From: 23jess@uclink.berkeley.edu Date: Sat, 23 Jul 1994 12:59:50 -0700 Jessica Maloney Spring 1994 Marovo Lagoon, SI Sustainable Human / Land Relationships Abstract: The Solomon Islands are located just southeast of Bougainville in Melanesia, a region with a recent history of indegenous conservation efforts violently opposed by the neo-colonial government. Marovo Lagoon, on New Georgia island in the Western Province of the Solomons, is one of the most resource-rich areas in the South Pacific, due to the diligence of the local comunities in preserving it. The people of Marovo are aware of the activities in Bougainville and other areas where destruction has been implemented by the national government, and will not allow such activities to take place in their region. The Marovo Lagoon Resource Management Project has successfully repelled developers and mining companies that would destroy their land and heritage, operating within a framework of integrated national and local governments, non-governmental organizations and bubutus (resource owning groups). Agencies are learning to use the in-place social, resource based matrices as natural templates for their management plans, rather than imposing foreign systems which can have chaotic effects. Marovo Lagoon leaders have organized for political power, and new legislation is being written which follows customary law regarding resource management and development. Background: The Solomon Islands are located just east of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. The terrain is mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls. The Solomons have 5,313 km of coastline, a total land area of 27,540 km2 , a territorial sea of 12 nm, with a total area of 28,450 km2. The population is growing at an annual rate of 3.5%, counted at 360,010 in July 1992. About 90% of the population depend on subsistence agriculture, fishing, and forestry for their livelihood. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry contribute about 70% of the GDP, with the fishing and forestry sectors being the largest export earners. The service sector contributes about 25% to GDP. Most manufactured goods and petroleum products must be imported. Geography: These are large volcanic islands. The mountains are replete with gold, bauxite, and other valuable minerals. Rivers lead from the mountains to the lagoon; the intermediate area is rich in cultivable alluvial soil. The lagoon is surrounded by several raised coral reef islands which are covered with forests and fringed with mangroves. A barrier reef extends from these. The reef complex contains a huge diversity of marine life: turtles and dugongs, thousands of fish species, molluscs, and crustaceans. Problem: The Solomon Islands has a high annual rate of population growth (3.5%). This has put pressure on the national government to develop the resources of the islands. The Western Province, of which Marovo is a part, is an area of concentrated economic development, and provides tax revenues that are much higher, per capita, than other parts of the Solomon Islands. The Marovo have some of the richest resource reserves in the Solomons, perhaps due to their pride in guardianship. They are reluctant to support other provincs which have allowed their resources to be destroyed. Marovo has managed to stave off ecologically destructive economic development schemes, valuing its deep co-evolutionary relationship with the land and sea to the shallow shortlived gratification of cash. History: Solomon Islanders lived in virtual isolation from the rest of the world until the era of mercantile capitalism. The islands were "discovered" by the British in 1767. Catholic missionaries arrived soon after to zealously transform social relations, creating homogeneity among the islands' respective diverse populations. They provided access for "blackbirders," who arrived in fleets to steal able-bodied men to work the sugar plantations of Fiji and Australia. In 1885 Bougainville ("North Solomon Islands" until very recently) was claimed by the German New Guinea Company. Between 1893-1900 the Solomon Islands gained British Protectorate status via a British treaty with Germany. After World War I Bougainville became part of the Australian territory of New Guinea. World War II fighting between Japanese and United States forces ravaged the Solomons; it was during this period that the first indigenous sovereignty movement began. The "Marching Rule" on Malaita was a native development scheme: the Malaita organized for land redistribution, agricultural efficiency and non-cooperation with the colonial government and missionary associations. The 1952 establishment of the Council of Malaita was the beginning of a series of victories for independence, social and economic development, and resource conservation. The Solomon Islands declared independence from Britain in 1978. While the new government is largely set in the old colonial template, and is eager to develop mining, fishing, and forestry industries, there is legislation which provides for traditional land uses and customary land and sea tenure. The 1981 Provincial Government Act went so far as to state: "Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting traditional rights, privileges and usages in respect of land and fisheries in any part of the Solomon Islands" (Baines, 1991). In many cases, however, developers' plans come into direct conflict with traditional land use arrangements, and the government is under pressure to write new legislation that discounts customary land tenure rights. In other cases land holding (kinship) groups have been persuaded or bribed into transferring tenure rights to the government or developers. There is a new, neo-liberal, idea of "progress," Western-style, taking hold of a generation which sees the traditional systems as obstacles to a better life. This has led to a fragmenting of Solomon Islands society