Sauafea-Leau, F.

Building and promoting community stewardship to take ownership and responsibility in managing their resources from land to reefs

2011

Faga'alu, American Samoa

NOAA Fisheries-PIRO

14

Project Report

"On June 24th and 25th, 2011, a PLA (participatory, learning and action) community workshop was carried out by NOAA PIRO field staff with support from partners of the Land-based Sources of Pollution Local Action Strategy (LBSP-LAS) group. Approximately 15 local resource managers from the LBSP-LAS group assisted in facilitating the workshop in Faga'alu. The objectives of the workshop are clearly laid out below with the underlying goal of developing, with the village, a village-based watershed plan for Faga'alu to effectively manage the resources in Faga'alu. Objectives of the PLA workshop: 1. To raise awareness and build the capacity of village community to enable them to undertake specific environmental management functions within a sustainability framework; 2. To collect baseline information to assist in the development of a Village Watershed Action Plan; 3. To build partnership and collaboration between the village, resource agencies and outside partners; 4. To gain, enhance, and promote a better understanding of the watershed issues and resources in Faga'alu; and 5. To build community stewardship of their environment and resources."

FY2011 CRCP Project 728, Product 548; Project Title: O196 NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Coral Coordinator for American Samoa; Principal Investigator: Fatima Sauafea-Leau