Love Your Coast Vanuatu | Sustainable Coastlines

Event impacts

https://sustainablecoastlines.org/app/uploads/2014/10/SC-project-report-Vanuatu-lo.pdf

Event Details

Wed
27
Jun 2012

Background

Love your Coast is an ongoing project to help people around the world look after the coastlines we all love. By using the project website, www. loveyourcoast.org, anyone can learn more about the issues affecting our coastlines, find clean-up events, create their own clean-up and share event results. By providing free and easy-to-use resources, the project encourages communities to look after their local environment through simple, hands-on solutions.

We have found through experience that the most effective way to engage in ‘Love your Coast’ is for participants to receive an educational presentation before they clean-up the coast. This develops an understanding about the cause of the issue and is designed to achieve positive behavioural change.

From 27 June to 13 July 2012, three representatives from Sustainable Coastlines visited Port Vila schools in partnership with local NGO Wan Smolbag, raising awareness about the effect that non bio-degradable waste has on marine life and humans once it finds its way into the ocean. This short tour was an introduction to the ‘Love your Coast’ project in Vanuatu and gauged the community need to train local presenters to deliver this important message.

 

Key objectives

  • To introduce the ‘Love your Coast’ project to Wan Smolbag, other NGOs and schools – sharing resources that educate the community on waste minimisation and explain the effect of non– biodegradable waste in the marine environment.
  • To teach Wan Smolbag how to conduct waste audits, which obtains important information on coastal rubbish to then be used for ongoing learning.
  • To gain an overview of the waste management systems currently in place in Port Vila and Vanuatu and identify potential for systems’ improvement and an educational strategy to promote their use.
  • To learn from Wan Smolbag’s experience in effective communications with youth in Vanuatu and other Pacific Islands through theatrestyle presentations and other programs.

Findings

Over the course of the tour 3,958 people attended our educational presentations (mainly school students) and we motivated 2,665 people to remove 9,460 litres of rubbish from school grounds and local coastlines.

Significant media attention was received, with features on national television and radio networks as well as local coverage. This pushed the educational message far beyond the participants who engaged directly and also bodes well for corporate sponsorship being an income source for future work.

Community engagement levels exceeded expectations

We attribute this to the fact that we presented a global, easily understandable issue and solution alongside the use of films/images, which have been proven as a very effective tool for education.

There is a clear need for further educational resources and learning programs

The teachers, principals and community leaders were very enthusiastic about the opportunity for further learning to follow on from the presentations. Most teachers followed up with related lessons afterwards and many asked for a copy of the presentation and advice on where they could find related resources.

It was apparent that during question time or discussion the students did not participate as openly as students in New Zealand. Generally the students have a relatively shy disposition. We would need to look at different ways to engage them in interactive, inquiry based learning to achieve the desired results, either during the presentation or with a follow up activity.

Live entertainment was found to be a great accompaniment for the program

One teacher identified that the presentation was appropriate for her home community and arranged for us to present it one evening at ‘Seaside’. The team presented with a Wan Smolbag hip-hop dance group (New Generation) in support. This mix of entertainment, fun and education proved very effective and demonstrated that the message was suitable for community events as well as school presentations.

Existing leaders proved to be of key assistance

Local NGO Wan Smolbag had set up Environmental Committee Members (ECM’s) at select schools. They quickly engaged in the program and were given additional responsibilities in assisting with rubbish collection and waste audits, to which they responded well. This showed that an opportunity exists to build such leaders capacity and identify more, who could be trained to deliver presentations and programs themselves – suitable for the elder students and not solely limited to school students.

A clear lack of appropriate waste disposal facilities

Many communities in Port Vila, and most places where people live outside Port Vila and Lugainville, do not have adequate waste disposal facilities. Outside of the Port Vila Municipal Council jurisdiction, the communities visited lacked infrastructure to collect and transport the huge amounts of plastic to landfills. In the case of ‘Blacksands’ and ‘Pango’, Wan Smolbag have taken it upon themselves to conduct rubbish removals. A need was identified to help develop this infrastructure and explain its importance to communities.

We found that lack of an adequate waste system made the educational message even more important and still effective, as we focussed on the reduce part of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” triangle. Recycling and proper disposal are often not realistic options until further capacity is developed for these communities.

Locally tailored messages were very effective

Showing local examples of Tagabe River clean-ups and micro-plastics found on Nguna Island had a real impact. References to local solutions for reducing plastic consumption also resonated with participants. Explaining that locally made woven baskets or backpacks were superior to plastic bags and that growing local produce results in eating less prepackaged food were well received examples.

 

Conclusion and future opportunities

It was clear that collaboration with local NGO Wan Smolbag made a crucial difference in the success of this program. Their support in utilising existing contacts at schools, human resources, supplying of equipment when required and logistical help were of undoubted benefit.

