Haveluliku youth planted 200 Kauri trees (Agathis robusta) on September 24 under a project which aims to strengthen communities resilience by enhancing land tenure systems.

Agathis robusta, the Queensland kauri pine or smooth-barked kauri, is a coniferous tree - a long-lived evergreen conifer that grows straight and tall to reach a height of 25-30 metres. The slow growing trees are good for logging high quality timber when mature.

The trees are easy to look after and also act as a good windbreaker to help improve and regenerate nutrients in the soil.

The 50 youths led by Town Officer Soana Naufahu helped to plant the seedlings contributed by MORDI Tonga, as part of the village campaign to fight against climate change. They were planted inside a village boundary fence, protecting them from roaming pigs.

Tongatapu Field Project Officer, Tiofilusi Fa’aoa, said this project would improve forest management, while piloting an integrated agro-ecosystem approach to rehabilitate degraded landscapes.

Wider project

The planting project is under a, 'Intergrated Land and Agro-ecosystem Management Systems' (ILAMS), which falls under a wider Pacific Islands Ridge-to-Reef (R2R) program estimated to cost USD$9.52 million, (USD$2.34 million GEF funding and USD$7.17 million in co-financing).

The R2R is a regional program that involves 14 Pacific island countries with an overarching goal to maintain and enhance Pacific Island countries’ ecosystem goods and services (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural) through integrated approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management that contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience.