Urban Forestry Project in Port Vila  

The project included setting up community plant nurseries and planting alongside community members, providing education and training opportunities, and improving the availability of seedlings for planting projects throughout the city (Loubser, 2018). By improving the resilience of modified and natural environments in Port Vila, the project works towards climate change mitigation by improving carbon sequestration in urban areas through plant biomass, stabilising soils, especially on the banks and at the river mouth of the Tagabe River, the main catchment in Port Vila, and reestablishing storm buffering mangroves on the coast around the river mouth. Conservation and restoration of ecosystems in Port Vila supports ecological balance and ensures natural processes can continue to function as the pressures related to urbanisation increase (Blaschke et al., 2017). Access to natural ecosystems through blue-green projects like the Port Vila Urban Forestry project also produces a number of social benefits, overall improving wellbeing outcomes for local people.

Blaschke et al. (2017) promoted the inclusion of local stakeholders for the project, including local elders and leaders, to ensure traditional governance structures that still exist in Vanuatu are respected and maintained. Indigenous knowledge can provide deep insights into historic and current conditions of local ecosystems, as well as traditional methods of ecosystem management. Through community consultation and workshops, the project facilitated Indigenous knowledge sharing, potentially improving intergenerational knowledge transfer as communities become more fragmented by processes of urbanisation and migration.

The initial study conducted by Blaschke et al. (2017) and the related set of of implementation plan recommendations suggested by Pedersen Zari et al., (2017) were the result of a thorough planning process, including utilising GIS mapping and capturing accurate data in order to make suggestions. Based on this, the project was initiated in an initial phase with community-based action. The project is funded through collaborations between International and Governmental organisations in Vanuatu, so has specific timeframes to meet outcomes. Allowing for continuing monitoring and adaption means the project can adjust as needed in response to new data and environmental conditions. The Intra ACP GCCA+ Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience Building (PACRES) project is building on the initial stage of this project to continue riparian planting and introduce more organisational collaboration.