It will be important to identify existing NGO partners in further programs of this kind around the Pacific. Positive feedback from Wan Smolbag is encouraging as it shows that many potential NGO collaborators and their communities are likely to benefit from these programs. It was clear that existing school and community leaders were receptive to the idea of further education and training as they were enthusiastic when responsibilities were given to them. This indicates that a capacity building program would be effective in commencing environmental education programs about waste.

It appeared that training programs would be beneficial for a wide range of sectors in the community. Because they can include: delivery of events (which have proven to be effective for large-scale raising of awareness), media training, writing training and tactics for applying for funds, as well as locally specific needs: there would be many people who would benefit from increased skills for a common environmental goal.

In a short time, an appreciation of waste management system capabilities was gained. With more resources, similar programs in the future can include more detailed analysis and investigation into logistical solutions, which can be integrated and delivered concurrently with educational initiatives. We believe this combination will have the maximum effect for communities.

Event impacts

https://sustainablecoastlines.org/app/uploads/2013/10/LYC-PNG-Report.pdf

Event Details

Mon
15
Oct 2012
-
Fri
30
Nov 2012

This report provides an overview of the work carried-out by representatives from the Papua New Guinea Sports Federation and Olympic Committee (PNGSFOC) Athletes Commission and New Zealand based NGO Sustainable Coastlines from 15 October – 30 November 2012 in setting up the Sport and Environment Program in Papua New Guinea.

Background

To compliment the existing ‘Play Safe’ and ‘Play True’ awareness campaigns under the ‘Voices of the Athletes’ program, the PNGSFOC – through their Athletes Commission – invited two representatives (Ryley Webster and Torrey McDonnell) from New Zealand based NGO, Sustainable Coastlines, to assist in setting up their new Sport and Environment Program.

Sustainable Coastlines is a New Zealand-based charity that coordinates and supports large-scale coastal clean-up events, educational programs, public awareness campaigns, riparian planting activities and other projects aimed at looking after coastlines around New Zealand and the Pacific.

In 2010 Sustainable Coastlines worked with other New Zealand non-profits to launch Love your Coast: an ongoing resource to help people around the world learn how to look after the coastlines we all love and raise large scale awareness about issues faced by communities as a result of non-biodegradable waste. Through the project website, www.loveyourcoast.org, anyone can learn about the issues affecting coastlines, find clean-up events, create their own clean-up events and share their results for free. The project informs and motivates communities to look after their local environment through simple, hands-on educational solutions.

The Love your Coast project was adopted as the initial program to be run under the PNGSFOC Sport and Environment program. It would be implemented in two initial stages, after which an analysis and 3-year plan for further development of the program would be undertaken.

The first stage of this program saw Webster and McDonnell travel to Port Moresby from the 15th October to 29th October 2012 to introduce the resources and presentation techniques that Sustainable Coastlines have proved to be very effective in New Zealand and other Pacific nations. Awareness presentations and presenter/educator training was conducted with 2,104 PNGSFOC staff, athletes, schools and businesses in the lead up to a big public clean-up day at Ela Beach, Port Moresby. This iconic location is also in planning to be the triathlon venue for the 15th Pacific Games in 2015.

The second stage of the program was carried out at the 5th PNG Games in Kokopo, East New Britain, from the 19th to 30th November 2012. Webster (Sustainable Coastlines) and Kila Mala (PNGSFOC) travelled to Kokopo under the Voices of the Athletes program. They delivered educational presentations to 1,320 athletes and team officials and identified leaders amongst the athletes and team management from a number of different provinces to further engage in the program in the coming years.

Key objectives

  • To identify and train existing and potential leaders (with a focus on athletes and sporting representatives) in the delivery of the Love your Coast litter awareness presentation for ongoing dissemination of this message.
  • Increase athletes’ skills for work after their sporting careers.
  • To spread awareness messaging to the general public on the effects of litter in the marine environment and on human health.
  • Motivate people to take positive action to address the issues they face in their local environment.
  • To establish the need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of litter awareness messaging.
  • To share resources and expertise for educating communities on the effects of litter in the marine environment and generally for pro-environmental behavioural change.
  • Establish key contacts from a variety of sectors and provinces to support and contribute to the ongoing nature of the program.
  • To gain an overview of the waste management systems currently in place in Port Moresby and identify opportunities to incorporate locally-relevant waste minimisation education into awareness messaging.

Findings

This project identified a number of findings that will provide a strong background and direction for the further development of the Sport and Environment Program:

Single-use plastic challenge

Throughout the course of the project it was clear that there is a challenge with the amount of single-use plastic products (plastic bags, wrapping, plastic bottles, bottle caps etc.) littering the streets of cities, towns and villages. These plastic items then make their way into drains, streams and rivers, eventually ending up in the marine environment where they have significant impacts on marine life and human health.

A large percentage (estimated at 85%) of the 1.625 tonnes (13,000 litres) of rubbish removed from Ela Beach on 27 October 2012 was made up of single-use plastics further highlighting the connection between littering behaviour on land and its effect on the coastal environment.

