News

2012 Calender of Projects

2012-01-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

2012 is going to be a busy year for VEPA, continuing on is our Waste Management and Recycling Project which is going into Year 2 of our 5 Year Plan. Our efforts on the IWRM Water as a Resource Project will be getting lots of attention in the coming months with media efforts and children's school books that are awaiting printing.

We will be reviewing the Mangrove Assessment and seeing how we can improve and reduce the removal of mangroves that has occurred in the last month.

Adding 3 new projects this year for Soil Erosion, Turtle Monitoring and Protection of Nesting Sites, and turning our attention to Coral Reefs. A good mix of land and marine projects.

Again we would appreciate any help or funding opportunities that are available, so please look out for lots of information that is coming and how you can be involved.

2011 sucess

2011-12-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

2011 has been a very successful year for VEPA. Through funding from both Canada Fund and the US State department, we have made great progress on our waste management and recycling project. Keep Vava'u Green also sponsored bins to the domestic airport. Thank you to all those that were a part of these projects.

Through clean ups and recycling days in communities to placing waste and recycling bins around town, we are already seeing a good difference in the cleanliness of certain areas. There is still much to be done.

Great news already for 2012, is that VEPA will be getting an Aus Aid Volunteer to help us. We can not wait for her arrival and to introduce her to the efforts of VEPA.

So from all the board, we would like to whole heatedly thank everyone that has helped us this year, we are looking forward to more successes in 2012.

May you all have a great and safe New Years Eve and here is to furthering conservation around the world in 2012.

Marine Jourdren talks about her VEPA Experience....

2011-07-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

My experience with VEPA was too short, but fruitful. Lots of very interesting projects are being run currently, but I guess I just showed up at the wrong moment! Indeed, not only that the majority of the board members were away at that moment, but also that the attribution of an important subvention was refused, and that braked the momentum of the water project when I arrived.

However, it was really great to work with Ane, VEPA’s part-time employee. She showed and explained to me what they were working on about the rubbish treatment, it was interesting to work with her and she’s such a nice person. I realized what a big challenge it is to raise awareness and try to implement a rubbish treatment system there. But more and more schools seem to be implicated, so that’s a very good hope for the next years when these generations will grow up.

Thanks to Karen, I went diving to do a reef survey under VEPA’s flag. With my buddy we stayed apart from the tourist divers group, and obviously we missed a shark and a turtle! Anyway, it was already amazing for me to dive there, as it was my first dive on a reef. I was literally fascniated by all the fishes that I saw there although they are supposed to be very common! The data we collected was to be sent on a specific website that aims to collect such information.

With Ane, we worked together to reorganize the website a bit, to make the information accessible more easily and more obvious. I had more knowledge about the website stuff, and she had more knowledge about the organization, so all in all we made a good combination!

It’s not the first time that I worked with an environmental organization, however it’s always frustrating to see that there often a problem of means even if there is so much will. So hopefully they will find the funds to go on with their projects, as they could be really good impact for the whole community in Vava’u if successful. And successful they will be for sure!

Many thanks to Marine for joining the team for a short period, we look forward to keeping in touch and wishing her every success for the future.

Malo Marine

Interview with the new volunteer for VEPA

2011-07-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Can you introduce yourself?

I'm Marine Jourdren, I'm a 22 years old girl from France.

Why did you come here?

I wanted to do some volunteer work for the environment in the Pacific. I was interested in the waste management. I heard about VEPA on the internet and I had a good contacts with Don and Karen, so I decided to come to Tonga for a few weeks.

What do you do?

I'm a student in Political Sciences and Environment studies. During the last six months I did an intership for a Non Governmental Organization called OceansWatch, which dealt with Marine Conversation.

What interests you about the environment?

In France I lived near the sea and as I grew up I became more aware and concerned about environmental issues, especially about marine conservation, sea pollution and overfishing.

According to me, the protection of the environment is not only about protecting Earth species, but also and more importantly it is about ensuring the future of the populations who rely on these resources.

I can't help thinking the environment protection has two sides. One is specifically scientific and deals with nature conservation, endangered species, water and waste treatment etc... On the other hand, these scientific results can and must be integrated in human societies and politics to help for a better resources management. I find it really interesting to work in this in between because it drains lots of different stakeholders and when successful, it can help not only the environment but also to strengthen the social cohesion in a given community.

