean Pacific relies on everyone from the most senior politician to the smallest family taking immediate and responsible action to solve the dual problems of waste and pollution.

For more details please contact SPREP’s Waste Management and Pollution Control Team at wasteteam@sprep.org

If you ever needed a reason to go into agriculture, Pure Pacifica Samoa has five million for you.

By 2013, the company plans to send five million litres of nonu juice to China.Up from the three million litres it is contracted to send next year.

“Nonu has huge potential and those orders are a huge undertaking for us,” said Pure Pacifika Samoa – the leading nonu exporter in the country – spokesman Faumuina Apulu Lance Polu.

Last week, the company sent eight 20×40 containers containing 144,000 litres of juice to China, its biggest shipment yet.

“We plan to send another eight containers next week,” said Faumuina.

“We have to do that every fortnight to meet our quota.”

And it is fetching good coin for nonu growers in the country.

A fourteen-kilogram bucket fetches $9 from Pure Pacifika Samoa. More than twice the price offered by other nonu exporters.

To break that down even more. Some 300-400 nonu trees can grow on just an acre of land. At current price, that acre can fetch you between $22,000 – $25,000 a year. Plant five acres and it will be an easy annual income of $110,000.

So much so that some farmers are switching to nonu as well as public servants who normally don’t farm.

“The CEO of Agriculture has started on his five-acre plot and Richard Cook of Saleimoa Plantation is harvesting a lot of nonu.”

“Since May, Pure Pacifika Samoa has given out over a quarter million tala to nonu farmers in both Upolu and Savaii.”

Pure Pacifika is working closely with agriculture in a programme to create awareness of good nonu tree husbandry as well as developing enough planting material for potential nonu growers.

If all goes well, said Faumuina, Pure Pacifika is in line to sign a ten-year deal with partner Tupa’ilelei Jack Chen’s New Zealand Milk and Dairy Products – the Chinese nonu importer.

Pure Pacifika spokesman Faumuina Lance Polu and Savali’s Tupuola Terry Tavita

PREMIUM

“Nonu is used as a base for a range of premium beverages developed by Tupa’ilelei’s company. Tupa’ilelei also has over 3000 shops throughout China. So in essence, we are supplying to a big beverage company and also a huge beverage distributor in China.”

Pure Pacifika Samoa trucks are now a common feature on our backroads – in both Upolu and Savaii – collecting nonu from families who bring it by the bucket-load to the roadside.

“Our business concept is to provide an income for those at the grassroots level. Nonu grows wild here and doesn’t need much upkeep.Very ideal for our people who struggle to come up with the necessary capital to invest on other complicated farming venture.”

And this is no fly-by-night industry, said Faumuina.

“Nonu is not susceptible to any major disease. And studies have pointed out that the best nonu come from Samoa.”

A study undertaken by its importer, Faumuina said, concluded that nonu from Samoa was of a higher quality than nonu from Niue, Cook Islands, Tahiti and elsewhere in the Pacific.

“The quality of the nonu is measured in a chemical measurement called bricks. Samoan nonu averaged around nine bricks while that from Niue and the Cook Islands was just six, six-point-five at the most. We don’t know yet if it’s the weather or the soil that produces premium nonu in Samoa. But one thing is certain, our nonu is sort after.”

The company’s depot at Salelologa is now in full operation. The nonu is brought to its bfactory in Vaitele where it is fermented for three months and pasteurized into nonu juice. The juice is then poured into flexitanks inside the 20×40 foot container that are shipped off.

WATER

Faumuina said the operation uses a substantial amount of water and government has been asked to improve the water supply at its Vaitele factory.

“Especially during this prolonged dry season.

“Another way government can help is to improve the inland road systems in both Upolu and Savaii. Some of these roads are very bad and trucks are having a hard time getting to farms inland.”

Pure Pacifika Samoa has 40 employees working three shifts – round the clock – at its Vaitele factory.

It looks like any ordinary piece of driftwood.

It sits at the corner of the truck bed as I unpack from my trip to Savaii this afternoon.

I do not want to take it into the house as there are Samoan taboos about bringing home objects from other villages, forests.

By most accounts we gathered though – this is what remains of the last Samoan asi manogi, native Samoan sandalwood tree, chopped down back in 1989.

A tree – and its fragrance – that lured fleets of European and Asian merchant ships to our shores at a most colourful time in Samoan history.

“A forestry inventory after the cyclones in 1992 – which included aerial surveys – revealed that the asi manogi (Samoan sandalwood) was no more, finished, gone” says chief forestry officer Fiu Nimarota.

Sitting at his modest office at the Asau Forestry Station – occasionally ruffling through some files – Fiu and I engage in a light chat on sandalwood.
In 2005, he said, Forestry introduced an Australian species that is now reviving the sandalwood industry.