It was found that awareness about the effect of littering behaviour in Port Morseby is currently very low. This indicates that education programs will be crucial for this community to go about tackling the challenge: reducing their dependence on single-use plastics and motivating people to dispose of such material appropriately.

Ongoing need for improved waste behaviour

Traditionally, rubbish has been disposed of at sea or on land, which hasn’t posed any major environmental or health affects due to its previously biodegradable nature, however, with the large volumes of non-biodegradable waste (predominantly plastic) now being created, new methods of disposal are required.

Improved behaviour around disposal of waste is clearly required at both an individual and community level.

The litter problem and poor waste disposal practices throughout PNG affects public places and many sporting venues. Littering, dumping and burning of waste are commonplace. This affects tourism, the marine environment and also impacts people’s health: fish that people eat can be contaminated by consuming plastics, toxic smoke from burning rubbish is extremely poisonous and rubbish also makes a perfect home for mosquitos to breed and spread diseases.

Recent data gathered from waste audits in Port Moresby, conducted by the National Capital District Council (NCDC), have indicated that the current waste generation statistics per person are 0.71kg per week. This provides a useful benchmark enabling comparative analysis to gauge the effectiveness of education programs and awareness campaigns going forward.

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) have commissioned a National Waste Strategy to be implemented in the next 1 – 2 years. Awareness campaigns and educational work should work alongside the national, regional and local level systems that are to be implemented as a result of this strategy.

Inadequate waste managements systems to compliment program

Port Moresby lacks infrastructure and investment in waste relative to the population. To maximise the effectiveness of educational and awareness programs about waste appropriate systems need to be in place to compliment the messaging e.g. sufficient rubbish bins, recycling systems, waste separation, collections and well-designed landfills.

Port Moresby’s population grows annually with urban drift and experiences high population density putting pressure on the capacity of current waste systems. The city’s landfill at Baruni is in the initial stages of re-development, however, arguably, it will not be long before this facility has reached capacity given the increase in waste generation as a result of population increase. (Extrapolated year 2000 census data indicates that estimated solid waste for Port Moresby in 2012 is about 27,000 to 50,000 tonnes and for the year 2014, the projected solid waste for Port Moresby is 49,000 to 71,000).

Investment in facilities, systems and waste infrastructure should occur concurrently with investment in education and understanding around the impacts of waste. Through education young people and communities will see the need for improved infrastructure.

It is likely that less populated areas around the country (including offshore islands) are also experiencing similar issues with lack of waste systems and infrastructure and through education communities can devise locally-specific practical solutions.

Strong education outcomes

Throughout the course of this project 3,424 people received the Love your Coast educational presentation. Through verbal feedback, perceived engagement levels and survey results it was clear that participants found the presentation both enjoyable and that it had a high impact, with strong levels of retention of information and indications of intent to change behaviour in a positive way.

Surveys filled out by 488 athletes, team management, and sporting officials from 11 different provinces, during the PNG Games in Kokopo, indicated that:

  • 79% of participants understood ‘all’ or ‘most of’ the presentation content
  • 70% of participants said that they learnt ‘A lot’ from the presentation
  • 97% of participants would share the information they learned during presentations with others
  • 95% of participants would change their behaviour around littering and disposal of rubbish as a result of what they learned

A full breakdown of the survey results can be found by clicking here.

Ongoing need for coastal clean-up activities

A large number of presentation attendees in Port Moresby (including athletes, team officials, students, private and public sector employees) attended the Ela Beach clean-up event and the activity was widely enjoyed. This indicates that the educational presentation prompted positive action and the clean-up provided an excellent opportunity for participants to act on their positive behavioural intent.

Through the ongoing initiatives set up by BSP (who run an established ‘Go Green’ clean-up and awarenss campaign with over 35 ambassadors throughout PNG) and Inter Oil (among others) coastal clean-up events have become an established community activity. Clean-ups are clearly an important way to reconfirm the connection between littering behavior and the coastline.

Athlete-run beach clean-up events will be an important aspect of the Sport and Environment program in the future, by providing the said opportunity to act and also as a teambuilding/leader training activity that will show athletes in an even more positive light within communities.

Need for further awareness resources

There is an on-going need for people to understand the effects of non-biodegradable waste to enable people to make better decisions around what they consume and how they dispose of it.

It was clear from discussions with a large number of teachers, educators from local council departments, and community members, that there is very little educational content in this field. Further resources are required to deliver and spread the educational message.

A number of educational institutions indicated that they had participated in beach or school-ground clean-ups in the past, however, the students benefited greatly from receiving an educational background to reconfirm the clean-up’s purpose.

Project participants – including athletes, team management, teachers, principals, church leaders, government and municipal council representatives, and community group leaders — expressed enthusiasm for receiving both digital and printed versions of Love your Coast awareness resources.

Locally specific material (imagery and examples) proved particularly effective in engaging participants. Based on this finding it has been decided that resources should be tailored to include local examples when the S&E Prog is introduced to each of the provinces in Papua New Guinea (and across Oceania in other projects). Budget and time will need to be invested for the compilation of this material for the Love Your Coast program to have maximum impact.

