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Federated States of Micronesia

Awak Village

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Permanent protection of 173 acres of mangroves, fringing reef, and seagrass

Aquaculture facility to reseed reef and mangrove areas

Date Approved: 02.2021

Mangroves

This project protects mangroves, which trap more CO2 than any other kind of forest and as a result, slow global warming.

Ocean

This project protects ocean ecosystems, making coastal communities more economically and physically secure in the face of climate change.

Seagrass

This project protects seagrass, which traps more CO2 than any other marine ecosystem, slowing global warming.

The increasing global demand for building materials reaches some of the most remote corners of the world, including Pohnpei Island in the central Pacific.

Near Awak Village, dredging machines are scraping up dead coral for use as fill in road and construction projects. Dredging is scarring the coastal and marine ecosystems that support Awak’s 1,500 residents, as well as historical sites. Dredging tears up coral reefs, generates sediment that smothers corals, and alters the flow of water to mangrove forests, often killing them. The roads built to accommodate large machines also destroy coastal forests.

The Awak area has seven species of mangroves, which provide a nursery for mangrove crabs and many species of fish. Birds are abundant, including the endemic Pohnpei lorikeet, the island’s only parrot (considered vulnerable by the IUCN), and the globally threatened Pohnpei kingfisher.

The proposed protected area includes a small dredging project, which the community hopes to stop from expanding. The traditional chiefs of the village are working to make the area part of the Pohnpei Protected Area Network. Inclusion would protect all intact mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and reefs in Awak. Only subsistence fishing would be allowed. (As part of this campaign, local NGOs made a short video.) Our project partners say that an agreement with Seacology will help the chiefs get legal protection for the area.

Traditionally, Awak is a fishing village. With a Seacology grant, the community is building a small aquaculture facility, where they will raise giant clams, rabbitfishes, and other species, to replenish the once teeming reefs and mangrove habitats nearby. All members of the village will have full access to the facility and the aquaculture products.

Reseeding clams in the lagoon near Awak will also help to regenerate giant clams near other villages, as the current carries the larvae. This will let more people benefit from the project and raise awareness of the need to protect mangroves, seagrass beds, and reefs around the whole bay.

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Project Photos

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