Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

In the Nauru Bio- RAP 2013 species study, new records of 51 moth, 13 land snail, 17 ant and 6 dragonfly species were found. Two species of giant clam, Tridacna maxima, thought locally extinct in previous studies from the 1980s were found [ ] 165 Projects to raise awareness and improve practices The Grow and Green Project (GGP) is one of several Government-funded initiatives to promote the planting of local fruit trees such as lime, breadfruit, salsop and coconut for food security, soil fertility improve- ment and local capacity-building. The project succeeded in its aims of producing planting materials and set- ting up family fruit tree plots. It also helped to raise awareness and provide training and technical support to individual households and schools in the planting and care of fruit trees. Another successful case study is the Clean and Green Programme (CGP). Poor waste management and uncontrolled pollution can exacer- bate the degradation and hamper the restoration of both inland and coastal ecosystems on Nauru. This Govern- ment-funded and community-driv- en programme has proved highly successful at educating the public and facilitating the proper management and disposal of household waste. The CGP engages and trains a con- tingent of about 140 young workers, selected from 14 districts to promote awareness and education on waste management and provide support services to facilitate the effective collection and disposal of household waste by district communities. A third initiative is the Sustainable Land Management project (SLM), which focuses on the restoration of minelands and the sustainable use of limited space and land resources of the settled narrow coastal areas of Nauru. These factors are essential to the regen- eration of biodiversity and ecosystem services that underpin the survival of the island’s population in the medium to long term (10–50 years and beyond). The SLM project was developed as a Government and community initiative and implemented from 2008 to 2012 to address issues of land deg- radation and drought in Nauru in re- lation to the United Nations Conven- tion to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought. It succeed- ed in providing further guidelines for land restoration and funding for capacity-building training of Govern- ment and non-governmental staff. A National Action Plan emerged from this project, detailing the overarching policy framework for financing future national and local sustainable land management actions. A fourth project, the Nauru BioRAP 2013 species study, yielded new records of moth, land snail, ant and dragonfly species, as well as of two species of giant clams (Tridacna maxima) thought locally extinct in previous studies from the 1980s. The white-tip reef shark was also ob- served in abundance. Phosphate rock island of Nauru Nauru T he small Pacific atoll island of Nauru, located close to the equator, is set on top of a volcanic seamount rising from the ocean floor. The land area is about 22 km 2 and the coast line circumference is 30 km long, and there is a narrow coastal plain about 50 to 300m wide. The country is engaged in several projects to conserve biodiversity, promoting the re-establishment of forest cover and its associated native flora and fauna, encouraging responsible waste disposal and identifying sustainable land management practices. Tatters on flickr