Working with athletes proves effective

Athletes and sporting representatives have a unique opportunity to utilise their status within society to advance educational messages. We noticed that when athletes presented to schools and communities, there was a much greater likelihood for communities to adopt better practices around disposal of waste.

This was because people who garner immediate respect through sporting achievements delivered the message and indicates that the broader rationale of up-skilling athletes to deliver environmental messages is sound, boding well for the future of this program.

Kila Mala – a provincial dragon boating representative and staff member at PNGSFOC – proved to be a very effective presenter after receiving training from Webster and McDonnell. They found that school students and community members were more engaged when Mala presented.

Mala accompanied the Sustainable Coastlines crew to presentations with schools and athletes on four occasions prior to presenting to around 1,160 people himself with a similar level of engagement according to the surveys. This is an excellent indication of the training system working in practice.

A representative of the NCD province Hockey team, Milton Angat Giali Kisapai, also attended a number of presentations and proved to be very useful in influencing communities.

Working with athletes improves post-sporting career skills

50 athletes and team management officials attended a presentation techniques workshop delivered by Webster and McDonnell with excellent feedback.

This indicates that athletes are keen to develop such skills, willing to invest their time to develop such skills and also that further workshops would be a well-received and effective tool for improving skills that will assist athletes to gain employment during and after their sporting careers.

By continuing training sessions as started by the PNGSFOC with Sustainable Coastlines, athletes that engage with the program will have the opportunity to gain important life skills such as: public speaking techniques, event management/marketing skills, improved health practices and budgeting.

Media are a key tool and are willing to assist in educating the community

Significant media attention was received throughout the project, with three features on national television, interviews on two radio stations and coverage in the national daily newspapers ‘Post Courier’ and the ‘National’.

This coverage extended the reach of the awareness message far beyond the participants who engaged directly, showed the participation of athletes in a a positive program, creating a large launch and provided a strong precedent to help secure future project sponsorship opportunities.

Sustainable Coastlines has had significant success garnering media attention for programs in New Zealand and the Pacific and are planning to include a workshop for media training as part of what can be offered in this program.

Port Moresby: 15 – 29 Oct 2012

  • EmTV interview and filming whilst presenting to ‘Just Play’ young footballers (Filmed on Wed 24 Oct)
  • Kalang radio interview and talkback (Recorded Tues 23 October)
  • Press release featured in Post Courier and National newspapers (Tues 30 October – see appendix)

Kokopo: 19 – 30 Nov 2012

  • EmTV interview and filming of presentation to Milne Bay province (Wed 21st November)
  • Press release featured in the Post Courier and National newspapers (Fri 23 November – see appendix)
  • Press release featured in the Post Courier Weekend newspaper (Sat 24 November – see appendix)
  • Kundu TV live prime time feature (Wed 28 November)
  • NBC radio interview (click here to listen)

Entertainment & education an important association

The mix of entertainment, fun and education has proven to be successful in past projects and helps to position Love your Coast activities as desirable rather than a community service or obligation.

Throughout the course of the program, entertainment alongside education proved to be an effective method of communicating awareness messaging. Films incorporated into the presentation and theatrical presentation techniques were particularly useful during school and community visits.

During the public clean-up day on October 27th a number of initiatives combined to create a festive and fun atmosphere that enticed the general public to get involved. Alongside music and food for participants, an educational display with images and facts about the impact of non-biodegradable waste proved very popular, as did a live public art piece of the Pacific Games 2015 logo created by national triathlete Mairi Feeger from rubbish picked up on the day.

Strong support from a variety of sectors is promising for future

The initial phase of the Sport and Environment program was widely supported from a number of different sectors despite a short notice period.

Athletes and sporting representatives from a range of disciplines showed very high engagement levels and willingness to be involved with the program on an ongoing basis. This bodes well for Sport and the Environment programs to become an extra incentive for attracting further sponsors to support the PNGFSOC and other NOC’s around Oceania in the future.

Esso Highlands Ltd. was hugely supportive of the initial phase of the Sport and Environment program. Approximately 45 of their staff attended an awareness presentation and about 60 of their staff and family members helped to clean-up Ela Beach.

Three staff members also attended ‘train the trainer’ sessions to learn presentation techniques and content that would enable them to conduct the Love your Coast presentation to their communities. Prior to the launch of the Sport and Environment program ESSO Highlands Ltd. was not a financial sponsor of the PNGSFOC. As a result of their involvement in the program they have since provided significant financial support not only towards the development of the program itself but also to other activities conducted by the PNGSFOC. The growth of this relationship is a great example of how NOC’s can extend their network of sponsors through the implementation of their own Sport and Environment program.

The National Capital District (NCD), Port Moresby, was hugely supportive of the first phase of the program providing equipment and significant human resources.

