Samoan Chief Saved Primeval Forest In Sweden
"May this great Aspen be our witness that we ask God and all good people to help us protect this forest from destruction. May this forest live forever!"
It was a beautiful day in September 1996 when Chief Ulu Taufasisina Tausaga (Seacology Indigenous Conservationist of the Year, 1992) from the village of Tafua in Western Samoa addressed some 70 people in the Primeval forest of Kark Mountain in the far north of Sweden. The forest on Kark Mountain was already sold to a lumber company and was to be logged within weeks.
Several Sami leaders, scientists and environmentalists were present. Dr. Paul Alan Cox translated chief Ulu's speech from Samoan to English. A few minutes earlier, the Swedish biologist and teacher Mats Karstrom had named Aspen: " Chief Ulu's Aspen" as symbol of their common cause.
Mats Karstrom, leader of a Swedish movement called "One step ahead", was the head of an international conference called "Meeting of Chiefs for the Primeval Forests of the World." He had invited Chief Ulu and the entire conference for a walk in the forest of Kark Mountain. Chief Ulu continued his speech, leaning against the Aspen.
"I wish that one day I will be able to come back and look at this tree that bears my name. God willing, I hope to find a Swedish wife and settle here in the forest with her," he said with a smile. The people listening burst out in laughter. Chief Ulu continued, now serious.
"As a symbol of our friendship, I want to give you a small gift from my village and my family." Chief Ulu reached inside his jacket and pulled out a bundle of Swedish money, all the money he had for the journey, and gave it to Mats Karstrom.
"I hope that this small gift will help you in your struggle to save this beautiful forest. May God help you in this important task. We are all linked together in this struggle, me on my island in the Pacific and you up here in this cold distant land."
Mats Karstrom, moved to tears, received the money and declared that Chief Ulu's gift would be the starting point in the building of a fund: "Chief Ulu's fund for saving the primeval forest on Kark Mountain."
This moment and Chief Ulu's visit in Sweden was filmed by Swedish film maker Boris Ersson, who is working on two documentaries about the efforts to save primeval forests in Samoa and in Sweden. When the news of Chief Ulu's speech on Kark Mountain reached the owners of the forest via the Swedish media, they changed their plans to log the forest, and decided to buy back the forest from the lumber company! A few days later, the Swedish environmental authority and the local government decided to support the Kark Mountain project economically. For some years Western Samoa has received aid from Sweden and USA to save the unique rain forests in the country. In the northwestern part of the island of Savaii, Seacology has worked since 1989 in close cooperation with the people in the village of Falealupo. In the southern part of Savaii, Seacology helped initiate a Swedish rain forest project that started in 1990, helping Chief Ulu's village, Tafua, save its rain forest and build a school.
In the Samoan tradition, exchanging gifts is an important sign of friendship. When Chief Ulu gave all his money to his Swedish friends to help them save the primeval forest on Kark Mountain, it was a deep symbolic act of friendship from the far south to the far north of our living planet. It resulted in another precious forest being saved.
