The Rufford Small Grants Foundation

Final Report

Congratulations on the completion of your project that was supported by The Rufford Small Grants Foundation.

We ask all grant recipients to complete a Final Report Form that helps us to gauge the success of our grant giving. The Final Report must be sent in word format and not PDF format or any other format. We understand that projects often do not follow the predicted course but knowledge of your experiences is valuable to us and others who may be undertaking similar work. Please be as honest as you can in answering the questions – remember that negative experiences are just as valuable as positive ones if they help others to learn from them.

Please complete the form in English and be as clear and concise as you can. Please note that the information may be edited for clarity. We will ask for further information if required. If you have any other materials produced by the project, particularly a few relevant photographs, please send these to us separately.

Please submit your final report to .

Thank you for your help.

Josh Cole, Grants Director

Grant Recipient Details
Your name / Wilko Bosma
Project title / NRDF community Based Forest Conservation Programme
RSG reference / 10210-1
Reporting period / October 2011 till February 2012
Amount of grant / £5,839
Your email address /
Date of this report / 5/2/2013

1. Please indicate the level of achievement of the project’s original objectives and include any relevant comments on factors affecting this.

Objective / Not achieved / Partially achieved / Fully achieved / Comments
Establish five conservation areas that are managed by local communities / X / From the five planned areas, two were actually developed in conservation areas that are managed by the landowners. However, the three other communities have set aside conservation areas which are protected to and developed in a later stage.
Data on biodiversity available for each area and used in management plans / X / Due to unavailability of a research person the planned biodiversity assessments could not be carried out. However from two areas information was gathered and documented by NRDF and local partner organisations. This information was used in draft management plans.
Income generating projects established and communities engaged in eco-tourism and research facilitation / X / The people of the Barekasi area are now engaged in eco-tourism, providing new income and employment. The community in Guerre have started their honeybee programme.
Increased assistance and collaboration with national and international conservation organisation / X / This objective has fully achieved as collaboration with many other organisations took place. NRDF worked together with: WWF, Live & Learn, The Nature Conservancy, World Fish Centre, Kolombangare Island Biodiversity Conservation association (KIBCA) and Tetepare Descendent Association (TDA).
New objectives added in a later stage (approved by Rufford in 2012)
Guerre conservation area is legally protected under the PA ACT / X / Through the project Guerre conservation area has been separated from a mining prospecting licence. Due to its official recognition the area will be safeguarded from any large scale development such as logging or mining. The application for protected status under the PA ACT is in process
MT Maetambe Conservation area programme started / X / Although meetings were held the initiative was cancelled by the landowners as disputes arose. NRDF plans to pick it up again in a later stage when issues have been settled and are more clear.
Eco-tourism started in Barekasi Rainforest research / X / Achieved: small tourist and research facilitation build and first tourists have been visiting the forest in 2012.

2. Please explain any unforeseen difficulties that arose during the project and how these were tackled (if relevant).

·  The aim to legally protect the areas under the Protected Area ACT was too premature. The process of adopting the Act and the regulations had many delays and is still in process at the time of writing this report. What the project could achieve was to do awareness building in communities and do practical preparation work for the applications such as mapping and drafting the management plans. NRDF and other conservation stakeholders will continue the work in 2013

·  Due to the slow decision-making process in some of the communities NRDF decided to focus on two key conservation areas only: Barekasi Rainforest Reserve (1000 ha) and Guerre Forest & Marine Conservation Area (2000 ha). However, the three other areas were part of the awareness building activities and are also safeguarded against logging or mining.

·  Due to land disputes the Mt Maetambe initiative (new added objective) could not start. However NRDF and other stakeholders will continue to work with the tribes to protect this large forest area of approx 20,000 hectares.

3. Briefly describe the three most important outcomes of your project.

  1. People in the five project areas (approximatly 600 participants) have been informed on conservation issues related to the new protected area act and their rights to object to logging and mining.
  2. The landowning tribe of the Barekasi Rainforest Reserve runs a community managed eco-tourism project and 1000 ha of unlogged lowland rainforest is protected.
  3. Guerre conservation area (2000 ha) is officially determined as a forest and marine protected area and safeguarded from logging and nickel mining. Some small livelihood activities started such as honeybee farming.

4. Briefly describe the involvement of local communities and how they have benefitted from the project (if relevant).

There was a lot community involvement of the local communities in the different activities. Many people were present during the meetings and awareness building sessions that were organised during the project period. In Barekasi and Guerre, communities are engaged in income generating activities (eco-tourism and honeybee farming).