Operational support for the program also came from BSP, Coca Cola, Steel Industries, the Department of Environment and Conservation, Motu Koita Assembly, numerous educational institutions, church groups, local care groups and sports teams.

Such a wide base of support indicates strong opportunities to build the capacity of a great variety of people in Papua New Guinea through the future development of the Sport and Environment program.

Conclusion

The initial phase of the PNGSFOC’s Sport and Environment Program has proven an ongoing community need for improved waste behaviours, coastal clean-up activities and litter awareness work in Papua New Guinea. It has identified that athletes and sporting representatives can provide an important resource to assist in advancing environmental education messages whilst also gaining important life skills themselves.

It was clear through the enthusiastic and wide-ranging support received from a wide range of sectors, that the program was popular. By connecting simple, individual actions with a common and highly tangible problem, the Love your Coast project provides the perfect opportunity for an achievable community-owned and run solution.

The next stage of development for the Sport and Environment program should look to compliment the existing programs already in place through companies such as BSP and Inter Oil as well as utilise existing networks and organisations with social responsibility focuses to advance messages around improved waste behaviour. The program should also grow alongside and in conjunction with national, regional and local waste management strategies currently in the development stage.

The major objective of future work is to fully train athletes, sporting representatives, community leaders and other interested parties as Sport and Environment ‘ambassadors’ in as many Papua New Guinean communities as possible. These ambassadors would then be in a position to independently conduct ongoing litter awareness, prevention and clean-up activities with the support of the PNGSFOC.

Event impacts

Event Details

The event that started it all

This was the first event organised by the founders of Sustainable Coastlines. It began a journey that continues to this day, with an ethos of participation, motivation and a simple, practical activity that is open to the entire community.

In 2007, kiwi surfers James Bailey and Sam Judd travelled to the Galapagos Islands in search of waves and to experience the amazing endemic wildlife on land and epic marine life underwater.

They encountered an incredible ecosystem – the same unique flora and fauna that inspired Charles Darwin towards forming his theory of evolution. After months enjoying the islands, they decided that they wanted to give something back to the coastlines that had given them so much enjoyment.

They embarked on a trip as volunteers for the Galapagos Islands National Park, to comb the coastlines of an uninhabited stretch of Isabela Island for 8 days on the 50 year old fishing vessel El Senor Manuel de Los Reyes. What they found was immense and inspiring- fresh lava flows on a moon-like landscape, endemic animals such as marine iguanas in their natural habitat and swam with manta rays from the side of their proud but decrepit vessel. They also removed 1.6 tonnes of rubbish from the coastline between 5 people over 8 days.

Realising that the area was unpopulated and finding an intact package addressed from USA to Costa Rica made them realise that marine debris floats across our oceans. Finding endemic animals choked to death in plastic rubbish then made them realise that plastic rubbish on the coast is a very serious issue.

After the trip, a series of events unfolded that led to the foundation of Sustainable Coastlines. The boys were invited to help with a clean-up on San Cristobal Island, where they had been living. Deciding to put in their best efforts, they managed to mobilise the entire community of the island and remove 7.5 tonnes of rubbish in one morning. While these results are impressive (and worrying) this achievement was dwarfed by the effect that the event had on the local community: This was the first time ever that all the different sectors of the community on San Cristobal (many of which are constantly at loggerheads and refuse to even sit in the same room) had worked together for a common cause.

They had school and university groups, scouts, the National Park rangers, NGOs, the Navy, the Police, the local municipality, tourism operators, the fishing community, travelers and many others working together. If proved that when something is so important as to effect everyone and the global environment, that people can achieve great things when they work as a team.

Event impacts

Event Details

This event was massive. Young and old joined forces to collect a colossal pile of rubbish from every corner of Foa and Lifuka Islands, with over 3,000 people getting involved from a total population of around 4,500. Over 120 truckloads of plastic, steel, aluminum, glass and all other manner of waste were sorted for recyclables, bagged, and loaded into containers kindly transported to Pangai Harbour by Reef Shipping’s Southern Tiare. Eight shipping containers were filled with trash: around 50 tonnes was collected in total on the one day event. From here, all the rubbish will be shipped to Tongatapu, sorted for recycling, and the remainder sent to the properly managed landfill there.

We are now helping the local community and the Tongan government – who has been supportive of the initiative since it began – to achieve the ultimate goal of the project: to implement a waste management strategy for the area. This is set to become a formula for other small island states in Tonga and the Pacific.

 


 

Background

The Ha’apai’s are a very special place: a breeding ground for humpback whales and incredibly beautiful, isolated volcanic island group that is well off the beaten track.

However – due to their low lying topography, the islands are unsuitable for landfill, and build-up of rubbish poses a major threat to the local environment and the health of local people. The event is making an example of a system that could alleviate waste management challenges, with New Zealand’s Reef Shipping sending eight containers to remove the rubbish from the event.

