Documenting Indigenous Plant Knowledge to Strengthen Conservation Management in Kwaio, Solomon Islands (Old ID 22880)
Role
Chief Investigator
Description
The project is designed to deliver ongoing capacity-strengthening activities and training in project management, organizational governance and financial management to enhance local conservation efforts in the central mountains of the island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Our larger goals include setting up a Kwaio CSO to manage conservation activities in the area (see “Project Objectives” below), protect and conserve priority species on Malaita, and in the longer-term, work toward creating Protected Areas to protect globally threatened species. We also hope the project will serve as a conservation model for other Malaitan and Solomon Islands communities. The project is taking place with people of the Kwaio language group. The mountain Kwaio people are the largest Solomon Islands group still practicing their indigenous ancestral religion. The biodiversity conservation project is documenting the deep local knowledge of medicinal plants and bush foods found in the rainforest of Malaita, and building capacity to undertake similar projects in the future.
Date
01 Sep 2016 - 01 Sep 2019
Project Type
GRANT
Keywords
Kwaio;Traditional Medicine;Solomon Islands;Medicinal Plants;Traditional Knowledge;Biodiversity Conservation
Funding Body
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Amount
26184
Project Team
Frank Zich;Darren Crayn;Michelle Redman-MacLaren