Eco-Camp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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......

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pafilio Tangitau & Sons Bakery is sponsoring clean up

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!

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

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

Conservation Project 2: Soil Erosion

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

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

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.