Emily Penn, who has been living in Pangai for three months working with the local community in preparation for this day, explains what the large scale cleanup event and education program strives to achieve. “Firstly we aim to develop an understanding among the community about the negative effects improper disposal of rubbish has on local health and environment. Secondly we are exposing the problem in Ha’apai in order to establish a long term waste management solution.”

Rubbish provides a breeding ground for mosquitos, which transmit the vector born diseases such as dengue fever and Elephantitis that affect many areas of the Pacific. 97% of rubbish is burned in the Ha’apai Islands, with the plastic content releasing dioxins (which are known to cause severe health effects such as birth defects and liver cancer) in close proximity to people’s dwelling areas.

Event Details

Mon
09
May 2011
-
Thu
30
Jun 2011

Quick Links

This May we’re teaming-up with international expedition organisation Pangaea Exploration on an important survey of isolated marine environments around the Pacific.

We are currently looking for crew to help provide manpower, technical skills and financial support to the research mission, which is aimed at collecting valuable information to assist with long-term marine conservation, education and community projects in the area and around the world.

Expressions of interest are sought from divers, educators, photographers, journalists, artists, marine biologists, deckhands, sailors, writers, conservationists, organisations and any others wanting to join the adventure.

The four‐part marine survey sets off from Tahiti on the 10th of May, passing through the Southern and Northern Cook Islands and the Northern Line Islands (including Christmas Island) before arriving in Hawaii on the 30th of June. Along the way the crew will be working with local NGOs to study a wide range of conservation issues affecting these small islands including marine debris, water quality, habitat condition and overfishing.

The expedition will be based aboard the Sea Dragon – a modern 72ft sailing vessel fully-equipped for research and ocean voyages that will enable the team to reach remote locations in safety and comfort.

Throughout each leg of the voyage the team will conduct research through a variety of methods, including photography and videography (both above surface and underwater), beach surveying, visual reef checks, fish and water sampling, manta trawl surface sampling, CO2 and pH monitoring and written observations.

The team will meet and interview members of local communities, NGOs and official leaders, as well as explore pristine, untouched and life-abundant ecosystems in remote, uninhabited islands, reefs and atolls.

Find out more and get involved

For more detailed information on each leg of the research survey and how to get involved, check out Pangaea Exploration’s site or click on the links for each leg below.

To express your interest in joining the expedition, email Anna Mathieson (Pacific Project Liaison) at [email protected]

Expedition timeline

Leg 1: May 10 – 15, Tahiti to Cook Islands
Leg 2: May 16 – 27, Southern Cook Islands
Leg 3: May 28 – June 14, Northern Cook Islands
Leg 4: June 15 – June 30, Northern Line Islands to Hawaii

Event impacts

https://sustainablecoastlines.org/app/uploads/2013/05/LYC-Rarotonga-Report-lo.pdf

Event Details

Background

Sustainable Coastlines is a New Zealand-based charity group that coordinates and supports large-scale coastal clean-up events, educational programs, public awareness campaigns, riparian planting activities and other projects aimed at looking after coastlines around Aotearoa and the Pacific.

In 2010 Sustainable Coastlines worked with other New Zealand non-profits to launch Love your Coast: an ongoing resource to help people around the world learn how to look after the coastlines we all love. Through the project website, www.loveyourcoast.org, anyone can learn more about the issues affecting our coastlines, find events, create their own clean-up and share their results for free. The project informs and motivates communities to look after their local environment through simple, hands-on solutions.

From 22 October to 11 November 2012, representatives from Sustainable Coastlines worked alongside the Cook Islands National Environment Service to deliver the Love your Coast Rarotonga: Education and Clean-up Tour. This three-week project was an introduction to ‘Love your Coast’ in the Cook Islands: raising awareness about the effects of littering on the marine environment and assessing the community need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of this important message.

Key objectives

  • Spread awareness messaging on the effects of litter in the marine environment and motivate people to take action.
  • Establish the need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of litter awareness messaging.
  • Find and train existing and potential leaders in educational roles in the delivery of the Love your Coast litter awareness presentation for ongoing dissemination of this message.
  • Share resources and expertise for educating communities on the effects of litter in the marine environment and generally for pro-environmental behavioural change.
  • Develop and improve educational content, establish key contacts and consider initial plans to extend a similar project around other groups in the Cook Islands.
  • Gain an overview of the waste management systems currently in place in the Cook Islands, the work going on in this space, and identify opportunities for incorporating locally-relevant waste minimisation education into awareness messaging.
  • Introduce ‘Love your Coast’ to the Cook Islands National Environment Service, schools and other community groups.

 

Findings

Single-use plastic problem

Over the course of the tour 527 volunteers were motivated to remove 5,680 litres / 713 kilograms of rubbish from local coastlines. In total nearly 20,000 individual items of rubbish were picked-up, including 2,196 plastic bags, 2,250 food wrappers or containers, and 1,065 plastic bottles. Single-use, disposable plastic products made up over 66% of the items found: evidence that echoes the educational message about reducing dependence on these products that was delivered during the tour. These findings provide a strong rationale for the great work the Cook Islands government is already doing to phase out the import of single-use plastic products such as plastic bags.

