Living Blue Planet Report

Chapter 4: Turning the tide page 57

Equitable resource governance: Women make up half of

all seafood workers globally (FAO, 2014b), and addressing the

position of women in fisheries is fundamental to tackling the

root causes of poverty and environmental degradation. In the

Solomon Islands, women’s empowerment has been central to a

project which aims to improve the lives of coastal communities

on the island of Ghizo. The project, supported by WWF-Australia

and funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and

Trade and John West Australia, has included launching inshore

fish aggregating devices or “rafters”. These floating devices attract

fish, provide alternative fishing areas and contribute to reducing

fishing effort on the reefs.

The sale of fish caught at the rafters contributes to local

women’s savings clubs, part of a micro-savings and loans

scheme set up with seed money from John West Australia. The

women are able to take out loans to help fund small businesses.

In just 18 months, the scheme grew rapidly to seven savings

clubs, with more than 650 members, and the women had saved

over SBD$172,000 (US$21,400). Their investment into the

project is helping to ensure sustainable management of local

marine resources.

Redirecting financial flows: The CTI-CFF has leveraged

nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in finance from donors

including the Asian Development Bank, the Global Environment

Facility, USAID and the Australian government (Abraham, 2015).

This in turn has encouraged investment from private sector

companies operating in the region into sustainable fishing and

tourism projects.

Figure 25. Map of the
Coral Triangle (The Coral
Triangle Atlas; UNEP-
WCMC, WorldFish Center,
WRI, TNC 2010).

INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

PAPUA NEW

GUINEA SOLOMON

ISLANDS

VANUATU

NEW

CALEDONIA

FIJI

AUSTRALIA ISLANDS

MALAYSIA

VIETNAM

THAILAND CAMBODIA

LAOS

INDIA MYANMAR

CHINA

S. KOREA JAPAN

TIMOR LESTE
Key

Coral Triangle

scientific boundary

CTI-CFF

implementeation

area boundary