The restoration of forests, cutting CO2 emissions, and empowering village communities to conserve their own natural resources is a mission the Samoa Conservation Society (S.C.S) is passionate about.

This passion was quite evident during the Pacific Islands Forest Restoration Initiative project workshop, funded by the U.S. Forest Service, with the support of the U.K. High Commission. The project focused on tree planting as carbon offsets, forest restoration of degraded areas of O le Pupu Pue National Park and village employment.

 The project is a partnership between S.C.S, M.N.R.E (Forestry Division) and three village communities of Poutasi, Saleilua and Saaga. It  builds on a long term programme to restore the O le Pupu Pue National Park since 2016 and to promote the idea of tree planting to offset carbon emissions. 

According to the President of the N.G.O, James Atherton, they have planted around 25,000 trees at the national park since 2016 and employed around 60 youth from the 3 villages off and on. The current P.I.F.R.I. restoration phase of the project planted 10,400 trees in 2021.

"The main purpose was to wrap up the project and to identify and record lessons learned (good and bad) for our next phase to be funded by a new donor which we hope to start mid year," he said.

The President acknowledged the conservation organization's partners alluding to its main partner, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, through the forestry division. 

The President acknowledged the A.C.E.O of the Forestry Division for M.N.R.E, Moafanua Afuvai Pouli, Peteli, Tulau and team, noting that the Ministry was the main partner for the project.

The foreign partners and donors were also highly appreciated by the president.

" We also want to express our sincere appreciation to our project donor, the U.S Forest Service’s Pacific Islands Forest Restoration Initiative for your support- both financial and moral- that has made this project possible," he said.

" But we especially want to thank you - the matai and youth of our three partner villages of Poutasi, Saleilua and Saaga who worked hard last year on this project as you have done since we started working here in 2016. We thank you not only for your hard work but also for your open-ness and willingness to listen, to learn and to share," he said. 

With that he encouraged the village participants to contribute further with their honest feedback so as to enhance the continuation of the important undertaking. 

" We hope you have found the project rewarding and today we want to hear from you about what you learnt and what was good and also what we need to do better next time. Getting this feedback from you is the main purpose of today’s workshop," said Mr. Atherton.

The president also spoke to the achievements of the project.

"You have restored more than 4 Hectares of degraded land and propagated and planted more than 10,000 trees. When mature those trees will absorb around 2,280 tonnes of CO2- and make a major contribution to Samoa’s efforts to combat climate change. These trees will also boost the biodiversity of this National Park, the first National Park in the South Pacific," he said.