Protecting Biodiversity by Supporting People

A man in an wooded area in Tafea Province, Vanuatu, uses a water spigot. — The New York Botanical Garden worked with communities to survey biodiversity and protect forests that provide fresh water.

© Conservation International/photo by Michele Zador

Plants and People: Baseline Floristic and Ethnobotanical Surveys in Tafea Province, Vanuatu

Grantee Name: New York Botanical Garden

Hotspot: East Melanesian Islands
Location: Vanuatu
Amount: $156,849
Dates: Jun 2014 – Dec 2016
Keywords: Awareness, Capacity building, Community-based conservation, Ethnobotany, Indigenous People, Medicinal plants, Research

Undertake baseline surveys of plant diversity in Vanuatu’s Tafea Province, focusing on three priority sites: Aneityum, Futuna and Green Hill. Build local capacity for biodiversity, taxonomic, ethnobiological and ethnomedical research among key government, scientific, cultural and community-based institutions. Widely disseminate the results to inform environmental policy, natural resource management and health care in Tafea Province, Vanuatu and the Pacific.

Strategic Direction : 1 Empower local communities to protect and manage globally significant biodiversity at priority Key Biodiversity Areas under-served by current conservation efforts