Loru Forest Project, Vanuatu – The Nakau Programme // GO BACK

The Loru Forest Project, managed by the Nakau Programme, protects 166 ha of tropical rainforest on eastern Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.

The project combines coastal rainforest protection with agroforestry, with a special focus on producing the agricultural commodity Melanesian Chestnut (Canarium indium) for participating community members.

This ex-post project will generate 2,442 Plan Vivo Certificate per year, with registration and first issuance due in Q2, 2016. The project works with about fifty indigenous ni-Vanuatu landowners of the Serkar Clan, descended from Chief Serkar (1913 - 1997). In order to protect the rainforest, these landowners have given up the rights to land clearance for coconut plantations.

The project site provides habitat for the critically endangered Vanuatu Megapode bird (Megapodu freycinet layardi) and the critically endangered Coconut Crab (Birgus latro). It is also home to several endemic bird species including the Vanuatu Kingfisher (Halycon farquhari), the Vanuatu Flycatcher (Neolalage banksiana), the Vanuatu Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus tannensis), the Vanuatu White-eye (Sosterops flavifrons), the Santo Mountain Starling (Aplonis santovestris), the Vanuatu Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bakeri), and the Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis).

The project aims to support its participants by providing governance and management support, as well as transferring skills, knowledge through capacity-building for setting up community enterprises at Loru. This will provide a long-term incentive and sustainability driver for the Loru landowners to manage the rainforest conservation project by developing community businesses based on agroforestry produce.