The Importance

of Barora Fa
Barora Fa and its surrounding islands are an area of national and
international conservation importance.
Because of many decades of commercial logging in the Solomon
Islands, Barora Fa is now the largest area of unlogged lowland forest
in Isabel Province.
The marine environments are also very special. Barora Fa is the
best example of well-flushed sheltered reef habitats and extensive
mangrove environments in Solomon Islands. Indeed, Barora Fa
contains 15% of all the mangrove forests in Solomon Islands.
The highly diverse yet fragile fringing lagoonal reefs of Barora Fa
act as nursery grounds for numerous important food fish.
Studies in the Kia region that were led by The Nature Conservancy
(TNC) have shown that these marine nursery grounds are badly
affected by the sedimentation caused from commercial logging. For
example, 24 times more juvenile topa were seen on healthy lagoonal
reefs near the unlogged island of Barora Fa than on unhealthy
lagoonal reefs near the logged island of Barora Ite.
These forests and marine environments of Barora Fa also contain
many important cultural sites.
Barora Fa has been identified as a priority area of conservation
in national and provincial conservation assessments, such as the
Solomon Islands 2004 Marine Ecological Assessment that TNC
led and in the 2012 Isabel Ridges to Reefs Conservation Plan that
TNC facilitated.

The Nature Conservancy - Solomon Islands | 1

What is a Carbon Project?
 A carbon project is a way for communities ADVANTAGES OF A CARBON PROJECT CONSIDERATIONS
and landowners to say no to logging and
instead make an income from protecting  A carbon project is expected to pay more  TNC could help stakeholders to build
their forests. income than logging, and it is paid over a project that meets all the necessary
many years in a way that is agreed by the requirements, but the project would
 With a carbon project you don’t need to
landowners. be owned by the landowners and
take anything out of your forest. Instead,
community.
you are being paid to effectively protect,  Everyone in a community (women, men,
monitor, and manage the health of these children, landowners) can benefit.  Unlike logging, the community will decide
forests. how the carbon project is managed and
 It includes added benefits such as operated, as well as how benefits are
 By stopping your trees from being cut investment in community facilities, shared.
down you can generate and sell carbon education or business development
credits to private companies that want assistance.  For a carbon project to be successful, the
to compensate for some of the pollution income/benefits must be well managed
they are causing.  Creates job opportunities for local and fairly shared with women and men.
community members in data collection,
 Calculating the number of carbon credits rangers and monitoring.  If you want to develop a carbon project,
that can be sold involves measuring how you must decide not to engage in
much avoided pollution (carbon dioxide  Cultural sites are not destroyed and the commercial logging and instead commit
or CO2) stays in a forest if it is not logged. forest continues to provide building to protect and manage your forest.
materials, clean water and food for local
communities.  Setting up a project requires working with
TIMELINE  Inshore reefs and fisheries are not
a range of stakeholders throughout the
process.
 Developing a carbon project takes money, damaged, providing food and incomes for
time and commitment. future generations.  The carbon project would be a long-term
community-led venture.
 Some women and men would be paid to help
out with the feasibility assessments.

 But it normally takes 2-3 years to set up a

carbon project before carbon credits can be
sold.

 The project needs to be implemented for 40

years and the carbon needs to be kept in the
forest for at least 100 years.

Cover: Kia village, Isabel Province, Solomon

Islands. © Bridget Besaw
Right: A logging road cuts through the forest in
the Solomon Islands © iStock

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is active in With this goal in mind, TNC is supportive The first step in that process would be
70+ countries and is the world’s largest non- of assisting in getting Barora Fa forests and conducting detailed feasibility assessments
profit environmental organisation. The mission surrounding marine environments established over the next 12 months.
of TNC is to conserve the lands and waters on as a Protected Area.
which all life depends. TNC believes that a carefully designed carbon
As an alternative to commercial logging, TNC project could provide greater income and
TNC has been working in the Kia region of can assist stakeholders with establishing a benefits than royalties from commercial
Solomon Islands since 1992 when it helped to forest carbon project for the entire island of logging and that could be more equitably
establish the Arnavons Community Marine Barora Fa and surrounding unlogged islands. shared with local women, men, children,
Conservation Area (ACMCA). While carbon markets are still uncertain and communities, and landowners.
carry some risks, this project could provide a
TNC believes that the forests and marine long-term environmentally friendly source of
environments of Barora Fa should be protected benefits and income for communities.
for the benefit of future generations.

2 | The Nature Conservancy - Solomon Islands

What is carbon and carbon credits?
 The wood and leaves that make up a forest
store a lot of carbon. But when a forest is CO2 CO2 CO2
logged a lot of this carbon is released into
the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas.
This is called carbon loss.
CO2 CO2 CO2
 If we protect forests, we stop the release
of carbon dioxide (CO2).

 Carbon dioxide is a natural gas and it is

not poisonous, but globally too much of
this gas is being released. This is causing
our planet to warm up and is resulting in
climate change.

 Every tonne of gas (1000 kg) that is not STANDING FOREST CLEARED, DEGRADED FOREST
released equals one carbon credit.

