What is Dmakeiukl? Dmakeiukl refers to the four states on the west coast of Palau, namely Ngardmau, Ngeremlengui, Ngatpang and Aimeliik. These four states have formally signed an agreement to work jointly together to manage their natural resources and have named their alliance as “Dmakeiukl”. Some of the joint activities conducted include (1) quarterly leadership meetings between the Governors, Speakers, PAN Coordinators and Rangers; (2) monthly joint surveillance of the four states combining all rangers with Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection Officer; (3) monthly coordination meetings and other activities. As part of the Pacific Bioscapes Capacity Building project state rangers are trained how to plan and facilitate community awareness activities and exercising that knowledge in their communities.
To promote education and awareness of the conservation activities in Dmakeiukl, they began conducting quarterly Community meetings. The first community meeting was held in Ngardmau on April 30th of this year. This community meeting focused on sharing the results of monitoring projects in Ngardmau by Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) and an awareness of the conservation laws in Ngardmau. On July 11th, Dmakeiukl hosted a community meeting in Ngeremlengui. PICRC was also invited to share the results of the monitoring work they are doing in the Ngeremlengui area around sea grass areas and fish stock. Included in this community meeting was the sharing of the women’s group conservation projects in each of the Dmakeiukl communities. The communities were able to hear the progress of the Ngardmau mangrove and ngduul efforts, the Ngeremlengui clam farm project, the Ngatpang cheremrum restoration project and the Aimeliik ngduul restoration project. The purpose of these community meetings is to provide awareness of the ongoing conservation efforts in the community, inform the public of the conservation laws in place and to provide an opportunity for the community members to have a dialogue addressing conservation goals, issues and solutions. The Ngeremlengui community meeting was very successful, seeing over 100 community members present. Special thanks to the PAN Rangers of Ngeremlengui who planned and organized the community event.
As part of building the capacity of the PAN Network, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) conducted training for the Rangers on how to plan, organize and present at these community meetings. The next community meeting will be held in Ngatpang in the next quarter and is open to all members of the Dmakeiukl communities and the conservation partners that work in these communities. With such a successful turnout at the Ngeremlengui meeting, the group hopes to see continued participation in the next meeting in Ngatpang.
These community meetings facilitated by TNC in Dmakeiukl are made possible through the US Office of Insular Affairs and The Pacific BioScapes Programme. The United States Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) grant supports the women’s community restoration and conservation efforts to help mitigate climate change impacts affecting women, in this case women fisheries. The Pacific BioScapes Programme is a European Union (EU) funded action, managed and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The Programme contributes to the sustainable development of Pacific Small Island Developing States through the implementation of 30 focused activities taking place across a diversity of ecosystems in 11 countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) that will address critical issues concerning coastal and marine biodiversity, and ecosystem-based responses to climate changeadaptation. For more information, please visit: www.sprep.org/bioscapes