New fisheries CBRM strategy lauched

Honiara, 24 Nov 2022: The Ministry of Fisheries and its partners will be able to track their progress especially with regards to activities implemented in the communities following the launching of the Community Based Coastal and Marine Resource Management (CBCMRM) Strategy 2021 – 2025 at Mendana Hotel last Wednesday.

This strategy contains the short term plan of the Ministries of Fisheries and Environment and their partners by aligning them around a shared purpose to achieve one common goal.

At hand to launch this document, were the Ministers of Fisheries and Environment who used the occasion to assure those present at the launching and the nation at large of the national government’s support.

Fisheries Minister Hon Nestor Giro said the Community Based Coastal and Marine Resource Management (CBCMRM) Strategy 2021 – 2025) has paved the way for an increase engagement with communities to better manage their resources.

This strategy is to scale-up Community Based Resource Management to many communities while ensuring the sustainability and development of their marine and aquatic resources.

Minister Giro said the national government recognized community based resource management (CBRM) as the approach for community resource management in the Solomon Islands based on the rationale that at the heart of CBRM is the community and the people.

“Communities’ active participation and involvement is a key ingredient in moving towards more safe, sustainable, resilient and productive marine and coastal ecosystems,” he said.

He said communities in Solomon Islands are highly dependent on their natural resources for nutrition, livelihoods and culture with 90% of inshore coastal areas under customary marine tenure (CMT).

Hon Giro said he believes the strategy will provide a focused direction on how all stakeholder can work together to, not only address critical challenges and threats to the coastal and marine resources that communities depend on, but also to take advantage of available potential opportunities that will enhance the resilience of these very important but vulnerable resources.

Hon Giro believes that with the Strategy, MFMR and its partners can address the challenges and threats at hand and to reach their target.

“This strategy outlines concerted set of activities to scale up CBRM support to our communities across the country as well as improve the quality of CBRM support through development of key national level systems, increased capacity and involvement of Provincial authorities in this endeavour,” he said.

The Strategy document identifies seven primary programmatic areas that together will build an enabling environment and foundation for a nationwide effort to scale up and improve CBRM and is intended to guide the collaborative efforts of line ministries of the Solomon Islands Government and partners to collectively support the scaling up and improvement of CBRM activities in the Solomon Islands.

The Fisheries Minister revealed that this strategy is not a stand-alone document, it is supported by two important national legislations (the Fisheries Management Act 2015 and the Protected Areas Act 2010) that are in place for the promotion of CBRM approaches by the national government.

“Policy wise, this strategy also articulates well with other important national, regional and international policy documents and commitments that Solomon Islands is part of. These include Solomon Islands National Fisheries Policy 2019 -2029; Solomon Islands National Ocean Policy (SINOP 2018); Solomon Islands National Plan of Action (NPoA) under the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF); Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) roadmap for inshore fisheries management and sustainable development 2015-2024; Pacific Framework for Action on Scaling Up Community-based Fisheries Management: 2021-2025 (SPC); UN Voluntary Commitments (2017 & 2022) to scale up and improve support for CBRM in the Solomon Islands,” he said.

Hon Giro also made mention of other supporting documents he described as equally important as the CBRM strategy. They include; the Solomon Islands National Information Strategy to Empower All Communities to Better Manage their Marine Resource, the Community based Resource Management in Solomon Islands (Provincial Snapshots 2022) Report, and the Community Based Resource Management Training Package developed purposely for Provincial Fisheries Officers.

“Ministry believe that these documents are important in different ways as they support and supplement other necessary platforms, directions, baselines and information needed to progress CBRM initiatives and programmes in the country,” he said.

Minister Giro thanked and acknowledged other development partners who were present on the occasion for the financial support given for the development and publication of these important CBRM documents. “These publications were funded by the Australian Government, New Zealand Government, the European Union, the Government of Sweden and the World Bank,” he concluded.

 

Francis Pituvaka

Communication Officer