So how long you will be here in Vava'u?

For two weeks.

The First Recycling Bins

2011-07-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

On Monday the 27th of June, we have installed the first three recycling bins in the 'Utukalongalu market. Karen's staff from dive Vava'u also put up good signs to make them visible. It is going quite well after a short period of time, people have started to use it.

The total cost for the 3 cages was TOP900, they are strong and robust.

There is a big concern about the market area, because there is a more rubbish being thrown around and there is a need to stop people from dropping litter. Hopefully these recycling bins will help us in minimizing the littering and pollution.

If this project is successful, we are planning to buy more bins and place them on more stations in town and other villages.

'I he 'aho Monite 17 'o Sune, na'e fokotu'u ai e ngaahi fuofua lisaikolo pini fo'ou 'e tolu 'i he 'Utukalongalu maketi. Na'e hanga foki 'e he kau ngaue 'a Karen mei he dive Vava'u 'o fokotu'u moha ngaahi faka'ilonga lelei mo mahino ki he mahino'i 'e he kakai, pea 'oku 'i ai foki 'a e fakalakalaka ke kamata ke ngaue'aki 'e he kakai 'a e ngaahi lisaikolo pini ko eni.

Ko e ngaahi lisaikolo pini foki ko eni 'oku fefeka 'aupito mo tolonga 'a ia ko honau mahu'inga na'e fe'unga faka-katoa moe pa'anga 'e 900.

'Oku 'i ai foki 'a e tokanga lahi ki he feitu'u 'Utukalongalu maketi, koe'uhi koe fakaveve noa'ia ko ia 'a e kakai, 'a ia 'oku 'i ai 'a e fiema'u ke ta'ofi kinautolu mei he fakaveve noa'ia. 'Oku 'i ai foki 'a e 'amanaki 'e tokoni lahi 'a e ngaahi lisaikolo pini ko eni ki hono fakasi'isi'i 'a e laku veve noa'ia pea pehe ki hono 'uliki hotau 'atakai.

'I he lava lelei ko ia 'a e poloseki ko 'eni, 'e 'i ai leva mo e ngaahi palani ke toe 'omai mo ha ngaahi lisaikolo pini fo'ou ki he ngaahi feitu'u loto kolo pea pehe foki ki he ngaahi kolo kehe.

Volunteers

2011-06-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

VEPA relies on generous people that donate their time to our causes and projects. We hate for them to go unmentioned. So we would like to thank the following

Stephanie Lowrance (Peace Corps)
Sean Kois (Peace Corps)
Dominica (Peace Corps)

Christy Butterfield (Melinda Sea Adventures)
Savannah (Coconet Cafe)

Isistolo Tangitau (Dive Vava'u)
Mailangi Vea (Dive Vava'u)
Salia Falekakala (Dive Vava'u).
There is also one more but he wishes to remain nameless.

Yes you guessed right my staff have no choice, the difference is they love doing the VEPA work, but even more they enjoy seeing their photos posted over the web. So, here are the pictures I have managed to get of some of the volunteers. Malo'aupito to everyone for their help.

Deforestation - Year of the Forests 2011

2011-06-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

This morning board member Alaipuke was joined by representatives from Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Forest and Agriculture to talk about the deforestation of Sandalwood (Ahi) trees that has occurred in the last two weeks.

Sandalwood has become in great demand for export recently but the methods to remove the trees from land has created several issues. The biggest one being the removal of a large area of sandalwood trees from Mount Talau which was deemed a National Park in the 1990's. The national park is protected land, and no removal of trees is permitted. There has also been several cases of trees being removed from private properties without consent from the landowner.

Vava'u has great land mass to be able to create agriculture and demand for the export markets, these need to be improved upon and protected from theft, so that communities can gain economic strength in difficult times.

VEPA takes great care to preserve the environment and create advocacy and ownership of the environment to communities. This year, was deemed the Year of the Forests, we hope that our TV show will bring the first part of several stages to bring more awareness about the dangers of deforestation for the environment, food sources and health of communities.

We hope the beginning of many media events to raise awareness on several issues will open up new opportunities for environment discussion and protection.

Malo Puke for your great passion in sharing our message for VEPA.

USS Cleveland Personnel Recycling with VEPA

2011-04-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Monday was the recycling morning of public areas, 25 Navy personnel from America and Australia joined VEPA and local volunteers in the market and around Neiafu town to help encourage recycling.

