2nd National Steering Committee convened at Port Vila

02 July 2024 – The second National Steering Committee (NSC) meeting for the Management and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (MACBLUE) project was held at The Melanesian Hotel in Port Vila, Vanuatu earlier this month.

The meeting was attended by the Vanuatu Steering Committee members and the MACBLUE project team from the Pacific Community (SPC), Secretariat of the Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and GIZ.

The primary goals of the NSC meeting were to review the objectives and outcomes from the previous NSC meeting held in 2023 and to update all MACBLUE project members on progress in Vanuatu.

Each stakeholder presented their updates. SPREP consultants from Alluvium, an Australian consultancy, shared their objectives and expectations for project sites around Vanuatu.

This included creating a shortlist of potential Blue Carbon reporting sites and sites for Local Management Approaches (LMAs), which are key components of the MACBLUE project.

Field visits around Efate further supported these discussions. With guidance from the Department of Environmental Protection & Conservation (DEPC), two locations— Siviri Village and Panonangisu — were identified.

Their mangrove forests and seagrass meadows were evaluated for the potential establishment of LMAs in these areas.

The meeting and field visits aimed to strengthen collaboration between stakeholders in Vanuatu and the MACBLUE team.

A collective agreement on project sites and objectives was reached, with the goal of advancing the MACBLUE project for the benefit of Vanuatu.

The Vanuatu Steering Committee Members consisted of government officials, university academics, and technical experts from various Vanuatu government ministries.