Chapter 39 - Solomon Islands: Coastal and Marine Ecosystems

Abstract

Solomon Islands stretches across 1700km and includes diverse island geographies and cultures due to the complex tectonic setting, island colonization history, and relative isolation. The proximity between deep ocean trenches and high volcanic summits has created spectacular marine biodiversity, with almost 500 coral and over 1000 reef fish species documented. While Solomon Islands has extensive mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef systems considered to be in reasonably healthy condition on a global scale, they are being increasingly threatened by overharvesting, runoff of land-based pollution, and climate change impacts. Although there are some sound pieces of environmental law and policy, the Solomon Islands Government lacks resources and capacity to adequately regulate development and extractive activities. Customary and community-based resource management systems are widespread and have promise for managing resource use, particularly through maintenance and restoration of local ecological knowledge, which helps maintain social-ecological resilience against future environmental and climate shocks.