This project was put together by VEPA as we remain strong on improving the waste management and recycling here in Vava'u. Community houses also recycled and the truck provided by Tonga Defence and US Navy collected all the trash and took it to GIO Recycling.

Many thanks to all the Navy personnel for making it a great event, we still continue to strive for more community involvement in waste management and will be looking to provide permanent solutions to the rubbish issues in the next year. Many thanks also to Adriana from Mystic Sands for joining in.

Turtle Conservation Week in Hunga

2011-03-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

Please read this report from Karyn and Akosita on the First Awareness Project. Well done and congratulations.

Marine Awareness Project
at 'utu ha loto poto' (Harvest a Heart of Wisdom) Preschool,
Hunga, Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga

November 2010

Background:
Harvest a Heart of Wisdom Preschool was set up in October 2009 by myself, Karyn von Engelbrechten and my co-worker, Akosita Tu'akineiafu. Our aim is to provide quality preschool education to any child aged 3-5 living in Hunga and the surrounding islands. Through local fund raising efforts, private overseas donations and volunteers, the kindergarten has managed to run successfully for up to 12 children, three mornings a week.

Our theme-based learning incorporates subjects such as colours, shapes, my body, transport, health and food, sports, farm animals etc. Since the kindergarten is based on an outer island, it made sense for us to include marine animals as a central theme.

Objectives:
Currently the children's main experience of most marine animals is as a key part to their diet. Fish, turtle, crabs and not so long ago, whale is perceived as nothing more than food. After discussions with Karen from VEPA and Akosita, it was decided that the most important step to marine awareness, was to show the children the marine environment as a LIVING organism. We chose the turtle as a creature to focus on as there are resident turtles in the Hunga lagoon and the village does still capture and eat them despite being an Internationally recognised endangered species.

Our main objectives were to introduce reef habitats, recognise different marine animals and think about how rubbish can affect the environment.

WEEK 1 - DAY 1
After our normal mat-time routine (attendance, prayers and songs) we introduced the prepared marine animals discussion board.
This very simple presentation gave us a starting point to see how much the children already knew about marine life as well as giving the teacher a framework for introducing new terminology and vocabulary.
Our art project for that day was to cut out and paint a fish. As well as creating something for our marine mural, it prompted discussion about the physiology of fish; for example, how many fins does it have? Where are they on the body? Do they have teeth? What colour are their scales?

The outdoor playtime included a game of What's The Time, Mr Shark?
Back inside, the children watched the first few chapters of the DVD entitled Coral Seas. (10-15mins) The movie gave options for music or commentary which meant we could choose ensuring there was no talking in a foreign language to distract the children.

Before the video started, a teacher presented the following coral reef information:
What is this? (show piece of coral) I found this on the beach.
Coral reefs are like a big village with all the animals working together to live in harmony.
CORAL is not dead – it is a living animal. They can grow into many different shapes & come in a rainbow of colours. The coral animals are very small & fragile – they can be hurt or broken if you touch them or step on them. They take a long time to grow – less than 3cm a year (show them how much) – see why we need to look after them.
Many different types of colourful fish make their home on the reef. They have stripes & spots & other markings so they blend in with the coral. They use the coral as a shelter & protection from other big fish.
Our aim was to start the children thinking about the reef as something they could relate to – a village with each creature having an area they called home. As the movie progressed we continued with this familiarisation by pointing out the similarities between the different corals and vegetation on land – flowers and trees.
The first day finished with the finger rhyme 'Ika' (Fish Alive) and the storybook, 'The Rainbow Fish.

CONCLUSION
Most of the children knew the generic names of the animals on the discussion board and some of them could talk about terms like fins and scales. Not surprisingly, one of the first things they children did when watching the DVD was to pretend to pick them off the screen and eat them. 'ifo, ifo'. Once this game wore off, the children watched the rest of the film intently with much discussion.

WEEK 1, DAY 2
The day began with morning mat-time learning the rhyme Paka. (Crab) A few of the children already knew this from home. We then made a 3D crab for our proposed marine mural[1]. This enabled the teacher to talk about shells and how they are homes to the crabs.
Outdoor playtime included sorting and matching shells according to different criteria (an essential skill in emerging numeracy and literacy development). The teacher explained the importance of finding shells without any animal living in it.
Back inside, we continued with the Coral Seas DVD. (10-15mins) Before it began, the teacher asked some basic revision questions from the last chapters – What kind of animals live in the reef? Why are they different colours etc to check the children understood and had absorbed the previous days' information. She also gave them a cowrie shell to look at and asked them to look out for one in the movie.
The story at the end of the day was entitled 5 little Seashells.
At the end of the session, Akosita suggested the children find a shell to and bring in the next day to show and talk about.

