BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Collecting accurate information and data is significant in managing the mangrove and sea grass ecosystem in the Solomon Islands.
“This is where mapping plays an important role,” said Agnetha Vave-Karamui, Chief Conservation Officer, Environment &Conservation Division, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management & Meteorology.
Karamui, who attended a week-long training on using open-source GIS tools and remote sensing satellite data, will enable her and the team from the Environment &Conservation Division (E&C) to map, monitor and protect seagrass and mangrove ecosystems.
The training, conducted as part of the Management and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (MACBLUE) project, brought together participants from the government Ministries and SINU to address a gap in environmental monitoring data collection and analysis.
“The Environment &Conservation Division is one of the agencies that look after Biodiversity Conservation and resource management. The MACBLUE intends to ensure we have updated information on mangroves and seagrass in the Solomon Islands,” she said.
She said that one of the training objectives is to enhance the sector and practitioners’ capacity in using open-source GIS tools and remote sensing satellite data.
“That is one of the gaps for us here in the Solomon Islands. We don’t have updated data on mangroves and sea grass to guide our policy to manage this important coastal ecosystem,’’ said Karamui.
She said that mapping is a necessary tool to know where the seagrasses and mangroves are, and to be able to come up with management plans.
“Participants were trained on how to use the online platform, called special mapping tools, QGIS, a mapping tool, and how to use it in the field using a phone,” she said.
“This can also be translated at the community level. It is easy, less costly and affordable compared to the past, where we had to get the whole team and travel to a particular province. Now, few people can do this,” she said.
She said that access to updated information showing trends, changes, losses of mangroves and where the mangrove distributions are enables proper, updated advice to management that can influence decision-making.
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