which has not gone unnoticed . Some landholding groups have become more aware and assertive of their rights of control over land and sea resources. Groups are organizing to beat developers at their own game, to participate in economic development in ways that are meaningful to them. Neo-liberal style development does not work when injected into traditional, closed-circuit subsistence communities. Traditional societies have little interest in markets and profits, these are not part of the local ideologies. Neo-colonial governments are very interested in profits, however, for raising revenue. In many places, such as Bougainville, the governments override the needs and wishes of the communities on the land and sell resources or contracts for development to outside agencies. This leads, generally, to destruction of the land and the human communities dependent upon the land, and little or no remuneration for the landowners or caretakers. In the Solomon Islands, resource rights have been sold to developers who have a proven disregard for resource conservation. Local manufacturing enterprises have failed because they are structured by (neo-liberal) interests outside the communities, and serve only to remove participants from the local systems of cooperation and trade. The Solomon Islands are located just southeast of New Guinea in Melanesia, a region with a recent history of indigenous independence and conservation efforts violently opposed by the neo-colonial government. Indonesian transmigration to East Timor and West Irian is one example. The Australian government recently relinquished control of Bougainville to Papua New Guinea, which is using the island as raw material for mineral mining; the native population has been decimated in the war for the land. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Australia are the major participants in illicit development in the Solomons today; most legitimate enterprises are locally based, with guidance and funding from organizations like the World Health Organization, UNESCO, SPREP, the Maruia Society of New Zealand and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Economic development recently pursued by the national government often conflicted with traditional relationships between different communities and their respective environments. This evoked chaos for both the government and the traditional resource owners. In the early 1980s development agencies lobbied for legislation that would override traditional land and sea tenureships and their rights. The complicated customary resource rights systems were seen as obstacles to "development," to Western-style "progress;" both dated concepts which are being proved antithetical. The Solomon Islands government plays two conflicting roles on the development stage: the main goal is to attract foreign investment and development that will generate export-based income, but the Solomon Islands Constitution and other legislation puts the government in the role of custodian and protector of the principles of customary law. Today the Solomon Islands national government seems to be pursuing both of these goals somewhat successfully, being ultimately in control of all conservation projects and investigations, maintaining a library of reports obtained from these for obligatory review by foreign development corporations, and periodically holding conferences in the capital to review the progress of resource management activities. A Viable Alternative Solution: The new goal for the Solomon Islands is sustainable development. There are two integral factors that make development "sustainable," according to the South Pacific Regional Environment Program: a)"The use of an organism, ecosystem or other renewable resource at a rate within its capacity for renewal... b)I mprove the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems." Many pilot programs have been established which seem promising; one has been particularly successful: The Vahole Association of South New Georgia, and the Kavakasama Association of Vangunu, both areas of rainforest, reef, lagoon and mangrove resources, were pioneers of this program of sustainable development (Baines, 1991). Other programs are following its path. In 'Are 'Are, a rainforest area targeted by a Malaysian logging company, several communities have banded together to form their own conservation organization, the 'Are 'Are Ruhahihanua, and are managing their own small-scale commercial forestry business. On Vella Lavella the community, monitoring the destruction of their natural resources and their rapidly growing population, established the Vella Lavella 2000 Program, the aim of which is to control population growth and manage locally their natural resources by the year 2000. NGOs assisting with these development programs avoid the temptation to "improve the existing associations; (they) evolved in the context of complex social considerations that visitors are unlikely to ever fully understand" (Baines, 1991). This sounds like real sustainable development, if all the destruction done by neo-liberal economic development injected into a traditional society with a subsistence economy can be overcome to the empowerment of that society. The local landholder-guardians of Marovo Lagoon, a target area for economic development in many forms (agriculture, fishing, mineral prospecting, logging, tourism) set up the Marovo Lagoon Resource Management Project in 1984. The plan is to involve the local community in assessment, monitoring and sustainable use of the resources of the region, and use the traditional landholding groups as a matrix for management schemes. The Marovo Project has been very successful and is recognized world-wide as proof of an alternative to normal capitalist development; this has been the focus of my research. Marovo Lagoon, on New Georgia island in the Western Province of the Solomons, is one of the most resource-rich areas