"Where's our development?" Landowner aspirations and envrionmentalist agendas in Western Solomon Islands

"Where's our development?" Landowner aspirations and envrionmentalist agendas in Western Solomon Islands

Background

This article is an evaluation of a five-year conservation and development project, "The Solomon Islands Community Resource and Development Project" initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the WWF). The project was intended to educate local landowners on the importance of biodiversity, the rainforest, and on protecting these resources from logging. The focus of the project was primarily educational but also provided assistance and incetives to pursue more sustianable "ecotourism" projects.

Conclusions & Takeaways

According to the author of this paper, the project was plagued by obvious conflicts between Western environmentalist agendas and the aspirations of the Solomon Islanders. Namely, the islanders did not understand the importance of biodiversity because of a judeo-christian understanding of the world that was not consistent with evolution. Additionally, because communities were fragmented and deeply divided by clan, collaborative eco-tourism projects did not take off. The author ends his article mentioning that there is currently a joint venture being taken on by the University of Queensland, working with land owners in the Solomon Islands to develop technicical and applicable skills that can serve as an alternative to logging instead of focusing heavily on education and the importance of biodiversity.

Reference: 

Foale S. "Where's our development?". The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology. 2001;2:44–67. doi:10.1080/14442210110001706105.

Affiliation: 

  • James Cook University