5. Are there any plans to continue this work?

Yes, NRDF and its partners will continue to work with the communities to develop forest conservation initiatives. Besides the current five areas there will be more forest set aside for conservation as part of NRDF’s FSC certification. Each new member should at least protect 10% of their forest area as conservation area as part of their FSC sustainable forest management plan.

Besides this NRDF will work closely together with TNC, WWF, KIBCA and others to get current conservation areas protected under the Protected Areas Act. Plan is to produce a toolkit for landowners to help them to apply for protected status under the new Act.

6. How do you plan to share the results of your work with others?

Through newsletters, website, workshops and meetings with other organisations

7. Timescale: Over what period was the RSG used? How does this compare to the anticipated or actual length of the project?

Eventually the project was spread out over a period of 16 months which is 4 months longer than planned. Due to delays and the slow process of community consultation extra time was needed for some of the activities. After 12 months part of the initial objectives were reached but NRDF decided to extend the project with another 4 months to achieve some additional objectives.

8. Budget: Please provide a breakdown of budgeted versus actual expenditure and the reasons for any differences. All figures should be in £ sterling, indicating the local exchange rate used.

Item / Budgeted Amount / Actual Amount / Difference / Comments
Five biodiversity assessments / 1626 / 0 / 1626 / Not used due to unavailability of researcher
Technical advisor(s) / 594 / 607 / - (13.69) / Exchange rate fluctuations
Local Rangers / 1951 / 191 / 1759 / Only one ranger was appointed (Barekasi)
Field demarcation equipment / 285 / 36 / 248 / Limited equipment was purchased as NRDF could provide most of the material needed (paint, tapes, compasses, GPS)
Small workshop / conferences / 976 / 0 / 976 / Referred to meetings as per revised budget below
Stationary and sundries / 163 / 46 / 117 / Mostly bank service fees
Legal services / 244 / 236 / 8
Total / 5839 / 1116 / 4723

Balance forwarded from above (initial budget) to revised budget as per below:

Item / Budgeted Amount / Actual Amount / Difference / Comments
Ranger training programme / 317 / 399 / - (82) / Slightly overspent due to extra participants and transport costs
Bio assessment Guerre / 544 / 452 / 92 / Not happened but instead money was used to design and print 2 biodiversity posters for Barekasi and Guerre for awareness purposes
Eco-lodge Barekasi / 1360 / 1250 / 110 / Slight underspent
Guerre consultation meetings / 408 / 567 / -(159) / Slightly overspent due to transport costs
Mt Maetambe consultation meeting / 1360 / 497 / 863 / Second meeting cancelled due to land issues. Will be picked up in a later stage
PA meetings / 226 / 537 / - (311) / Instead of one two meeting were held in Gizo and Honiara.
Total / 4215 / 3702 / 513

At the closing of the project (28 February 2013) the closing balance was GBP 1,148. Through further negotiation NRDF would like to suggest to Rufford to use this money for some additional project activities as some activities could still need some extra support.

9. Looking ahead, what do you feel are the important next steps?

The next step for NRDF is to see how conservation can be more integrated into income generating activities in the local communities. The positive achievements in Guerre and Barekasi should be rolled out to other areas in the Solomons to achieve maximum protection of the last remaining forest eco-systems in the country. NRDF will now focus on its new FSC certification programme but will integrate the conservation efforts into it. We hope that Rufford will continue to support other organisations such as KIBCA, a new NGO doing great work to conserve the Kolombangara Island reserve.

10. Did you use the RSGF logo in any materials produced in relation to this project? Did the RSGF receive any publicity during the course of your work?

The RSGF logo and name was used and mentioned in the following ways:

·  Logos on two types of posters that were printed for the project (see below)

·  A support sign board at the eco-lodge in the Barekasi area,

·  Logo displayed on a information panel outside the NRDF office in Gizo

·  References to Ruffords are made on the new NRDF website (www.nrdfsolomons.org) in news items and the partner/support section.

·  The support from RSGF was mentioned in 1 new article in the national news paper (17/12/2012), the NRDF newsletter, NRDF website and NRDF factsheet.

11. Any other comments?

The conservation project was a very good challenge and NRDF has learned a lot. Although the project has not achieved all of its planned objectives the outcomes reached are important steps towards the protection of the last remaining rainforests in the Solomon Islands.