According to Joyce Beouch, coordinator of the Babeldaob Watershed Alliance (BWA), Governor Wilson Ongos, members of the Ngaremlengui State Legislature, and selected members of the state’s communities participated in a two-days CAP workshop last month.
“BWA organized the workshop, which was held on December 18 and 19,” Beouch said. “The governor, members of the legislature, and the state’s BWA steering committee member had initially wanted to develop a management plan that would govern the state’s conservation areas; however, through the advise of consultants, a suggestion of going through a CAP process was proposed and essentially led to the organization of the workshop.The CAP process was used to develop Koror State’s Southern Lagoon management plan – currently the most effective and productive conservation management plan in Palau. Similarly, the CAP process has been used in the development management plans the Northern Reefs, Helen Reefs, established marine protected areas, and most recently BWA management of watersheds and water sources throughout Babeldaob.Umiich Sengebau of the Nature Conservancy and Steven Victor of the Palau International Coral Reef Center conducted Ngaremlengui’s CAP workshop. Both Sengebau and Victor have had extensive experience in the development of CAP.Participants of the Ngaremlengui CAP workshop were able to identify and prioritize targets – the things that need to be “looked” at and analyzed in order for a plan to run as designed.Additionally, according to Beouch, participants of the workshop looked at all of the conservation areas of the states – including marine conservation sites – and had decided on working to develop a management plan that would encompass all of the state’s conservation sites.“The participants had, during the CAP workshop, decided on developing a single management plan that covers literally everything within the jurisdiction of the state,” Beouch said. “The management plan, if and when it is created and implemented, would cover all conservation sites, serve to protect specifically identified animals and plants, and would have the capacity to be extended to be used in future conservation developments within the state and its inclusion into the Protected Areas Network (PAN.)Beouch further added that most of the participants were teachers and educators and have pledged to promote the development of a feasible and effective conservation management plan for the state.Beouch said that the development of Ngaremlengui State’s CAP-based conservation management plan is still in its infancy stage; however, great effort has been put into ensure that work on its development continues.
