SAMOA, Upolo Island - January 2012
Refurbishment of an existing resource center for Safata District and construction of a new resource center for Aleipata District in exchange for support of existing 1,280-acre "no-take" marine areas in perpetuity, Upolo Island.
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Aleipata, comprised of 11 villages, and Safata, comprised of nine villages, are two districts located on the east and south sides, respectively, of Samoa’s main island of Upolu. The districts each have 640-acre no-take marine zones. Safata’s mangrove forest and a restricted-use marine protected area (MPA) comprised of the entire district’s inshore waters, combined with their no-take area, make a total protected zone of 24.6 square miles. In Aleipata, the MPA, no-take, and mangrove protected areas total just under 20 square miles. In both districts, the no-take zones are to be protected in perpetuity. These total protected areas are the largest in Samoa. In September 2009 the two districts were amongst the worst hit areas from the tsunami that struck Samoa. Seacology provided funding for several of the villages in the districts, supplying water tanks for villagers as they relocated inland, and financed part of the cleanup work in the marine and mangrove areas. The long-term goal of the MPA has always been to establish itself as an independent entity, but lack of funding and resources have delayed the process. Seacology is providing funding to rebuild and move to higher ground a MPA resource center for the Aleipata District that was damaged by the tsunami, as well as renovate the tsunami-damaged Safata District’s existing resource center.