“It is very similar to the Samoan asi manogi. It is also quite invasive. As you can see the asi is now growing wild on our compound here.”

He points at seedling growth – mingling with peanut weed – as we stroll along the expansive Forestry compound on the western tip of Savaii.

“The sandalwood is semi-parasitic,” he said.

“It needs a host tree to grow with. So we usually grow it with an orange tree.”

He also points out that there are three species of sandalwood in Samoa.

“The asi vai and asi toa are timber trees. They are quite common. We also have a lot of those two species growing in our forests here. It’s the sought-after asi manogi that is now extinct.

“Many people mistake the other two asi species for the asi manogi. So, no doubt, you will have many people claiming they have a asi manogi growing in their backyard.

Old log from the last endemic Samoan sandalwood, cut down at Papa Saua in 1989

SANDALWOOD

Sandalwood – asi manogi – was traditionally used in Samoa for medicinal purposes and, especially, as an essential oil.

It has a distinct wood note and its leaves were used as a funeral bedchamber. Hence the word falelauasi. During chiefly funerals, sandalwood logs were burned and its smoky fragrance filling the air.

The sandalwood trade – along of the trade of beche-de-mer and whaling – was at its height in the Pacific in the 1860s to the 1900s.

Forests of sandalwood were logged and shipped off to Europe. They were used for furniture-making or traded in India and China for spice.

The Asians – in turn – used sandalwood as incense in their rituals.

On the Australian market today, a metric tonne of Australian sandalwood is selling at AUS$12,000 (WST$26,000). Moreover, the same quantity of Indian sandalwood is said to be selling on Mumbai and Delhi auctions for up to AUS$105,000 (WST$240,000).

Hundreds of packaged Australian sandalwood seedlings ready for farmers

FORESTRY

But back to Asau, our conversation drifts to the various reafforestation programmes the Forestry department is implementing.

“Just up from here is the famous Cornwall Estate and our Masamasa forest rehabilitation programme,” said Fiu.

“About 600 to 800 acres of native and introduced timber trees – mahogany, ifilele, tava, tamanu and other trees – are ready for logging. But government has decided to ban logging altogether. The emphasis is now on planting and replanting trees, not cutting them down.

“Government wants to extend the green cover in this area.”

Despite a spate of forest fires in recent years, he said, the timber trees were not affected.

“The fires only affected low-lying areas. Mostly dry shrubberies and savannah outcroppings.”

We pass by workers planting and packaging tree seedlings under two big greenhouse facilities. Some 43 people – most from around the Asau area – are employed at this Forestry outpost.

Two trucks and a double-cab Four-Wheel-Drive – all appeared badly in need of repair work – are parked in a makeshift garage. There are also two paint-peeled washboard residential houses on the compound. Both appear vacant.

We reach the back skirts of the compound and Fiu points out the (Australian) sandalwood bloc.

“We have about 900 trees on a three-acre plot. The trees are about seven years-old. We’ve just come through a very dry, dry season. While every other vegetation turned brown, the sandalwood remained very lush. It’s the ideal tree for dry conditions. ”

Already, the trees are about three meters high.

“Sandalwood is harvested between 15 to 20 years. So these trees still need at least a decade’s growth. We also badly want to extend this plot. ”

But a festering land dispute with Asau village is hampering the project, he said.

“The village has claimed all the land behind this compound and beyond the sandalwood bloc. We do not want to extend this plot because the village will simply turn up one day and claim it as theirs.”

It is important, he said, that government resolves this issue immediately before more Forestry development is undertaken.

Our conversation returns to the asi manogi and I push him for his knowledge of the last known tree.

Fiu said, that though it has not been confirmed, he was told that the last tree grew somewhere at Papa Sataua.

He gave us the name Vaetoefaga Meti.

Forestry officer Fiu Nimarota and his staff at Forestry’s Asau station

PAPA-SATAUA

At Papa, we stop by a church construction site to ask for directions. A nephew of Vaetoefaga Meti working there offered to take us to his uncle’s home.

However, when we got to his house only his wife was there. Vaetoefaga had gone to Asau. We prodded her, but said she knew very little about any sandalwood. However, as we made our way out, Vaetoefaga’s brother Taua’i Fereti turned up. We were in luck again.

In his early fifties, Taua’i knew where the tree used to stand. He said it belonged to his uncle, Vaetoefaga Malo who passed away in 1996.

“Actually, there were three trees at three different properties. The other two disappeared through the years leaving one.”

In 1982, he said, a group of Japanese men turned up offering to buy the tree.

“They offered to buy it for $2,800. Which was a lot of money back then. But Vaetoefaga Malo refused saying the tree was worth more. So they (Japanese) took some cuttings and left. However, some years later, the tree appeared stunted and was drying up. We tried planting seedlings and cuttings but they never survived.”

