News from NCEP Production Manager Brian Weeks:

On June 2, NCEP hosted a workshop for conservation educators and practitioners in the Solomon Islands, where participants evaluated the four Solomons-specific case studies that have been developed as part of NCEP’s in-country activities over the last 3 years.  The group discussed ways to adapt the case studies for the wide range of professional contexts represented by the participants, and how to adapt and continually refine the materials through the development of an effective network of educators and practitioners.  Reception of the materials was warm, and there was a general feeling that there is room for the materials and also the networking opportunities represented by NCEP, in every context.  For example, these contexts ranged from the use of the case studies in tertiary level classes and to add to the national secondary school curriculum to informing the development of community outreach materials for in-country conservation NGOs and government agencies.

Following this workshop, I left for the Western Province to bring the materials to the more rural communities outside of Honiara. In Western Province, surrounded by endemic birds, and tantalizingly aware of the controlled bursts of foraging queenfish punctuated by the occasional jarring splash of an explosive young golden trevally, I have had initial meetings with two secondary schools, which together accommodate a total of well over 500 students.  One school was contacted previously, and was excited to see me back with the materials.  Both schools were receptive, and I am looking forward to returning later this month to continue to develop a relationship with them. Three other schools will join over the course of this month, and a workshop similar to the one held in Honiara is scheduled to take place in Gizo on the 22^nd.  NCEP’s progress to date is exciting, and it continues to be a pleasure to get to know, and to learn from, all of the people I have met so far.

Flying from Honiara to Western Province, the fierce urgency of conservation action in the Solomon Islands is apparent: island after island exhibits the telltale signs of commercial logging.  Every time I make this trip, the magnitude and pace of environmental and social impacts of large-scale resource extraction is striking.  Then Kolombangara, a community conservation area bursts onto the scene.  An extinct 1,700m stratovolcano, Kolombangara is an imposing presence, dominating the landscape from almost any point in Western Province.  It is also a sign that conservation has gained at least a short-term foothold in the Solomon Islands and, to me, highlights the potential for NCEP in the Solomon Islands.  Intense pressure to log commercially has been temporarily thwarted by community-driven action, and now is the time to increase awareness of the world-class exceptionality of the country’s biological and cultural diversity, as well as the capacity to conserve these resources.