Strong educational results

The Love your Coast awareness presentation was delivered to 817 people in Rarotonga, mainly school students. This presentation was a locally tailored version of a presentation that has been delivered to over 67,000 people around the Pacific in the last three and a half years. Through surveys of the school students that attended*, it is evident that the Love your Coast presentation was both enjoyable and impactful, with students indicating good retention of information and positive behavioural intent:

  • 78% liked the presentation “A lot”
  • 86% understood “Everything” or “Most” of the presentation.
  • 78% learned “A lot” from the films and photos showed.
  • 89% said they would talk to others about looking after their rubbish.
  • 57% said the presentation made them want to clean-up the beach “A lot”.
  • 82% said that following the presentation, they want to “Tell other people not to drop rubbish”.
  • 73% said that following the presentation, they want to “Use less plastic”.

*Figures are from surveys returned from 174 students at time of publication.

Ongoing need for improved waste behaviour

Despite a modern waste management system including an engineered and lined landfill, recently upgraded recycling centre and free weekly collection service for rubbish and recycling, litter problems and poor waste disposal practices are still evident. Rubbish burning and littering is frequently witnessed around the island and laws against these actions are rarely enforced. A recent audit of the landfill showed that 67.5% of materials could have been diverted through recycling or composting: a statistic that contributes to current estimates that a new landfill will be needed in seven years.

Need for ongoing clean-ups

This project built on the success of September’s second annual Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up, an event that is set to continue under the leadership of the National Environment Service. It is clear that coastal clean-ups are a well-established community activity and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. The volumes of rubbish collected in the small number of clean-up activities during this tour, such a short time after September’s clean-up events, indicate an ongoing community need for these activities.

Further awareness resources needed

The core message of this tour was to raise awareness of the effects of rubbish on our marine environment and simple solutions to address it.

While a number of educational materials currently exist for waste education in the Cook Islands, few cover the effects of litter in the marine environment. It was also evident that further resources are required to deliver and spread the educational message. During the Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up, for example, resources were not available to provide participating schools with an educational background to the clean-up activity.

Project participants – including teachers, principals and community group leaders — expressed enthusiasm for both digital and printed versions of Love your Coast awareness resources.

Digital versions of these were supplied to National Environment Service, Creative Centre, Avatea Primary School, Nukutere College, Titikaveka College, Takitumu Primary School, Te Uki Ou School, Creative Centre, WATSAN, Muri Environment Care Group, Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative, and Aitutaki Conservation Trust.

Media willing to assist in educating the community

Significant media attention was received throughout the project, with two features on national television, interviews on two radio stations and extensive coverage in the national daily newspaper Cook Islands News.

This coverage extended the reach of the awareness message far beyond the participants who engaged directly, creating a large launch and providing a strong precedent to help secure future project sponsorship opportunities.

Prior to the completion of the tour, a number of short awareness spots were recorded in partnership with Matariki FM, a popular Rarotonga-wide radio station. There are plans to translate these into Cook Islands Maori and air them on an ongoing basis. Plans are also in place, pending availability of funds to cover costs, to install signage alongside the main road in Avarua to further promote the Love your Coast message. Several groups advised that there would be a strong opportunity for government funded and/or pro-bono media space available for a video-based litter awareness message on national television, an indication that provides a strong justification for the production of such a resource.

Live entertainment an important incentive

A number of contacts indicated that a free, all ages musical celebration, would be a highly effective way of rewarding project participants and incentivizing involvement. This mix of entertainment, fun and education has proven to be successful in past projects and helps to position Love your Coast activities as desirable rather than a community service or obligation. Initial discussions regarding such a celebration alongside Friday 9 November’s Tiki Taane & Shapeshifter concert had to be abandoned due to a change in concert venue outside of the control of Sustainable Coastlines. Other incentives discussed include providing Love your Coast t-shirts and/or reusable water bottles to key supporters. These concepts are both effective means of promoting a positive environmental message on a long-term basis.

Educational and community leaders key contacts

Leaders of educational institutions, NGOs and villages around Rarotonga proved to be the most receptive to the Love your Coast project. They responded to and engaged with awareness, coastal clean-up and data collection activities throughout the project and showed enthusiasm for future involvement. Some progress was made in training leaders to deliver awareness materials on an ongoing basis and all such leaders were provided with resources to learn more.

Timing of events & program is of critical importance

Timing for this part of the project occurred in alignment with a Friday 9 November concert held by popular band Shapeshifter as a fundraiser for Sustainable Coastlines. This assisted the charity to cover essential logistical costs, but also reduced the lead-in time for the program. We have identified that with a longer lead-in time that engagement levels would increase and make the project even more successful. Similar future projects would look further into the most appropriate timing to allow the largest possible community involvement and most effective awareness message. Initial discussions regarding a similar project in the future indicate that it would be most effective to align timings with those of Lagoon Day, National Environment Week, Constitution Week and/or the lead-up to the Rubbish Round-up.