So one day, he said, the old man took a chainsaw and cut it down.

We arrived at the location where the tree used to stand, but to our dismay, it was right in the middle of a coconut plantation and overgrown with weeds. We could not find anywhere a 50-year old sandal-wood used to stand.

As we were packing up to return to Apia, we asked Taua’i if there is any chance the old man would’ve taken the logs to his home.

He said it wouldn’t hurt to find out.

So we drove to the late Vaetoefaga Malo’s home, about 600 meters from the coconut plantation.

Taua’i and his nephew quickly disappeared underneath a hurricane shelter and – five minutes later – appeared with the booty.

A two-foot asi manogi log, hidden away for some 22 years.

We go down the shelter and there are six more logs – of varying size – there.

“After 22 years of cooking and doing the umu, none of the logs were used,” remarked my colleague.

“The old man must have really known what his sandalwood was worth.”

Because my colleague is a relative of Vaetoe, the log was presented to our care. There are plans to exhibit the log at the National Museum of Samoa at Malifa

HOPE

But all hope may not be lost.

We made a stop at Sapapalii and had a chat with one Papali’i Panama. After briefing him of our sandalwood search, he told us of a group of rich Americans, who through his uncle – the late American Samoa Speaker of the House Tuana’itau Faatamala – gave money to the village of Pu’apu’a to find them an asi manogi tree.

“This was back in 1980 I think. The Pu’apu’a aumaga (untitled men) searched the forests there for two weeks and found an asi manogi tree on top of the mountain range. Because it’s not a tall tree, it was shrouded by other big trees up there. They cut it down and brought it back to the Americans. That (asi manogi) tree may have sprouted again or there may be more such trees on that mountain range. Who knows? When they found what they were looking for the aumaga came back down.”

As we were paying for our tickets at the wharf, we again had chat with the woman working there. And she was adamant that she has an asi manogi growing in her backyard at Fogapoa village. She said her husband – who used to work for the Ah Liki logging company at Gataivai – came across the tree seedling while cutting down trees in the forest there.

He brought it home and planted it in his yard.

So perhaps there is another twist in the tale of the Samoan fragrant sandalwood yet. These leads and others that have been received by our office since will be followed up on our another visit to Savai’i.

And if there is an existing asi manogi tree growing somewhere in the country, this publication will find it.

On any sighting of the asi manogi tree, call Tupuola Terry Tavita at 761 5050 or 26 398 or Uale Papalii Taimalelagi at 774 7435 or 26 397

By Tupuola Terry Tavita

What the sea bringeth, it also taketh away.

The twin cyclones Ofa and Val of the early 1990s may have caused extensive destruction of our coastline, but it also churned up kilometres of sand bars and longshore bars that dot our coastline.

Off Mulinuu, two (of three) of these longshore sandbars have been vegetated with pu’a (hernandia) trees, crawling fue sina (beach pea), a futu tree (Baringtonia), fau (Hibiscus tiliaceus) trees, nonu shrubs and budding mangroves on the sheltered side, off the lagoon.

The sandbars – I’ve always thought – hold huge tourism potential for our country, especially in transforming the outlook of the capital Apia.

For the last five years I’ve been waiting for some sort of development to happen there. But nobody seemed to bother. I pitched the idea to a couple of business people and government CEOs, but after some initial – or rather passing – interest, nothing happened.

Planting more nonu trees on Fagatasi sandbar

Yesterday, I got tired of waiting.

I convinced another lateral thinker upstairs of the idea – and later in the evening – a colleague and I were onboard a Samoa Ports Authority speedboat heading out to the sandbars. Herman – the port master – and his colleague Mavaega – who frequent this area a lot – also say they’ve had an inkling of the commercial potential of the sandbars. But like me, they did not know how to go about it.

Standing on the shrubbed longshore sandbar off the Meteorology Office and looking across to the Apia skyline, a little imagination – I believe – and our foreshore could be transformed into a Bora Bora-type island-scape. 

In fact, it could be much more attractive than that.

That sandbar – I will name Fagatasi – is about a varying 20 meters wide and stretches for a good 120 meters across the reef – till you reach, opposite the Electoral Office. It was high tide and its highest point is about 2.5 meters above sea level.

An island strip complimenting impressive Changsha city, China

Among the wooded fau and nonu shrubs, a crab scurries along the coral floor.  Mangroves bud in the murky water on the lagoon side, teeming with small fish.

The waves crash about forty meters off – and to our dismay – there are signs that the strong tide is eating away at the sandbars.

The second sandbar – I’ve dubbed Fagalua – is about the length of Fagatasi but is much narrower and with much less vegetation. In the cragged shallow lagoon-shore, there are also mangroves taking root.

