Ysabel Province, Solomon Islands

The Climate Challenger anchored at Kia, Ysabel Province. Photo: Bernard Manus

Our trip through the Solomon Islands so far has gone well with great coordination by The Nature Conservancy’s ground coordinating team- John Pita on Ysabel and TNC staff in Honiara. The communities of Kia and Buala hosted us with great hospitality. We did our usual culture, conservation and climate change awareness presentations which were really well received and appreciated by both the people and community leaders of Kia and Buala.  In Kia the crew were able to meet the famous Rence Zama, ‘Home For Hawksbill’ movie star, and video interview some locals on climate change issues.

Climate Challenger crew pose with Rence Zama, ‘Home For Hawksbill’ film star at Kia. Photo: Manuai Matawai

The group also met Richard Hamilton and Glen Almany, marine scientists on Kia doing research on the hump head parrot fish. It has been a great experience for the crew to see new places for the first time. It has been a memorable journey so far that will never be forgotten.

The Climate Challenger departs Kia for Buala with Richard Hamilton on board. Photo by Manuai Matawai

On Buala, the crew were able to do a demo site for a dry stone wall next to Ivan Rotu’s place. We also left a copy of the dry stone wall video with Rotu for anyone interested. More than 50 people came to observe the walling demonstration. Manoi Ponowan also met with two people suffering from cancer and kidney stones. Manoi wasted no time looking around the forest searching for herbal medicine to treat the two patients.

Crew pose for picture, ready to perform at Provincial Government Office, Buala. Photo by Ivan Rotu

Climate Challenger crew build a 7 metre long dry stone wall on Buala as demonstration site for coastal protection. Photo by Manuai Matawai

Climate Challenger crew with Ivan Rotu and family after final stage of stone wall construction

We left Buala on Sunday afternoon around 5 pm crossing over the western tip of Ysabel. The weather was quite rough with thunderstorms but the moon gave us plenty of light to find our way. We arrived in Honiara around 3 pm. Willie Atu from The Nature Conservancy and the media team met us on the way and escorted us to the Honiara Yacht Club. The crew joined other TNC partners here in Honiara for the welcome reception dinner at the Sea King Restaurant. Yesterday, the team performed a cultural dance at the Honiara National Museum and will do more presentations this week including one for the Australian High Commissioner this Thursday night.

Manuai

Climate Challenger arrives at Honiara and crew pose with friend Jimmy Atu, son of Willie Atu – photo by Manuai Matawai

Joseph Ambou and Peter Ramohia thumbs up to celebrate safe journey through Honiara. Crew were hosted for dinner with TNC partners at Sea King Restaurant. Photo by Bernard Manus.

Climate Challenger dancers at Honiara Art Gallery/Museum.

Manuai introduces crew to public after cultural dance at National Museum. Photo by Bernard Manus

Climate Change Adaptation in Action on Mbuke and Whal Islands [HD VIDEO]

Crew member of the Climate Challenger, Bernard Manus, joined the voyage to share knowledge and experiences of climate change adaptation from his home, Mbuke Island, Manus Province, PNG

One of our crew members, Bernard Manus, comes from Mbuke Island, a small volcanic island off the southern coast of Manus Island. With the help of the locally formed committee – the Mbuke Island’s Peoples Association (MIPA), and support from environmental NGO’s and the PNG government, they have initiated a series of projects that are helping the people adapt to the impacts of climate change and increase their resilience and food security in these changing times.

Mbuke Island, is a small volcanic island rising from the sea (right), and the people rely heavily on the bounty from the sea. photo: Kat Gawlik

The following 9 minute video, filmed by Climate Challenger Skipper, Manuai Matawai, looks into the various climate change adaptation and conservation projects on Mbuke and Whal Islands. This includes mangrove planting, growing yams; a resilient and versatile food crop, and setting up locally-managed marine areas to allow fish populations to breed. Throughout the Climate Challenger voyage, the crew screen this documentary in the various villages they stop in along the way, as part of their ‘awareness show’.

