Search the SPREP Catalogue

Each cultural group in Vanuatu has its own traditional approaches to the management and conservation of biological resources. These are still widely practiced, but in some areas are declining in influence as ni-Vanuatu society and culture change in response to introduced economic and social values and new technologies. Since independence traditional approaches to conservation have been supplemented by a range of measures introduced by government and non-government organisations, and individuals in the private sector. Most of these have focused on species of commercial value within the development priorities of the key economic sectors of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

The Vanuatu Government signed the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) at its launch in 1992 and ratified it in 1993. As a party to the CBD, the government is obliged to report to the other convention signatories on in-country biodiversity management activities and to develop a strategy and action plan to manage and conserve Vanuatu's biological diversity. The first national report was prepared by the NBSAP project team and was sent to the CBD Secretariat in December 1997. This paper is the first national biodiversity conservation strategy and action plan.

The traditional land tenure system and the customary rights to use land and sea resources are now part of the national constitution. All land in the Republic belongs to the custom owners and their descendants and rules of custom form the basis for ownership and use of both the land and off-shore resources. Within this system the chiefs played, and in most regions continue to play, an important role in regulating the use and management of natural resources for the benefit of the people they represent.

It may be possible to tell that a species is likely to be invasive, for example because it has been a problem elsewhere. However it will be difficult to say with certainty that a species will not be invasive. A species in it's natural place is not considered invasive may behave differently in a new environment.