Ngerderar watershed

Vision:

"We the people of Aimeliik desire to foster, sustain and promote the Ngerderar Watershed Conservation Area to conserve and protect our watershed to preserve water quality and quantity, for current and future generations. We want to maintain our cultural and natural resources in their natural and healthy state. We want to promote and maintain its natural beauty. We want to conserve the use of its limited natural resources."

Objective

Aimeliik Ngerderar Watershed Conservation Area  includes the State's largest river, the Ngerderar River.  The Ngerderar River and its surrounding watershed are resilient even in the face of severe droughts, and continually produce water and is a potential public water source and as such increases community resilience to climate change. As an intact pristine forest, the watershed offers refuge for Micronesian Pigeons.

The 10 year management goals are as follows:

• Youth and adults are educated about the NWCA and understand its historic and cultural significance and the current and potential benefits of its natural ecosystems
• Tourists visit the NWCA and contribute to Aimeliik's economy and sustain the management of the site
• The people of Aimeliik and its neighbors know about and care for the value of the Ngerderar water resources and have enough clean water for sustainable uses
• Cultural sites are maintained and restored so as to add value to the site
• Natural resources are kept in a good and natural state
• Current and potential threats have been minimized through improved law enforement and traditional law (bul).

The Aimeliik Ngederar Watershed Conservation Area Management Plan (NWCAMP) includes two measureable outcomes: (1) an increased understanding of the area in which at least 75% of the adults and 80% of the middle school students in Aimeliik are knowledgeable about its natural and cultural resources; and (2) the development of  sustainable ecotourism including a hiking trail, botanical garden and kayaking tour.  Need action is a baseline study of the bio-physical and socio-economic monitoring and educational materials.

The Aimeliik NWCAMP calls for appropriate action to minimize threats and secondary pressures that exacerbate the impacts of climate change such as unsustainable harvest of timber.  Objectives to minimize these threats are as follows:

• By December 2016 there will be no fires in the Conservation Area, and regulations and penalties for arsonists will be in place.
• By December 2016 there will be no hunting (with particular emphasis on pigeons, bats, and chickens) in the conservation area.
• By December 2016 there will be no logging in the conservation area.
• By December 2016 the amount of land in the Conservation Area negatively impacted by invasive species will be reduced annually or near zero.

Resources: Ngerderar Watershed Conservation Board and Palau Conservation Society. 2011. Ngerderar Watershed Conservation Area Management Plan 2011-2016.