Transcript
MOAFANUA TOLUSINA POULI: We are leading this campaign because we are promoting tree planting in all sorts of forestry landscape and we are also coordinating and bringing together all our stakeholders as well as the community in line with our national programme on forest conservation and forest development.
SARA VUI-TALITU: And when did it start?
MP: Actually the challenge it started back in 2009 because we had a first initiative of one million tree planting campaign from 2009 to 2012. And then we have decided to increase the target and also increase the timeframe so now we have started actually in 2015 for five years, so the timeframe for this two million campaign is for five year that's from 2015 to 2020.
SV: Where do the trees come from? Donated or grown?
MP: These trees mostly are raised in our forestry nurseries and then we have other stakeholders like the Ministry of Agriculture, NGO's who they are also dealing with tree planting and they also contribute with raising of tree seedlings. And also we have some funding support from projects which is funded by donors and all those projects that is related to land forestry management and sustainable land management .
SV: How do you decide where to plant those trees?
MP: Yes we have an ongoing programme on community forestry. So we target all interested farmers and also communities which are interested in tree planting and forest conservation and we are also targeting water catchment areas and areas that are very susceptible to erosion and all kinds of forest landscape. And also we include trees in the aquaforestry programme and this involve a lot of our stakeholders and community.You know that about 82 percent of Samoa's land is owned by customary land and landowners and so we are targeting those interested farmers, communities and also areas identified under a few projects, especially this climate change funded project which is being implemented by our ministry.
SV: Who has come on board so far?
MP: Well there is a lot of interest from the community. We are working together with the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development. So we are using those channels of communication to reach the communities in our awareness programmes. Sometimes we use our national day events to promote tree planting.
SV: Are the trees actually coconut trees or different trees?
MP: Yes we have planted kuava, ifilele or malili and asitoa. Those are the timber trees so you can plant for the purpose of timber production. We also have the introduced trees like mahogany, teak and the cedar and also those are the identified trees that were introduced under New Zealand assistance so we are promoting those they are high value trees. And also we are promoting coastal trees- like the fetau and the futu and milo and leva. We are promoting all kinds of trees. Depends on which area which community or farmer are interested and we also have advice on where to plant those trees. For example we don't tell them to plant long term trees in area where they maybe plant trees today and change their mind next week and then they cut down again especially for areas developed for housing or something like that.
