Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) provides a chance to use a carbon credit program to sustain conservation in the Solomon Islands.
Tetepare Island is the largest uninhabited island in the tropical Pacific, and its intact rainforests are a significant source of carbon sequestration; conservation efforts on Tetepare represent one of the most promising avoided deforestation carbon projects in the world.
Over a century ago, headhunting and a mysterious disease forced the people of Tetepare Island to leave their home, leaving the vast majority of Tetepare’s 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of rainforest uncleared for more than a century.
To the descendants of the original inhabitants of Tetepare, now settled throughout on adjacent islands in the Solomon Islands, the island represents a cultural legacy and an important economic asset. However, the aggressive logging that has decimated forests and economies across the Solomons now threatens sustained use of this last intact Solomon island.
In 2002, to avoid imminent commercial logging on the island, the landowners formed the Tetepare Descendants’ Association (TDA), bound by a constitution that pledges conservation of Tetepare’s natural wealth. Now with over 3,000 members, TDA is the largest grassroots landholder association in the Solomon Islands.
To offset loss of potential income from logging, TDA is working with a variety of partners to deliver educational and livelihood benefits to its members.
The Solomon Islands Community Conservation Partnership (SICCP) is working to secure sustainable financing for TDA and to increase community awareness of carbon credits among TDA’s membership.
As a result of these activities, Tetepare is one of the few places in the entire Pacific where communities are successfully resisting foreign commercial loggers in favor of more sustainable natural resource economies.
In a novel partnership, TDA, the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology, and SICCP are working to certify carbon credits with the hope that long term funding from their sale can sustain efforts to maintain the rainforests of this last wild island for the benefit of its people and the world.
For inquiries or to support this project, contact us at: siccpgeneral@gmail.com.
Tetepare REDD Project Description PDF 96kb 