in the South Pacific, due to the diligence of the local communities in preserving it. The people of Marovo are aware of the activities in Bougainville and other areas where destruction has been implemented by the national government, and will not allow such activities to take place in their region. The Marovo Lagoon Resource Management Project has successfully repelled developers and mining companies that would destroy their land and heritage, operating with a framework of integrated national and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and bubutus, resource owning groups. The Marovo Area Council is the local government administrative arm, and is made up of customary leaders. The Western Province Council also has a high percentage of influential Marovo leaders. Most of these men are educated in schools, abroad, as well as in local traditional knowledge. They are bringing a long-evolved traditional rationality to the young Solomons beaurocracy. The Project's goals, as put forth by Baines (1985) are: to define and describe the resources and environment of the lagoon and its islands, in the context of their close link to Marovo society; to describe and explain the various current and proposed development activities, their benefits and their environmental and social consequences; to build on the in-place matrix of traditional landholding groups and subsistence arrangements, assisting the groups in devising management plans for their land and lagoon areas; to maintain the communities' integrity by examining resource use and management in the context of traditional cultural and socio-economic development needs; to encourage women in gaining recognition for their contributions of knowledge and practice to development, and assist them in further developing their skills in this area; and to share the experiences and knowledge gained from the project with other communities and agencies in similar situations. The New Zealand government is providing some financial assistance to the World Heritage program in Marovo. The Commonwealth Science Council, a London based organization, provided financial assistance to the Marovo Lagoon Resource Management Project until 1988. This funding helped to pay the visiting investigators assisting the project. Since its withdrawal, investigators have volunteered. The Maruia Society of New Zealand is active in the adjacent Isabel Province, and is assisting in drafting national legislation for economic development and resource management using traditional methods. With continued direct involvement of the resource owners and communities themselves, on their own terms, there is hope for sustainibility of the Project and resources of the lagoon. Development agencies working on other islands made the mistakes of not taking indigenous knowledge into account, and of not involving communities in the development of their resources. Women tend to be ignored by conservation and development agencies, as men are more direct and socially accessible to the (usually male) representatives. It has only recently been considered that, in most "traditional" societies, women are the holders, imparters and practitioners of ecological wisdom. The women are the gardeners, and have a close relationship with and profound knowledge of the soil. They are also keyed-in to the relationship between the land and the lagoon, and the mangrove buffer zones, and can perceive subtle changes in each of these at very early stages. Women are also the primary producers and managers of resources. Hviding (1992) reveals that "..the close inter-relationships between land and sea, mountain and shore, and river and lagoon form particularly important components of indigenous world views and politics." "Bush people" and "saltwater people," those of the hills and coasts, respectively, developed complex social relationships based on subsistence and shared resources. Barter systems became intertwined with ritual forms of exchange, and today trade between coastal and upland people is an integral part of local politics, as rights to forest or fishing grounds are exchanged between groups. "Pacific Islanders rarely distinguish between 'ownable land' and 'unownable sea'... both land and nearshore sea and reefs are owned and the use of resources there regulated" (Hviding, 1992). These customary resource management systems are being used to meet new challenges of resource development and conservation. Programs enforced upon a traditional community from outside will fail, sometimes violently. Hard failures have taught conservationists and developers that they must involve communities in the planning and execution of projects: in education, training, jobs, and remuneration. Many projects fail because protected areas, being isolated, cannot be effectively policed Today local people are hired to police their own protected areas, and do so with dedication. Agencies that impose conservation and development schemes upon societies rather than learn about the ones already in place help destroy the ancient ideological underpinnings of matrices for sustainable resource use. Marovo resource knowledge takes forms unfamiliar to Europeans; it cannot be incorporated into schemes that separate nature and culture, science and magic. The Marovo ontology does not stem from a baseline of an "environment" separate from humanity; there are "material relationships between people and 'natural resources,' but also meaningful and meaning-making, and even social, relationships that exist between people and their surroundings"(Hviding, 1992). The goal and ideal communicated by every agency represented at the recent SPREP conference were for greater cooperation and partnership between customary resource owners, non-governmental organizations and governments for resource management and development. When development schemes are imposed on a pre-existing social pattern/structure/matrix, the effects can