The proposed project on mangroves restoration and conservation and protection of a designated area outside of the mangroves area as a Marine Protected Area will address the severely degraded mangroves and marine ecosystems and the disturbed marine biodiversity within and around the Safune Bay marine area.
Safune community like 70% of Samoa?s population live near the low lying coastline and although efforts have been made to move families to higher grounds and further inland, they maintained to live by the coast. Samoa is prone to natural disasters particularly cyclones. The Safune community claims that the Safune bay was first destroyed and reduced in size during the 1966 cyclone when strong waves deposited sand spit on the coastline which extended the land mass and covered two freshwater spring sources on the western end of the bay where the Women?s committee fale is now located. The back to back cyclones in 1990 and 1991 of Ofa and Val further destroyed the Mangroves as well as the community assets including the bridge that connected Lefagaoalii and Safune land spits. The coastline continued to erode from strong waves attack and the rising sea level which requires a collaborative effort from the Safune community to restore and rehabilitate the Safune bay mangroves ecosystem and to build community resilience from the effect of climate change. Moreover, this project will enhance the marine biodiversity of the bay and the lagoon. Replanting of mangroves conservation and proper management will ensure the restoration of marine life and biodiversity that used to be in the bay and the lagoon. This will restore and strengthen marine life that people of our community relied upon for subsistence and economic livelihoods.