A meeting was held for three days at the Koror State Assembly Hall to bring together 20 agencies from government and non- government and the people who work everyday for the environment and conservation in Palau, together.
The workshop started on Monday and ended on Wednesday.Faces and context of environmental and conservation work in Palau addressing needs and expectations of the community was among the topics discussed by the group.Umai Basilius, Ecosystem Based Management Coordinator for Palau Conservation Society, said that it was the agencies first meeting after a long time.She said the meeting was an opportunity for all of them to get together and talk about how they can achieve conservation in Palau.“It’s very timely with the election coming up and people talking about development. We want to be prepared and we want to support our incoming leaders. We want to give them valuable information in order for them to make the best decisions for our people and for our country,” Basilius said in an interview on Wednesday.She said they talked about how to continue serving the community effectively.“We’re doing good and we want to keep it that way and we’re still working to keep the environment healthy. But we’re still trying to figure out some ways to achieve our common goal, which is to serve the community well by protecting and conserving our national heritage and our environment,” she said.“It’s not a surprise that our activities impacted the environment and the cultural shape in the environment. Palauan culture is one that relies on the coexistence with the environment and we are dependent on the fruits of the environment to sustain ourselves so what we’re working is we want to ensure that the natural resources exist so that we, the people in Palau can prosper,” she went on.The other participating agencies are NRCS, GEF Small Grants Program, Ngaremeduu Conservation Area, Ngardok, PCC, Koror State, Palau International Coral Reef Center, Bureau of Marine Resources, Ministry of Resources and Development, Bureau of Arts and Culture, Division of Fish and Wildlife, EQPB, Marine Turtle Conservation & Monitoring Program, Coral Reef Research Foundation, The Environment Inc. and the Ministry of Health.
