Community-based monitoring of biodiversity and forests of Vanuatu

General

Vanuatu is one of the regions most affected by climate change in the world. Effective management of Community Conservation Areas has been identified as pivotal for area-based approaches to protect key biodiversity species and for supporting sustainable livelihoods in a changing climate. The IKI Small Grants project introduces community-based monitoring in Vanuatu’s community protected areas, based on a mobile app for local rangers, thus improving national biodiversity and forest observation. The project creates added value by further developing and testing a ranger tool kit and app, introducing these tools in the protected areas and feeding the results into national monitoring systems. With the local communities as well as national government institutions and environmental NGOs involved, all relevant target groups are addressed and their participation in sustainable land use planning is supported.