be different from what the imposing entity had expected. Management of the resources and economy of a community must be done for and by that community, within the context of the society that has co-evolved with the land. Development in the Solomon Islands must occur on the terms of the present, stable structure: the relationships between economic activities and other elements of the society are long-evolved and very slow to change. Neo-liberal style development, with its focus on cycles of profit, does not fit into the Solomon Islands structure. It has led to competition and cut off cooperation between resource "owning" groups which is necessary for survival on the islands. Cash bribes from development agencies led to the sale of land rights (foreign to Solomons ideology) and the destruction of the resources of surrounding areas. In an area with limited resources, "growth" in the form of intensified resource exploitation is not viable. Money pumped to enterprising individuals for profit is out of context in traditional communities; there is no local cash economy, no local market for their goods; participation in the world economy takes workers out of the local subsistence economy. Neo-liberalism propounds eventual benefits for all, but in the Solomons it benefits no one. Neo-liberal development schemes have defined traditional Solomon Islands land tenure hierarchies and decision making systems as slow, backwards, and obstacles to progress. The traditions that were an obstacle to resource management are now used as templates: for fisheries, aquaculture, hydroelectric projects and smallholder farms as well as a deep-sea fishing industry. The Solomon Islands national government is committed to a long range plan for integrated development, for economic growth and human welfare. Dependency theory happily is applied less and less to the Solomon Islands situation as they realize the strengths and sustainability of their style of development. It will be some time before the islands can show "economic growth," but they are maintaining a stable economy as far as subsistence and human welfare are concerned: almost no food is imported, 80% of the population in both cities and rural areas has access to clean water, and disease prevention is a top priority for the government, as is resource conservation. The Solomon Islands government is successful in reaching local communities and involving them in development, as it is in restricting international agencies' use of the local resources. Solomon Islanders have not allowed themselves to become pawns of the world economy and do not subscribe to the market system. Past development efforts in the Solomon Islands have failed because they didn't take indigenous knowledge and management systems into account, and did not involve the communities in development and conservation of their resources. Successful development projects must involve the community in planning and execution, education, training, jobs, and remuneration for resource use. Development in the Solomons does not fit into neo-liberal or populist, or dependency theory; it is sustainable development. Conservation and development in the Solomons happen on the terms of the communities involved, for their benefit and not that of an external corporation or market; in this way they are unique and sustainable . Footnotes 1. "The extended family, traditionally the primary tool for mediating and resolving conflicts, is being threatened by capitalist transformation."(Gegeo, 1991) 2. The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme's 5th South Pacific Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas; Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 4-8 October, 1993 3.from my present perspective: sustainability, of course, cannot be proved in the present. References ___________; 1991 "Unwisdom in the Solomons (Solomon Islands accused of helping Bougainville to gain independence from Papua New Guinea). The Economist v320, n7714 Baines, G.B.K. 1991 Asserting Traditional Rights. Cultural Survival Quarterly 15(2) pp. 49-51 Baines, G. and Hviding, E., in: Johnson, Martha (ed.) 1993 Lore: Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge. Dene Cultural Institute and IDRC Chesneaux, J. 1993 Talking History: Development and Environment. SIDT LINK no. 29.Solomon Islands Development Trust. Honiara, SI, 1993 Cole, R.V. 1993 Development and Social Change in the Pacific Islands. The Journal of Developing Areas, v28 n1 Connor, R., Houlbrooke, R., Tarihao, F. 1993 Local conservationarea ownership and traditional management. Conservation in Development Programme, Solomon Islands Development Trust; at the Fifth South Pacific Conferene on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 4-8 October, 1993; South Pacific Regional Environment Programme Gegeo, D.W. 1991 Tribes in Agony: Land, Development and Politics in Solomon Islands. Cultural Survival Quarterly 15(2) pp. 53-55 Grano, Suzanne, ed. 1993 Solomon Islands National Environmental Management Strategy. 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Cambridge University Press Whitmore, J.C. 1989 Changes over 21 Years in the Kolombangara Rain Forests. Journal of Ecology v77 The World Bank 1992 Social Indicators of Development, 1991. World Bank, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London I thank the following people for their incredible generosity of assistance, attention and information, for helping me do all my research via Internet: Preston Hardison, listowner of Consbio. E-mail: pdh@uwashington.edu Karen Watson-Gegeo and David Gegeo, scholars and activists from Malaita, SI. E-mail: tzwatson@alcor.ucdavis.edu Ben Boer (writing environmental legislation for the SI government):benboaer@sulaw.law.su.oz.au Matthew Philipps, Australian Volunteer Abroad: matthew.philipps@L100.n677.z90.pegasus.oz.au Geoffrey White, Cultural Studies, East West Center: whiteg%ewc.bitnet@cmsa.berkeley.edu