BY ALFRED PAGEPITU
A field trip to the Barana Nature Park by a Solomon Islands National University Student (SINU) has allowed for the practical applications of the theory learned in class
Thompson Pada, a Journalism and Media student at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) proved this after a field trip with his classmates, senior Journalists and facilitators of a training workshop on reporting on Extractive Industries and Endemic Species in the Solomon Islands to the Barana nature park outside Honiara on Friday 26th March 2021.
Pada said, with his classmates and other senior journalists from the various NGO’s, government line-ministries and mainstream media, they visited the site to observe on topics covered at the workshop on environmental governance, extractive industries, export of endemic species and the impact of covid-19 on the environment.
He said the information gathered helped them to know more of the environmental challenges faced by the barana community.
“The Barana Nature and Heritage Park spans approximately 5,000 hectares of forest area in the upper catchment of the Mataniko river, one of the largest river catchments draining Honiara city.
“The field trip helped us to appreciate the practicality of what we study in class,” Pada said.
He told Island Sun that from observations, environment reporting is an important area to report accurately on and more intensively on biodiversity issues and the impacts of covid-19 on the environment in the country.
Another student Frankford said environment reporting on wildlife is very much needed in the country to control our wildlife species.
“We also learned more on the development of the park which formed part of SPREP’s assistance to the Solomon Islands under its Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) project.
He said what he learned from the project was selected following a comprehensive and participatory ‘ecosystem and socio-economic resilience analysis and mapping’ (ESRAM) study carried out for Honiara.
“Those include the conservation and rehabilitation of vulnerable ecosystems to safeguard their role in building social and economic resilience to climate change.
“We learn to report more on different environment issues” he said. “I and my classmates thank MASI and EJN, teams from the Ministry and editors, we had learned the reality of what we studied in class.