Fagatolu is a much smaller – but the highest of the three – diamond-shaped sandbar, opposite the Amanaki Hotel. It faces the Apia waterfront and is quickly eroding due to the strong current entering the harbour.

Scoping Fagalua sandbar

There is a perception that investing in these sandbars would be futile because the next cyclone might wash everything away. But do we then sit around – hold off development – until the next cyclone turns up?

If the sandbars were created by cyclones, will not the next cyclone add to it, pending tide shifts? And what’s wrong with rebuilding it again after the next cyclone?

NONETHELESS

None of us yesterday are oceanographers or coastal engineers, but again – a little imagination – could transform these sandbars into green expansive permanent islands sprawling with coconut trees, lush gardens with onsite tourist accommodation for day visits.

First – as with the experience elsewhere in the world – a manmade breakwater can be constructed offshore by sinking obsolete cars and decommissioned fishing boats where the waves crash. With time, coral polyps will grow on these structures and turn it into an artificial reef. This will slow down the tides and, thus, slow down erosion of the sandbars.

A course way can be built across the shallow lagoon to haul tonnes of big rocks to build a seawall on the sandbar foreshore. The course way can be rolled back – clearing the lagoon – when the project is completed. If not a course way, then perhaps a couple of big launches can do the job.

A couple of big dredges also can be commissioned in the lagoon to dig up tonnes of sand to elevate and expand the sandbars. With the amount of sand there, we could probably dredge up a couple of more islands.

Excavators can shape whatever design we want the islands to look like.               

But they will not be artificial islands because they were naturally created by cyclones.

With a deepened lagoon, we could build a second marina there. A marina that could accommodate yachts and super-yachts that will easily zip across from the harbour.

Mulinuu Peninsula is quickly becoming Apia’s hotel strip. The marina will be just offshore.

Because the area is government-owned, such a project will also avoid the traditional landownership constraints that are hampering tourism development projects elsewhere in the country.

And there are dozens of offshore sandbars around the country, the technology and experience we will gain can be replicated elsewhere.

Such a project, we can understand, could easily be dismissed and put in the backburner as government has other priority areas.

But it wouldn’t hurt to commission some of our civil engineers to carry out a preliminary feasibility study.

The islands – and sandbars – would be the ideal quick getaway from the hustle-and-bustle of downtown Apia. A place where local people – and tourists alike – can go picnicking, swimming and scuba diving. Government – or beach operators – can make money ferrying people across and small charges can be levied for renting small onsite cottages overnight. Apart from the marina, other onsite businesses can include restaurants and bars.

The lagoon can be turned into a water sport haven where the rich and not-so-rich can enjoy.

Mangrove shoots taking root in the calm lagoon at Fagatasi

 TOURISM

Tourism is such a critical mainstay of our economy that we have to look at fresh ideas outside the proverbial box. Ideas that adds to, and brings diversity to our tourism package.

A project of this type will fit in perfectly with the tourism and conservation development dimension of our climate change mitigation and adaptation programme.

It could be funded through the fast-funds facility we’re pushing under the UN climate change funding scheme.

Also, the Chinese and Japanese are only interested in worth-while large scale, multi-million dollar development projects.

We feel this is a very worthwhile one.

Impressive Bora Bora in French Polynesia. A model for Apia’s foreshore?

The Catholic Church has agreed to allocate over 1,500 acres of Church land up at Malololelei and Lepiu for a national reserve.

According to Church spokesman, Fr. Penitito Mauga, negotiations are well underway with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to this end.

“Over a thousand acres in the water catchment area will be given to government, but tied to certain conditions including compensation. Another 500 acres and more – which is identified as crucial watershed areas including gullies and waterways – will be held in a Trusteeship between government and the Church.”

“The fear is governments come and go and the Trust is a necessary safeguard that the land remains under its intended purpose.”

Land allocated for conservation boardered red in this map of Malololelei area

Father Penitito said the Church is aware of the importance of the Malololelei catchment area, particularly, to the Afulilo reservoir downhill from there.

“Afulilo supplies water to the whole of the town area. Malololei has to be reserved to ensure a reliable supply of water to Afulilo for years to come.

“There are also pockets of native woods like Ifilele and Tava up there that the Church wants to protect. As well as birdlife sanctuaries and the area’s unique ecosystem.”

The Catholic Church owns over 2000 acres of land in the Malolelei catchment area.

“It is land that was ceded to the Church by the surrounding villages around about the 1850s, shortly after the Church arrived in 1845. The first priests who came here had conservation and botanical inclinations.”

Government is also negotiating with the Methodist Church who also own tracts of land at nearby Lake Lanoto’o.

A submission is expected to be submitted to Parliament for its approval soon.