WEEK 1, DAY 3
During morning mat-time, Akosita facilitated language discussion as each child was encouraged to talk about their shell. The teacher prompted the child's descriptive vocabulary.

During the art session, the children could choose between painting their shells or colouring in a variety of reef scenes or animals.

Outdoor playtime included the game, Charlie over the ocean.
Back inside, the children watched the final chapters (10-15mins) of the Coral Seas DVD. This included some scenes of the larger marine mammals including humpback whales. This could easily be another weekly theme as it is so relevant to the children here in Tonga.

During music and movement time, the children had to move as a variety of different marine animals. This helped the children to think about and experience how each animal behaves in the water, for example, the difference between a ray, a seasnake, a turtle, a shark and a fish.

The day concluded with a whiteboard story entitled In Among the Seaweed. The magnetic elements enabled the children to participate in the story and helps with numerical comprehension by a decreasing number of fish among the seaweed.

WEEK 2, DAY 1
There are many basic wooden carvings of turtles available at the market so this was passed around while we talked about turtles. The teacher presented the following information:
Who has seen a turtle? Where? Do you know what kind of turtle it is?
We have 3 different kinds of turtle in Tonga – the GREEN turtle, HAWKSBILL turtle and Loggerhead. In the lagoon, I've seen green.
What do they eat? The green turtle eats algae (sea plants) which is why we often see them near the shallow entrance of the lagoon where there is sea grass.
Turtles are like us because we need air to breathe. Fish don't need to come out of the water to breathe but turtles do which is why we see them. They can hold their breath for a long time – up to 3 hours – when they are underwater.
Turtles are fantastic swimmers. They travel a long way (show maps). The females come back to where they were born to lay their eggs. How do they know how to get there? Scientists are trying to find out. They have lots of eggs -50-150 of this size (show ping pong ball) but they don't all hatch because rats, pigs, dogs & humans like to eat them. When they are born they go out to sea and then sharks & big fish eat them too. They also get hunted by fishermen. Now there aren't many turtles left in the sea so we have to try to protect them.

During the art session, VEPA had provided us with a colouring in picture depicting the different turtle species. This enabled us to talk about the differences in physiology such as colour and size as well introducing specific terms like flipper and beak.

Within the Coral Seas DVD there were a couple ofchapters dedicated to turtles which the children watched.

They also learnt a new finger rhyme entitled, Here is a shell for a turtle.

At the end of the day, the teacher read, The Littlest Turtle by Lynley Dodd which is an excellent book to show the hatchling's instinct to head for the sea and the troubles they encounter on the way.

WEEK 2, DAY 2
After morning mat-time, we started individual turtle collages.

This revised the previous day's study of the turtle's physical characteristics. We used lots of different colours but this could be developed further for older children by only using more natural colours and using a reference image, the children could choose appropriate colours depending on the turtle species they were collaging.
During outdoor playtime, the teacher facilitated the Environment Game. The children were divided into 2 groups and each given a basket or box. One group had to walk around the outside playground and collect pieces of litter. The other group had to collect natural items. After 10mins, the children looked at ALL the items and talked about differences between natural items and man-made ones.

Back inside, the children watched some footage from Ocean Drifters by National Geographic called Killer Debris which shows very clearly a young turtle trying to eat streamers from a balloon.

During language discussion time, we talked about rubbish in the ocean and the impact it can have. This is especially relevant here in Tonga as the people often throw their rubbish (including nappies) into the sea as they travel from island to island. A lot of rubbish also finds its way from the village down to the lagoon where much of the fish is caught and where many of the turtles are sighted.

Rubbish in the ocean
Natural rubbish (like you found for example, coconut husks, old leaves, shells)is ok. It will break down and become part of the ocean.
Little things we throw away on the boat like sweet wrappers, soda drinks or crisp packets don't break down and although they seem small, it all adds up.
A turtle doesn't know the difference between bits of balloon and jellyfish or something they like to eat. The plastic will get stuck in its throat so it can't breathe or in its stomach so it can't eat and then it dies.
Seabirds also die – they get tangled up in nets. A turtle is like us – it needs to come up for air to breathe – not like fish. So if they get tangled up, they can't breathe and die.

