Community members attend a village planning meeting at the Tanapag Youth Center on Friday
ON Friday, the Friends of the Mariana Trench conducted the first of four scheduled village planning meetings at the Tanapag Youth Center.
The second meeting was scheduled at the Kagman Community Center at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. The third meeting will occur on Friday, Dec. 6 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Carolinian Utt. The final meeting is set for Saturday, Dec. 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Koblerville Youth Center.
In a media release, the FOMT said they want to speak to “leaders and volunteers who are passionate about ocean conservation and preserving our way of life.”
The village planning meetings aim to create a “space for open dialogue where all voices can be heard,” the FOMT said.
At the meeting on Friday, attendees were arranged into groups and asked to contribute answers to the following questions:
–What does protecting the ocean look like to you and how can we as a community work to achieve this?
–What current ocean conservation efforts do you think need improvement or further development?
–How can we create opportunities that help you feel comfortable and confident to speak about ocean protection?
Alex Tudela, FOMT project coordinator, said at the end of the village meetings, they will create a report based on the collected contributions.
“We do want to compile the voices of those who participated in a guiding document for reference for anyone interested in the type of things that our community wants to see in our islands and how they want ocean protection to look like,” he told Variety.
He said the village meetings are intended to be a place to share perspectives. He invites the community to contribute to the meetings in December.
“We want to host these for the community to create a safe space to talk about different topics about ocean protection because it’s something that’s kind of missing within our community,” Tudela said. “We wanted to gauge in what way ocean conservation should be led by the community — community led, indigenous led, that is preserving our traditions while protecting our resources.”
