NATIONAL PARKS Seeking a South Pacific way

Forest and Bird, Volume 17, Issue 2, 1 May 1986, Page 10

NATIONAL PARKS Seeking a South Pacific way

by

Iosefatu Reti

losefatu Reti is co-ordinator of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, based in Noumea. Until recently he was chief forestry officer for Western Samoa, a position which includes responsibility for Samoa’s national park and reserve system. This article is an edited version of his keynote address to the Third South Pacific National Parks and Reserves Conference held in Apia, June 1985.

heritages can be best protected for the benefit and enjoyment of their people. The national park concept National parks were defined and adopted by the General Assembly of IUCN in New Delhi in 1969 as follows: "A National Park is a relatively large area, @ where one or several ecosystems are not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific, educative and recreative interest or which contains a natural landscape of great beauty and, @ where the highest competent authority of the country has taken steps to prevent, or to eliminate as soon as possible, exploitation or occupation in the whole area and to enforce effectively the respect of ecological, geomorphol-

ORS ARS 4 A ee A EE ee as id DEF al Sw Ors St ABR a" area" criterion will prevent countries which are anxious to implement nature conservation programmes from doing so either because they could not justify in financial terms setting aside large areas for national parks, or the areas available are not large enough. Although this may vary from country to country, an area of 1000 hectares has been widely accepted as the minimum size of a national park. This immediately places our small island nations at a disadvantage in view of our limited land areas. It would be in the interest of the small islands to be more flexible in this respect. Conflicts could result National parks are a relatively new concept and are therefore little understood, especially in the South Pacific. In Western Samoa, and many other Pacific countries, most of the land is held under customary ownership with the chiefs (matai) having the sole right and authority for control and use of the land. Thus the preservation of these areas for national parks or for any other use without prior agreement by

a dare 4, SRS. Ee 2 ae wes Traditional use of land Perhaps the most common problem of conservation programmes is attributed to the traditional use of land. Shifting cultivation by subsistence farmers has been identified as a continuing danger to protected areas and has been outlawed in such areas. Admittedly, the people’s need for food deserves the highest consideration and wherever possible this priority use of land is encouraged. Hence in selecting areas for conservation purposes, this need should always be borne in mind. In our small island nations in the South Pacific, conserving huge areas may appear to undermine the desire for agricultural development and the need to sacrifice one for the other without compromise appears to be unavoidable. Unfortunately for conservation, it is often the protection of land that is sacrificed in favour of development. Ironically enough, the restrictions implicit in the definitions of national parks which often prevent compromises to be made, is in many cases the very reason for voting against conservation.

With limited farming capital, the village farmers will continue to rely on traditional methods of clearing forested land (shifting Cultivation) for better soil and yields. Hence, protected areas have to continue with the threat that at some stage, they could lose some land to cultivation. Where some parts of national parks have been cultivated and settled, the problem is much more difficult and sometimes dangerous to resolve. Perhaps the most difficult situation is where permanent settlement and establishments have been created on protected areas — and this is not an uncommon problem in the Pacific. Naturally, this will mean prosecution under law but one often wonders whether

the law could achieve the best solution which will not only enable the encroacher to agree to settle elsewhere but equally importantly, assure the park managers of his co-operation in future. I Strongly feel that the law will badly fail in the latter requirement. The exercise of Government authority over village lands may create more problems than it can resolve, particularly if such authority should require village people to stop their traditional ways of life. Where government authority is exercised over village land, the following requirements must at first be assured: @ Funds are available to buy rent/lease or compensate the people for the land. @ Government can count on village support for the undertaking and protection of the parks. @ There is adequate security that the area can be protected in perpetuity. Whilst some countries may be better off than others, Pacific Island countries are generally faced with considerable difficulties in allocating funds for "‘non-develop-mental" projects.

Similarly, village support for government projects imposed on their land could be at least, temporary, thus making the long-term security and success of such projects doubtful. Alternatively, national parks and other conservation projects involve modest capital and could be undertaken by village people with technical and professional guidance provided by government. In this approach, the much needed village support can be counted upon as village rule can be called upon to enforce conservation measures upon village people. Furthermore, the people’s suspicious feelings of eventually losing their land to government can be eliminated and the long-term protection of the area is there-

fore assured. Whatever incentives and benefits offered, it is crucial that village support is assured, and there may be no better way of getting this than letting them have a feeling of belonging and a sense of responsibility of being involved in actually setting up protected areas. Accommodating traditional practices Until educational and promotional programmes are fully under way, it is desirable that serious consideration be given to ways and means of accommodating certain traditional practices within protected areas. This may call for comprehensive research into land capabilities and potential uses. It might be feasible to set up a "‘core area’’ for perpetual protection. Other areas can be subjected to other forms of land uses based on the capability of that land. Naturally such an arrangement will require close supervision and strict adherence on the part of the farmers to restrict their activities within their assigned boundaries, and to conform to certain practices.

However, the reduction in the number of people to deal with in the protected areas makes the problem easier to handle. Also the identification of farmers working within the protected areas will provide the necessary screen preventing other people from trespassing into the core zone. An educational effort How do we go about getting people’s support for a concept that they hardly understand and may require them to give up their hunting rights and access to other commodities which have been available to them for ages? This is probably the biggest question faced by park managers and administrators in our region.

In our small island countries with limited land but with high rates of resource depletion, it may be necessary to look at setting up pilot national park areas for demonstration to be backed by extensive educational programmes. The availability of demonstration projects will make teaching the concept much easier and the effect of incompatible practices easily seen. Educational and promotional programmes are crucial to the sustenance of the people's interest and national acceptance of the concept. The concept of national parks must not be promoted through trial and error. We have to understand right from the beginning what we need and what we wish to achieve. Thus, the need for demonstration areas becomes critical. The example set by Western Samoa appears to be slowly working, and it is expected that on-going educational programmes will eventually lead to full acceptance and adoption of the concept. I believe a desirable goal, in fact, will be to identify and describe a form of national park which is truly "South Pacific’. g&