4 Environment Rules
1.     Keep rubbish out of the water
2.     Coral reefs are very important – take care of coral
3.     Only take what things you need – leave some for others
4.     Use plastic bags carefully – they are dangerous to fish & turtles

The previous week, we had a huge storm which washed a FAD onto our beach. Contained within the net were 5 scutes which I brought in for the children to look at. This was a perfect opportunity to show how entanglement in a man-made structure is a direct threat to the survival of turtles.

During music and movement session, the teacher used a drum to encourage the children to pretend to follow the life-cycle of a turtle. Starting slowly and quietly, the children curled up tightly like an egg with the music becoming faster and louder as they hatched, dug through the sand and made their way to the sea. The drum followed at an easy, even pace as they 'swam' in the ocean.
We finished the day with a whiteboard story called 5 Little Turtles.

WEEK 2, DAY 3
This day was taken outside the normal preschool hours. The children were taken on a special visit to a neighbouring island, Fulefuka where the local fishermen from Hunga told me the turtles lay their eggs.
Fulefuka is a beautiful uninhabited island. The fishermen sometimes stay there and it is also a popular day visit for picnics from Hunga. Sadly, there is a lot of rubbish left on the island from these visitors as well as rubbish being washed in from the sea. This includes tins, batteries, wire, flip-flops and plastic bottles.

After collecting some of the rubbish, we
worked with the children and divided it into 2 distinct piles - natural and man-made[2].

We decided to make two turtles, one from each type of rubbish.

The man-made turtle was composed of rusty corrugated iron, plastic-coated wire, tins, plastic tops, the plastic handle of a bucket, batteries, bottles and flip-flops.

The natural turtle was made entirely from a coconut tree and its fruit.

After finishing our turtle sculptures, we decided to see if we could find any evidence of turtle nests. We asked the children what clues we should be looking for – flipper prints on the sand, mounds of sand just above the high tide mark as well as any stray eggs.

The children also tried out some snorkelling equipment that Caroline Hudson brought over from her resort based on Hunga. She spent time with each child showing them how to use the equipment properly and some of them spent the rest of the morning cruising in the shallows and bringing in shells and coral for us to look at. They also found the seaweed that is the main source of food for the green turtle.

FURTHER THOUGHTS
These activities and ideas were aimed primarily at 3-5 year olds. However, with a little alteration and/or extension, I believe it could easily be used for primary schools.

I understand that modern naturalists are trying to move away from anthropomorphizing but I do see the benefits of young children empathising with animals more if they are given characteristics and/or situations they can relate to. A cartoon turtle speaking Tongan would go a long way in helping conservation efforts!

Many of the resources were not ideally suited to the objective for example, the DVDs were just personal examples I had. I'm sure there are better films for education at this level. Some of the colouring-in pictures were too detailed for very young children – some simpler images would have been better.

It would have been really useful to have good quality plastic animals especially to show the different turtle species.

[1] . Unfortunately bad weather closed the kindergarten for our final week of term. The proposed marine animal mural was never completed and the children took their individual art work home instead.
[2] A further conclusion for children based on the main land could be to have them sort through the rubbish and take them to the recycling centre to see where it ends up.

For anyone who would like further information on upcoming projects such as this, please contact Karen at info@vavauenvironment.org.

St Mary's Visit

2011-03-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Well it has been just over a month since our wonderful trip with St Mary's university to study and replant mangroves. The mangroves are doing well in Holeva and VEPA will be making a site visit next week. We are very happy for this, as only 4 days after the planting we were expecting a small cyclone which veered away at the last minute.

Here are some more pictures from the day.......

Eco-Camp

2010-12-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Board members of VEPA are involved in all levels of conservation, education and awareness. On Friday, board members Don, Winnie and Karen as well as Carolyn, hosted talks to youths aged between 11-15 on the environment and how it is involved in their future. Topics covered included mangroves, waste and pollution, soil erosion.

Great work everyone

Hong Kong Shark Fin Sidewalk - Alex Hofford

2010-12-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong Shark Fin Sidewalk - Alex Hofford

Video showing the shark fins as they lay on a street in Hong Kong, heart wrenching to watch.

