Aleipata district is getting ready to host traditional reef owners from Australia who will share their cultural and traditional knowledge in resource management with Samoan peers.

It is called the Traditional Ecological Knowledge exchange workshop and is facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

The workshop will be attended by traditional owner groups from Australia and reef custodians in Samoa as part of the ReefCloud initiative under the Coral Reef Innovation Project.

The workshop will also explore the role of traditional governance systems and their applicability to management, as well as the value of community communication channels for sharing information across the community.

SPREP Marine and Coastal Advisor, Dr. Peter Davies, who is also the lead facilitator of the project, said: “We are grateful and privileged in partnering with AIMS are at the cutting edge of innovation and research when it comes to coral reef monitoring and management and together our vision fits in well with the Coral Reef Action Plan.

“It brings together science and traditional knowledge in a way to develop a fit-for-purpose coral reef monitoring framework capable of informing national and local conservation measures, which can be implemented by National Governments and  communities.”

In the lead-up to the cultural exchange workshop, AIMS in partnership with SPREP will also facilitate technical hands-on training on the ReefCloud methodology for reef monitoring from data collection to data analysis. Technical officers from MNRE and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) will be in attendance as well as participants from the local coastal communities in Samoa.

The Pacific ReefCloud initiative was developed through a collaborative partnership funded by the Australian Government and is being implemented jointly by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the SPREP and the Government of Samoa's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE).

ReefCloud is a reef monitoring system that has been developed by AIMS that uses underwater photographs analysed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in combination with traditional knowledge. The initiative is also in line with the Pacific Coral Reef Action Plan 2021-2030, developed and endorsed by 26 Member countries at the 30th SPREP Meeting in 2021.

To implement the Pacific Coral Reef Action Plan, SPREP is working with partners to promote the long-term resilience of Pacific coral reefs by combining the best available science with traditional knowledge. The Pacific ReefCloud initiative, currently being piloted in Samoa, will serve as the foundation for establishing a regional community of practice that will enable the development of a standardised coral reef monitoring methodology with future plans for expansion to other Pacific countries and territories.

The workshop will convene from 24-28 July 2023.