 Stopping the forests of Barora Fa from The diagram above shows how a forest
being commercially logged will prevent stores carbon.
hundreds of thousands of tonnes of
carbon dioxide gas from being released.

Not all the stored carbon in a protected forest

can be claimed towards carbon credits. It is STORED
only the carbon in trees that would have been CARBON
lost because of logging. The diagram to the
right shows how a carbon credit is produced.
ORIGINAL FOREST

CARBON LOSS

STORED CARBON
LOGGED FOREST (DEGRADATION)

This gets turned

AVOIDED into carbon
CARBON LOSS credits and sold to
carbon buyers

AVOID LOGGING BY PROTECTING FOREST

What is needed to progress the

Barora Fa forest carbon project?
 Customary landowners and communities  TNC leads a detailed assessment of the  Under this conservation plan commercial
with access rights to Barora Fa all agree potential carbon project to ensure that harvesting of timber is not allowed. But
to work with TNC to develop a carbon it will protect the environment and communities can decide on what other
project. provide sustainable financial benefits to activities they will allow, such as where
communities. gardens could be made and where timber
 Customary landowners must be able to could be harvested for community use.
show clear and uncontested rights to their  Customary owners and TNC must engage
land, in order to prove who owns the land with a range of stakeholders throughout  Apply to have Barora Fa established as
and the carbon. the process including government, a Protected Area. This would give legal
community organisations, NGOs, small protection against logging and mining.
 With support from TNC, communities business etc. Applying for legal Protected Area status is
and landowners develop a governance important because it ensures the forest is
structure for managing the Barora Fa  With support from TNC, communities protected for the long term.
carbon project and develop an agreement and landowners create a conservation
on how to share money and benefits fairly plan for Barora Fa.  The land and carbon rights remain with
with all community members (men and the landowners.
women).
The Nature Conservancy - Solomon Islands | 3
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TNC experienced in developing carbon What does TNC require to support a carbon Will land-owners and their communities receive
projects? project in Barora Fa? 100% of the Carbon Project revenues?

Yes. TNC has been a leader in carbon project There are a range of requirements to establish No. Unlike logging, a carbon project is owned
development for nearly three decades. The first a viable carbon project. Importantly is the and managed by landowners and communities.
carbon project that TNC helped establish was need for community consent and forests must So, they need to pay project costs to ensure
in Belize in 1995. TNC has global and regional not be harvested or degraded by commercial long-term sustainability, before distributing the
carbon experts that will help the TNC Solomon timber extraction. A project must be established remaining revenue. This includes management
Islands Program with this Barora Fa project if it for a minimum period, which would need to costs (e.g. community rangers), fees for the
goes ahead. be agreed by all parties. An equitable benefit certifying body, monitoring and evaluation.
sharing model would also need to be agreed
How is TNC different from other carbon upon. A project requires engagement and A long-term financial fund to manage the area
developers? coordination with a broad range of stakeholders. into the future may also be considered. It is also
Independent verification of the project is advised to allocate a percentage to government,
TNC is willing to seek and provide funds for as this will likely be needed under any future
early investigation into project feasibility. If the required for carbon credits to be delivered.
national carbon policy.
project is feasible and does go ahead, TNC would What would landowners have to do under a
not profit from a carbon project in the future. Carbon project?
This makes TNC very different from other
carbon project developers, who would want a You will be rewarded financially for the promise CONTACT INFORMATION
share in the profits generated by carbon credits. to protect the forest and ongoing management
of the area. It will require evidence that the We welcome you to contact any of our
Why does TNC want to help develop a carbon forest is protected through activities such as team members for more information.
project? rangers, monitoring, data collection. Funds
TNC is a non-profit environmental organisation. need to be set aside to undertake these activities Peter Waldie
TNCs motivations are addressing climate and this needs to be managed under an agreed [email protected], 7326477
change, protecting the unique environment governance system. Regular review of these Willie Atu
of Barora Fa and ensuring that the financial activities by TNC and external auditors will be [email protected], 7495762
benefits from a carbon project are shared fairly undertaken to make sure they are occurring and
the credits remain valid. Madlyn Ero
between women and men who have a customary
[email protected], 7414465
right to Barora Fa. What if some Barora Fa land-owners support a
John Pita
How can TNC support a carbon project at Barora carbon project, and some land-owners support
[email protected] 7477041
Fa? logging?

TNC can support the feasibility work needed to A TNC supported carbon project requires the
determine if the project is viable. We can assist agreement of all landowners. Half the area
A canoe paddles at sunrise in Kia Village, Isabel
with awareness, establishing the governance doesn’t produce half the income. The scale Province, Solomon Islands. © Tim Calver

structures and working with communities, and size of the area of land are particularly
government and other stakeholders to agree on important for establishing a viable business
principles and project development needs. Once model that covers costs, whilst maximising
a project is determined as feasible, we can assist community benefits.
with the development of project design and
implementation. TNC can also assist in selling
the credits once they are available.

4 | The Nature Conservancy - Solomon Islands