Mangrove Reforestation Project 2 - Holeva

2010-12-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

Our continuing conservation work with the mangrove reforestation this year has begun its implementation and community consultation.

Vava'u Marine Chart © Melinda Sea Adventures

The target area for the reforestation this year is Holeva. Holeva is located on the East shoreline of Vava'u, and whilst on one side is home to a healthy mangrove area, the outer side from the causeway has become barren land. This created large areas of issue for the community during the Tsunami, where the causeway was damaged and cars and boats dragged into the water.
The plan will be to improve the protection of the coastline area with the planting of mangroves creating a barrier from the outer reef area. Mangroves used to grow naturally in the area but have been removed or destroyed for various reasons.
This project will be much larger than the Koloa mangrove project, estimates of up to 1,000 mangroves will need to be planted to add the much needed protection and to improve on the estuary.
The community meeting will be held on Monday at 2pm with the town officer and we look forward to the implementation and upcoming project.
More to come as the project develops, this project is also being assisted by students of St Mary's in California who will be coming to Holeva in January for mangrove field work and coral reef and fish studies.

Project Update - Recycling and Waste

2010-12-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

The "Making Vava'u a Refuge from Waste" has been an on going project since our large clean up in October. Villages from the North side of Vava'u Lahi continue their own recycling and clean up projects with the back up and support of the team from VEPA.
The TV airing of the clean up has continued to inspire many others to join in and though this project has completed its initial stage, we continue in our work and efforts to educate, assist and support the local communities to set up their own recycling and waste management systems.
Again we would like to thank Canada Fund for their support of our project as well as all our local sponsors who donated time, drinks, flour sacks and boats for the clean up project.
Local sponsors include
Pafilio Tangitau and Sons
Marnis Barge
Melinda Sea Adventures
Issy Baker
Dive Vava'u
Hakula Lodge
JM Store
Digicel
Tropicana Cafe
GIO Recycling

Waste Awareness Campaign

2010-10-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Vava'u Ko e Feitu'u Malu Mei he Veve- Making Vava'u a Refuge from Waste

VEPA Waste Clean Up in Neiafu Vava'u: October 18th- October 23rd

Monday - Fungamisi & Falaleu
Tuesday - Neiafutahi & Kameli
Wednesday - Masilamea
Thursday - Aloitalau & Lototalau
Friday - Secondary School Competition
Saturday - Celebration at the Market

See commercial below, or watch a better quality version on youtube at these links:
English version
Tongan version

Consultation on Protected Areas

2010-08-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

VEPA has been invited by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to present at a workshop on protected areas in Tonga. The workshop will be held from Tuesday, Aug.24th- Friday, Aug. 27th and VEPA will lead 5 sessions. One of the expected outcomes of the meetings is that the Government will use community feedback to designate threatened environment zones that need stricter regulations. VEPA is thrilled to be a part of the event.

No Littering Logos

2010-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

VEPA has been busy collecting art submissions for the Talanoa Veve "Talking Trash" competition. Over 50 students stopped by the VEPA booth at the Saturday Library Fun Day, to talk about waste and draw their pictures. VEPA members have also been collecting submissions from different schools. This competition, put on by Waste Authority, has proved a great opportunity to get students talking about solid waste issues in Tonga.

Weekly Clean Ups......

2010-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Local tourism businesses, residents and friends of VEPA, have for the last 3 weeks been cleaning up areas of the Neiafu district. Many thanks to the Yachties that have also joined in. Read the blog post below for more details.....
Dive Vava'u: Weekly Clean Ups......

Turtle Week in Hunga Pre-School

2010-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

During August this year Karyn and Sita who run the pre-school in Hunga will be having an environment week. This year, working alongside VEPA we are focusing on turtles. Hunga lagoon has a small population of resident turtles, and our aim of the week is to teach the kids about the turtles, their homes and lives in the oceans.

The week will include education packs, colouring competitions, turtle monitoring with students being given the Turtle warden status. Each kid will receive a certificate and card to take home and to hang in the school. Prizes will be awarded for colouring and participation in the monitoring.

The school is also painting an ocean themed Muriel on the school to promote a healthy ocean.

Many thanks to Sita and Karyn for their contributions and becoming true friends of VEPA and the environment. More to come as the project progresses.