Strong support from a variety of sectors promising for future

Sustainable Coastlines received support from a wide variety of organisations and people in the project. Assistance came from government, businesses (through sponsorship of accommodation, car hire and assistance on the ground), schools, and non-government organisations. This indicates strong opportunities to engage with and build the capacity of a great variety of people in the Cook Islands through future Love your Coast work.

 

 

Conclusion & Future Opportunities

The Love your Coast Rarotonga: Education and Clean-up Tour was conducted as a pilot study to gauge opportunities for ongoing work in the Cook Islands and other areas of the Pacific. Aside from the aforementioned objectives, this project was positioned as an educational follow-on from September’s Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up and was aligned to meet several objectives of the Cook Islands environmental theme for 2012 “Taau Taku Tita — Taking Action Against Waste 2012”.

The project found an evident ongoing community need for improved waste behaviours, coastal clean-up activities and litter awareness work in Rarotonga. A strong opportunity exists to further spread this work in Rarotonga and strategically introduce it to other Cook Islands communities, with consideration to improvements in waste management systems.

The major objective of future work would be to fully train Love your Coast ‘ambassadors’ in as many Cook Islands communities as possible that would independently conduct ongoing litter awareness, prevention and clean-up activities.

Collaboration with the Cook Islands National Environment Service made a crucial difference in the first stage of this project. Their provision of logistical support, relevant local knowledge, key contacts within the community and experience in the regional environmental sector was invaluable and it is recommended that future work aligns with their priorities and helps to build their capacity.

Gaining support from school principals, village MP’s, local NGO’s, church and youth group leaders is critical in garnering high levels of community involvement. These connections offer mutually beneficial rewards, involving more people in local solutions while allowing the transfer of knowledge and skills specific to the Love your Coast project to a diverse range of groups.

In addition, future projects aim to align with the Cook Islands National Olympic Committee to train and up-skill athletes as local project ambassadors.

By connecting simple, individual actions with a common and highly tangible problem, the Love your Coast project provides the perfect opportunity for an achievable community-owned and -run solution.

In a short time a good appreciation was gained of the community need and capacity for the ongoing delivery of the Love your Coast litter awareness message. With more resources, similar projects in the future can reach more of the community and set in motion a longer-term litter awareness and prevention strategy that applies not only to Rarotonga but also to the Outer Islands.

 


 

 

Project details

In late October and early November this year, we are working alongside the Cook Islands National Environment Service to run our latest awareness and action project: the Love your Coast Rarotonga Education and Clean-up Tour.

We invite any interested schools, community groups and organisations in Rarotonga to join the fun and get involved! Our experienced presenters and event managers will happily visit your group to run free awareness presentations, training workshops and/or coastal clean-up activities. This free opportunity is available anytime from Saturday 27 October to Thursday 8 November.

Following September’s successful Clean-up the Cook Islands and Rarotonga Rubbish Round-up projects, this is a great opportunity to gain detailed knowledge on the impacts litter has on our marine environments and reinforce the importance of litter prevention and clean-up work.

During our informative awareness presentation — that we have presented to over 55,000 people around the Pacific since 2008 — we use imagery and short films to build an understanding of the simple but common challenge of litter in the marine environment, and motivate attendees to work hands-on to look after their local stretch of coast. Our presentation takes around 30 minutes, with time for discussion at the end. Timings for the presentation are flexible and can be tailored to suit whatever time you have available.

For those that are interested in learning more, we can run a 45 minute training workshop immediately following our awareness presentation: passing on skills to help teach others about litter in the marine environment. Resources will also be provided for ongoing use, including short films, Powerpoint Presentations, planning documents, safety information, beach clean-up data collection sheets, posters and online tools.

We have our own presentation equipment including computer, projector, screen and speakers, so you will not need to arrange these for our visit. For coastal clean-ups with your group, we can help with planning and can provide rubbish sacks, gloves and safety equipment.

To find out more or confirm your involvement in this project, please email Project Manager Camden Howitt on [email protected] or call (682) 78218 and we will be in touch to confirm arrangements. We look forward to hearing from you.

Project contact

Camden Howitt
Project Manager
Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust
[email protected]
(682) 78218

More background

To coordinate a more effective project in Rarotonga we have been working with local governmental departments, organisations and community groups in both the planning and implementation phase of this project. This project is a pilot study that – if proven successful in Rarotonga – could be extended to outer island communities.

We have also partnered on this project with hugely popular band Shapeshifter, who are holding a concert in Rarotonga on Friday 9 November. The proceeds from this concert will go towards meeting costs for this project and future work in the Cook Islands.

A huge thank you in particular to National Environment Service, The Edgewater Resort & Spa, Island Car & Bike Hire, Muri Environment Care, WATSAN, Reef Shipping and our partners Lantern Insurance and Benefitz for your generous support of this project. Without the support of organisations like yours this project simply would not be possible.