Oil Nuts and Tourism in the Forests of Makira Island, Solomon Islands

by Solomon Islands Development Trust

Project Overview

Conservation International is working with SIDT and the Maruia Society in Makira, Solomon Islands, an area of highly significant regional biodiversity and home to indigenous communities still engaged in relatively traditional resource use. Due to its separation from other islands during times of high sea levels, Makira has a high number of endemic floral and animal species. For example, 10 of its 76 bird species are endemic. The most pressing threats to the island's natural resources are international logging operations. Many Makira communities have already succumbed to the relatively large amounts of cash the logging companies offer people to high grade the timber on their land.

To meet these threats, the Conservation In Development (CID) program has established Makira's first conservation area. The CID team of SIDT and Maruia Society/Conservation International has been working with the Hauta and Warohito communities for the past four years to define the conservation area and to identify enterprises whose viability is linked to the need to conserve the area's biodiversity. The CID team has begun to develop small-scale ecotourism and the extraction of ngali nut oil for export among other enterprises.

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