For more information on becoming a friend of VEPA please contact us at info@vavauenvironment.org.

Task Force Team

2010-05-29T03:36:00.000-07:00

VEPA has started a series of community presentations to recruit young adults to actively participate in VEPA's Task Force team. The team was created to increase local ownership and leadership on environmental issues. Members of the team will help identify and find solutions for the environmental problems faced in their different communities. To begin with, the Task Force team will work on environmental conservation, waste management, resource development and educational outreach programs.

Tonga Waste Logo

2010-05-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

VEPA is supporting the "Talanoa Veve" (Talking Trash) logo competition put together by Waste Authority. The competition is encouraging students island-wide to come up with a creative new message and design to "stop littering" in Tonga. VEPA members are reaching out to students in Vava'u to discuss this environmental message and collect submissions for the campaign. For more information go to: http://www.talanoaveve.com/index.html

Tragic Loss of an Important Leader

2010-05-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

The members of VEPA wish to express their grief and condolences for all those affected by the sudden passing of Vava'u's honorable Governor Lord Luani who died of a heart attack early Wednesday. Lord Luani was a dynamic and well loved leader who supported many important development projects on the island, including VEPA's work in the environment. His presence will be greatly missed, and VEPA has postponed holding community meetings for their Neiafu clean up event in order to respect a period of mourning for this important Noble. When the group resumes their waste awareness campaign, it will be in honor of Lord Luani's great vision. May he rest in peace.

The Quiksilver Foundation Supports Clean Up

2010-05-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

The Quiksilver Foundation is sponsoring 200 t-shirts for VEPA's "Vava'u Ko e Feitu'u Malu mei he Veve- Making Vava'u a Refuge from Waste" clean up event in June! This generous contribution is a great display of Roxy/Quiksilver's vision to make a difference in communities and the environment worldwide. The Quiksilver Foundation's donation will help VEPA's efforts to launch a waste awareness campaign that will lead local communities and students to collect and sort through 4,000 bags of coastal waste. Thanks Quik!

For more information on the Quiksilver Foundation check out: http://quiksilverfoundation.org/

Newsletter May 2010

2010-05-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Pafilio Tangitau & Sons Bakery is sponsoring clean up

2010-04-21T16:08:00.001-07:00

We have our first official sponsor for the clean up in June. Pafilio Tangitau and Sons Bakery is sponsoring flour bags which will be given to volunteers to collect trash. Soane , owner of the bakery, is especially concerned about the increase of littering outside the villages, in the forests and along roads. He asks for more than just a single clean up. He asks for education to create awareness and a long term strategy to deal with waste.

VEPA is on it. We will do our best!

2010-04-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

VEPA is planning a massive clean up in the Neiafu/Toula district of Vava’u. It is going to take place from June 7th to the 11th.
According to a study from the Second Vava’u Development Program, 94.3 % percent of the rubbish is burnt in backyards. The rest is either brought to the only official dump site in Vava’u, which is leaking into the ocean, poisoning shellfish or littered somewhere on the island. Therefore all collected rubbish will be sorted and then sent to Nuku’alofa, to be recycled or properly disposed.
Both, the clean up and the previous education campaign will create a new attitude towards waste management minimizing the negative health impacts for the people of Vava’u.

Houma Nature Park Opening

2010-04-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

VEPA was invited to the opening of the new Nature Park in Houma. The Houma Primary School created this nature park to preserve native plants in an area around the school yard, to teach the children environmental basics.
After the opening ceremony, guests were invited to join the families of the students for lunch. A huge variety of different meals was offered, while the students entertained the visitors, performing Tongan and Fijian war dances in colorful costumes.

VEPA wants to thank Houma Primary School for this invitation and offer its support for future plans with the nature park.

'Utungake Coastal Clean Up

2010-03-23T02:42:00.000-07:00

Conservation Project 2: Soil Erosion

2010-03-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Our mangrove project continues and the second project will be starting again soon. Over 60 mangroves are growing strong within the fence area and this is due to be removed to a new area next week.

So we have turned our efforts towards our second pilot project which is run in conjunction with Department of Environment and Department of Agriculture. The project is being initiated in the village of Utungake as they approached us with the issues they are facing.

Our project includes locating areas where soil erosion is effecting both the environment and the community agricultural areas. Soil erosion on any small islands effects not just terrestrial environments but also marine habitats as well, as the run off enters the ocean through mangrove areas and effects corals, fish life and the mangroves themselves.

