Dmakeiukl holds community meeting in Ngeremlengui

What is Dmakeiukl? Dmakeiukl refers to the four states on the west coast of Palau, namely Ngardmau, Ngeremlengui, Ngatpang, and Aimeliik. The four states have formally signed an agreement to jointly manage their natural resources and named their union “Dmakeiukl”. Some of the joint activities carried out include (1) quarterly leadership meetings between the governor, speaker, PAN coordinator, and rangers; (2) monthly joint monitoring among the four states, conducted by all rangers in conjunction with officers from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation; and (3) monthly coordination meetings and other activities. As part of the Pacific Bioscapes Capacity Building Project, state rangers received training on how to plan and facilitate community outreach activities and apply this knowledge in their communities.

To promote education and awareness of conservation activities in Dmakeiukl, they began holding quarterly community meetings. The first community meeting was held on April 30 of this year in Ngardmau. This community meeting focused on sharing the results of the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) monitoring project in Ngardmau and awareness of the Ngardmau Conservation Act. On July 11, Dmakeiukl hosted a community meeting in Ngeremlengui. PICRC was also invited to share the results of their monitoring work around seagrass areas and fish stocks in the Ngeremlengui area. This community meeting also included sharing of conservation projects by women’s groups in each of the Dmakeiukl communities. The community was able to hear about the progress of the Ngardmau mangrove and ngduul work, the Ngeremlengui clam farm project, the Ngatpang cheremrum restoration project, and the Aimeliik ngduul restoration project. The purpose of these community meetings is to raise awareness of ongoing conservation work in the community, inform the public about existing conservation laws, and provide an opportunity for community members to engage in dialogue about conservation goals, issues, and solutions. The Ngeremlengui community meeting was a great success with over 100 community members in attendance. Special thanks to the PAN Rangers of Ngeremlengui for planning and organizing this community event.

As part of the PAN network capacity building, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has conducted training for rangers on how to plan, organize and attend these community meetings. The next community meeting will be held in Ngatpang next quarter and will be open to all Dmakeiukl community members and conservation partners working in these communities. Given the success of the Ngeremlengui meeting, the organization hopes to see continued participation in the next meeting in Ngatpang.

These community meetings, hosted by TNC in Dmakeiukl, were facilitated by the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs and the Pacific Bioscapes Program. The U.S. Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) grants support women’s community restoration and conservation efforts to help mitigate the impacts of climate change on women, in this case women’s fisheries. The Pacific Bioscapes Program is a European Union (EU) funded initiative managed and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The Program contributes to the sustainable development of Pacific Small Island Developing States through the implementation of 30 priority activities in a variety of ecosystems in 11 countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) that will address key issues regarding coastal and marine biodiversity and ecosystem-based responses to climate change adaptation. For more information, visit: www.sprep.org/bioscapes

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