BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
SOLOMON Islands is rich in natural resources, yet managing nature’s abundance still remains a challenge.
The sentiment was expressed by Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela who was present at last week’s UN launching of the second peace program that will take place in the country with support from UN agencies, UNDP and UN Women.
Speaking on land and natural resource management, he stressed that as a natural resource rich country Solomon Islands after many years still finds managing it’s natural resources a challenge.
The Prime Minister stressed that among many likely reasons, the main cause for this is possibly that resource owners have become spectators.
“There is no sense of a difference between living on handouts and staying on a sustainable development pathway”, he said.
Henceforth, Prime Minister Houenipwela voiced the need to directly involve the community and resource owners in the development process.
“Land owners and communities must not be spectators or remain by-standers. They must become active participants to support and facilitate development”, he said.