To begin the project we located 2 areas, one of the cliff side and one in the village where our pilot project will take place. The aim is to protect from further erosion but also replenish the damaged soils for agricultural benefit.

To do this the Department of Agriculture attended a meeting last year, where Mucuna beans were recommended in combating soil erosion. Mucuna beans are used to replenish depleted soils through enhancing the nitrogen content in the soil.

We have carried out soil tests here to determine the suitability of the plant and established the benefits of the mucuna beans to the area.

As part of all our conservation programmes, the community commitment is paramount to the success of the project. Utungake yesterday along with VEPA volunteers cleaned up the coastal side and land side for the project to go ahead. Over 30 residents of the village joined in the clean up and a trash management proposal is being worked on through other VEPA members that will benefit and continue the commitment of the community.

Further updates on this project will be soon as we hope to implement the next stage in the coming week.

Intern Accepted

2010-01-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

We are proud to announce that Alexander Kempny will join VEPA as an intern for 3 months this March. Alexander is studying Green Business Management at the University Business and Information Technology School in Iserlohn, Germany, and he hopes to work with VEPA on everything from coral reef and mangrove protection to problems with waste disposal. Specifically he is concerned that Tonga has no functioning recycling system and groundwater contamination has resulted from unhygienic waste disposal in inadequate facilities. We think Alexander will bring a unique set of skills to our organization and we look forward to having him as a part of our team.

VEPA is Incorporated

2010-01-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to announce that VEPA has become an Incorporated Society and we have received official status with the Tongan government. Our Constitution was accepted by Parliament, and as of Jan.6th 2010, we have been registered as society No.250 in the Kingdom of Tonga. We look forward to continuing our successful work this year and building our organization in the years to come.

Sustainable Land Management Workshop

2009-12-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

VEPA has been invited to participate in Tonga's Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Workshop/Training on Strengthened capacity for sustainable agriculture, particularly in drought prone areas. A representative from VEPA will attend these discussions in Neiafu on Dec. 21st and 22nd. The training has been put together by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Sustainable Land Management project's aim is to "lift barriers to sustainable land management and thus contribute to enhance ecosystem health, stability, functions, and services". You can read more news on the project here.

Back in Koloa

2009-12-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Saskia and myself headed back out to Koloa to finish the hand propagation part of the reforestation project. The fence has been installed, and so it was the perfect time for planting, despite the occasional showers.

We hand propagated 33 mangrove seeds, and will be returning every 10 days to monitor their process.

The school kids have about 30 seeds in recycled pots, every day they fill the pots with salt water, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The seeds take about 32 days before the tip starts to open up, once the mangroves are big enough (approx 50-60 days), they will be replanted into the protected area.

-Karen

Plants and Pots

2009-11-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

The kids planted their mangroves! On Thursday, we went to the school in Koloa and made little plastic pots for the kids with holes on the sides to mimic high and low tide...they will fill up their pots with ocean water in the morning for high tide, the water will slowly drain out, and then they will fill up their pots again in the evening. The child who does the best job taking care of his/her mangrove (i.e helps it grow the biggest and healthiest) will be awarded a small prize (TBD).

See below for pictures of the kids filling up their pots with sand and planting mangrove seeds.

making the pots

collecting sand

group photo

Koloa Update- Fence Building

2009-11-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

Last week in Koloa, Saskia, Emily and myself headed out to team up with members of the Koloa village to build the fence area around the mangrove project, the fence area is designed to keep the pigs away as they dig up the mud and disturb the mangrove growing areas.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip, some mangroves were hand planted by community members. The Koloa community has been amazing in the work and implementing of the Mangrove project.

Identified Mangrove Site

2009-11-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today we visited the GPS in Koloa and gave a presentation on mangroves. Winnie and Karen explained where mangroves grow and why they are important. Then we drew a picture on the blackboard explaining how we will be planting new mangroves in a fenced area. The kids were really eager to learn more and participate by growing their own plants.

After school we all walked down to the beach with some women from Koloa to look if the mangroves were ready to seed. The kids walked arm in arm, and we improvised to the tune from the Wizard of OZ singing "we're off to see the mangroves!"

We decided the mangroves weren't quite ready to be planted, so some of us will return to Koloa to take a look next week....