The Solomon Islands comprise one of the most intact and biologically rich oceanic archipelagos on Earth. Extreme patterns of endemism and geographic differentiation among populations across its islands have attracted the attention of prominent biologists since the Museum’s Whitney South Seas Expedition nearly a century ago. CBC scientists are currently conducting basic natural history and systematic work on birds and frogs, in addition to research projects that focus on processes of geographic differentiation and speciation among island birds. However, with one of the fastest growing populations on the globe, and little economic alternative to escalating mining and timber industries, pressure on the diverse land and seascapes of this tropical region is immense. At present, there are no formal protected areas in the Solomon Islands. Land use is determined by holders of customary rights to the land, namely individuals within local communities, which complicates biodiversity conservation. Extractive industry has exploited this situation and the result has been startling increases in large-scale logging. If the remarkable biodiversity of the Solomons is to survive and continue to inspire and sustain human communities, a national protected areas strategy, including immediate land use alternatives to large-scale foreign resource extraction, is imperative.

To build capacity for biodiversity conservation and more balanced land-use practices in the Solomon Islands, the CBC is initiating community-based biodiversity research, education, and conservation activities that span the archipelago. Our approach embraces land tenure in the Solomons; with appropriate incentives, landholding communities can protect a remarkable component of the Earth’s living diversity. We are establishing a legal and logistical framework to enable communities in control of important areas for biodiversity to enter into negotiated long-term agreements with parties seeking to “invest” in conservation, such as international donor agencies. In return, we are working to provide direct economic alternatives to resource extraction that are more conducive to lasting conservation.

On a field trip in November-December 2006, CBC Scientist Dr. Christopher Filardi helped lead the first major ornithological expedition in nearly 80 years into the mountains of Makira Island, which supports exceptionally high levels of bird endemism that were first described on an AMNH expedition in 1929. The field trip was organized with one of the CBC’s in-country partners, the Makira Community Conservation Foundation (MCCF), and all work was carried out as part of ongoing efforts to conserve community-controlled forests in the center of the island that are threatened by large-scale commercial logging. This collaborative expedition involved researchers from the Solomons and the University of Kansas and required months of involvement and coordination among a variety of landholding villages in the area. As hoped, the expedition catalyzed community engagement efforts; is providing scientific results that corroborate the area’s biodiversity importance; and will guide the design of a formal biodiversity reserve. Ultimately, all of the CBC initiatives in the Solomons seek to leverage the long scientific history of the AMNH to design and support meaningful community-based initiatives that are responsive to the urgent conservation and development needs across the archipelago.

At the heart of the CBC’s evolving approach to conservation in the Solomons is the development of community-based partnerships that provide incentives for combined forest and near-shore marine biodiversity conservation. The Community Conservation Agreements (CCAs) we are working to implement stipulate development and livelihood improvement benefits in partnership with landholding groups, in return for community-based delivery of biodiversity conservation.  Our set of pilot CCA protected areas includes three priority sites in the Solomon Islands: 

Mount Popomanaseu, “Crown of the Tropical Pacific”: This site includes the highest peak in the insular tropical Pacific and is home to a variety of poorly known endemic birds including the Guadalcanal Honeyeater (Guadalcanaria inexpectata), an endemic genus, and the Mustached Kingfisher (Actinoides bougainvillei), a spectacular kingfisher that has only been recorded a handful of times. The site—which is located above historic World War II “Battle of Guadalcanal” battlefields—has never been surveyed by scientists, and the surrounding mid-elevation areas have not been visited for over half a century.

Southern Lauru Mangrove Reserve:  Encompassing lowland rainforest, near-shore islets, and inshore reefs of south Choiseul Island, this site would also protect the largest intact mangrove system in the Solomons, an area that is likely one of the major marine fish nurseries for the western Solomons.

Kolombangara Reef to Ridgeline Biodiversity Reserve:  The third site is comprised of the montane cloud forests and intact lowland riverine corridors on the young stratovolcano, Kolombangara. Here, our work with World Wildlife Fund-Solomons (WWF) attempts to link efforts to conserve the montane cloud forests of the volcano’s caldera with marine initiatives centered on the spectacular reefs and near-shore pelagic systems of the island. Kolombangara Island is one of the few places on Earth where cetaceans and large predatory fish consistently forage within a stone’s throw of reef edges and shoreline settlements and forests. This spectacular marine diversity is adjacent to an endemic terrestrial fauna that is threatened by ongoing logging, particularly in the few intact drainages that remain un-roaded and free of heavy silt loads that are suffocating reef systems throughout the western and central Solomons.

Conservation efforts in these areas will include both direct work within rural landholding communities to implement CCAs and initiatives designed to develop the necessary in-country capacity and infrastructure to facilitate the long-term sustainability of CCA-based protected areas. These efforts draw upon the strengths of two existing CBC programs: the biodiversity research and conservation initiatives of Dr. Filardi and his associates, and the CBC’s Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). NCEP activities focus on outreach and capacity development for local decision-makers that can support and strengthen the development of conservation agreements and prospects for their long-term sustainability. Our hope is that a portfolio of CCAs across a variety of sites in the Solomons will serve to pilot a national protected areas network based on this community-based partnership approach to conservation that can then be used to attract long-term, endowed support from bi- and multi-lateral donor agencies.