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Solomon Islands

  • Solomon Islands

    Hope for the forests – empowering citizens for environmental and human rights protection in Solomon Islands

Project´s budget:  CHF 46,219

HOPE FOR THE FORESTS – EMPOWERING CITIZENS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN SOLOMON ISLANDS

Solomon Islands has a total land area of around 2.8 million hectares. About 87% of the land is under customary land tenure, with the Constitution guaranteeing customary control over the land and forests. Solomon Islands was 96% forest covered before commercial logging began in early 1900. However, logging activities have become much more intense since the 1980s, and in 2015, Solomon Islands’ total forest cover was reported at around 78%. The environmental and social costs of logging are disastrous. Domestic violence, gender-based abuses and other social ills such as alcoholism accompany the environmental destruction of people’s natural habitat.

Project Title: Hope for the forests – empowering citizens for environmental and human rights protection in Solomon Islands

Location: National

Main Objective: To enable partners (Dominicans and Franciscans) to be more effective in their advocacy, to improve their collaboration with the Government of Solomon Islands and other partnering States and, in the end, to slow down the environmental devastation and improving the situation of those most affected by logging.

Duration: 18 months

Direct Beneficiaries: The Dominican and Franciscan networks in Solomon Islands, who will become efficient human rights and environment advocates.

Indirect Beneficiaries: The local communities directly affected by the logging activities, including women and children as well as the entire population as logging activities make the population more exposed to natural disasters.

Main Activities:

  1. Series of online training sessions for Dominican and Franciscan networks on UPR follow up and the work of monitoring and advocacy at the national and international levels;
  2. Face to face training on documentation techniques and advocacy;
  3. Fact-finding mission;
  4. Advocacy and coordination meetings in Solomon Islands with NGOs and with authorities of Solomon Islands, UN agencies and diplomatic missions on the implementation of UPR recommendations;
  5. Preparation of an advocacy report with key recommendations to address logging activities and its impacts on the environment, domestic violence, gender-based abuses and human trafficking ;
  6. Organization of targeted advocacy actions at the UN level, such as the Human Rights Council in Geneva and UNTOC in Vienna; 
  7. Constant monitoring of the effects of logging in the country on human rights and the environment;
  8. Training and exposure of a representative of the partners to the UN mechanisms in Geneva ;
  9. Documentation of good practices and lessons learned.

Expected Results:

  1. The Dominican and the Franciscan networks in Solomon Islands acquire a concrete experience on national and international advocacy work and are trained in techniques for documenting the environmental and human rights impacts of logging and in organizing efficient advocacy work ;
  2. The Dominican and the Franciscan networks in Solomon Islands actively monitor and report human rights violations caused by logging activities in the country
  3. The main human rights concerns in the context of logging activities in Solomon Islands are shared at the United Nations level, thus increasing scrutiny on the Government’s practice in this sector as well as awareness of the international community on this issue ;
  4. The networks on the ground working on human rights are reinforced.

TO CONTACT THE PROJECT PROPONENTS: 

In Geneva: Benedict Rimando, benedict.rimando@un.op.org, +41767195340

In Solomon Islands: Sr. Teresa Tebaia, teretebaiaop@gmail.com, and fr. Lawrence Bosekana, lbosekana@gmail.com 

Islas Salomon
Islas Salomon
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