Farewell Taro

Climate Challenger back in the water with additional features ready to commence sailing. Pix by Manuai Matawai – 11/10/12

Our last day in Taro, Choiseul Island (Solomon Islands) was a busy day for us, making use of every hour to catch up with canoe work and spreading awareness on climate change before we departed for Wagina. We had a wonderful reception on Taro. Our deepest gratitude goes to Jimmy Kereseka and his family for taking care of our logistics and looking after the crew for almost a week here on Supizae Island. Also thank you to the Premier of Choiseul Province and friends for their support and hospitality.

Climate Challenger skipper Manuai Matawai presenting awareness on climate change and canoe voyage to students of Choiseul Bay Secondary School – photo by Jimmy Kereseka. 10/11/12

Climate Challenger crew – from left to right – Manoi Ponowan, Pokakes Pondraken and Pakop Samol relaxing after garamut dance at Choiseul Bay Secondary School in Choiseul Province. Photo: Jimmy Kereseka -10/10/12

During our time on Supizae Island, we did three awareness shows; Taro, PoroPoro village and the last night at Choiseul Bay Secondary School.  It was a ‘Manus Way’ style show- garamut drum dancing, a brief on our canoe voyage including the objectives, then followed by climate change awareness answering questions such as “what is climate change?”, “how is it caused?”, and “what are the impacts and what can we do about it?”. Bernard Manus from Mbuke Island presented a case study of his island followed by playing the Mbuke/Whal climate change video documentary.

It was great to have Robyn James, the project manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Climate Change Adaptation project present with us and to witness and support our performance on Taro and last night at the school. Robyn commented that “climate change is thought about in Australia where I am from, but the concept of linking culture, conservation and climate change is exciting and much more interesting than learning from a book. I hope that your crew can one day come to Australia to share your culture and lessons about climate change with people there”.

Pokakes Pondraken doing final touches on Climate Challenger before going into the water – photo by Manuai Matawai – 11/10/2012

We have updated the itinerary for while we are here in the Solomon Islands:

Proposed Itinerary

ETA = Estimated time of arrival

ETD = Estimated time of departure

Friday 12/10/12

ETD Taro at 9.00 am for Nukiki village (4 miles from Supizae, the team will present awareness on Climate change/Manus dance etc).
ETD Nukiki at 4 pm  for Wagina.

Saturday 13/10/12

ETA Wagina 6 am (awareness connecting culture, conservation, climate change).

Sunday 14/10/12

ETD Wagina at 1 pm for Arnavons.
ETA Arnavon Islands at 4pm (free time, team will visit management site).

Monday 15/10/12

ETD Arnavon Islands at 8 am for Kia.
ETA Kia at 12 pm (awareness connecting culture, conservation and climate change).

Tuesday 16/10/12

ETD Kia at 7 am for Buala.
ETA Buala 8 pm (awareness connecting culture, conservation and climate change).

Wednesday 17/10/12

ETD Buala at 8 am for Honiara. Might do awareness on the way.

Thursday 18/10/12

Arrive Honiara, time dependent on weather conditions.

Dry Stone Wall Workshop [Video]

Yesterday we the Climate Challenger crew, attended a dry stone walling workshop with the international non-government organisation ‘Wildlife Conservation Society’ (WCS) at Loniu Passage between Los Negros Island, home of the Momote airport and mainland Manus Island. Building a dry stone wall is a possible adaptation to sea level rise and beach erosion, and it is hoped that we can share this knowledge with other low-lying Pacific island communities who are also affected by climate change. It is a low cost method that only requires the stone that is usually readily accessible and labour.

Ahus Island off the north coast of Manus Island showing severe coastal erosion

Charles Daniel and Ben Lian, from WCS took us through the process of building a dry stone wall which must first take into account choosing the site. For example it cannot be constructed where there are strong currents and waves, and it must be in shallow water where there is no underwater shelf which may cause the wall to collapse in the future.
The wall must be built upon a solid foundation, and using heavy stones that will not collapse. Placing the stones by fitting them together tightly like a jigsaw and on a wider base ensures stability.

There are many coastal communities in Manus that are now using dry stone wall techniques to try and stop or at least slow down the encroaching sea from washing away their land.

The Climate Challenger crew at Loniu Passage, Manus Island and the dry stone wall built for the WCS workshop. Photo: Manuai Matawai

The following video shows how to build a dry stone wall as explained by Charles Daniel from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Manus. Enjoy!