Green With Envy Over Green Turtles

Written by Pio Sioa
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The praises heaped on an environment conscious village like Tuana’i is a pleasant read for a change because it is a deed absolutely worth applauding, for the good it did and what remains in store for everyone. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, MNRE, has much to be pleased with at the saving of this particular green turtle. Firstly, we have one happy turtle that did not end up on the cooking stones of the ‘umu.’ How the poor mammal ended up before the council of chiefs and orators is not explained in the statement from the MNRE. But in keeping with established tradition, it is always a mark of respect for a catch of that size to be presented as food for the traditional leadership in a village when they are holding council. So if this was the case and the Tuana’i village leadership called for the turtle to be returned to sea, then it is a decision deserving of a long and loud standing ovation, for all the other villages in the country to hear. Part of the MNRE media statement this weekend is about that. Maybe it is a sneaky and ‘El Cheepo’ way for the Ministry to go about it but it is better than nothing. A special conservation award to be presented to the village with all the media fanfare they can generate would be deserving recognition of a noble gesture. So what if there is an added show of appreciation in a couple of thousand tala to buy the chiefs lunch for their next council meeting. Remember, if this turtle was intended to be lunch for the chiefs, the poor fellas decided to go hungry so the endangered species is allowed to go free to repopulate its depleting kind. Imagine what a token award and lunch money and over flow of nation wide publicity can do to promote the conservation and preservation cause in Samoa. Unfortunately we cannot tell what the turtle population is saying but if we can find us a translator of mammal language, there will probably be an awful lot of grateful baby turtles that their father was allowed to live. So maybe there were a few little things the MNRE overlooked, in this gallant village decision to boost the conservation cause, but it does not take away from feeling good about it inside. Care of our environment is now a serious undertaking for the whole country and the national effort is encouraging. The MNRE boss CEO Tuu’u Ieti Taulealo has had a lot of good things to say about the national response. Global warming maybe the catch phrase to frighten people into conservation, but it is not really needed for Samoa – the devastation from Cyclones Ofa and Val with glancing blows from Heta, were enough thank you. Our electricity supply problems this past few weeks was an added reminder of how poor regard for our natural environment will come back to bite us in the bum. The praises are certainly there to be sung about the effort we are putting into looking after our environment properly. Hopefully our future generations will have much to thank us for leaving behind an environment where the green turtle population has recovered to the stage where we can again include them in the food chain. Comments (1) Subscribe to this comment's feed true????? written by loi, November 24, 2008 E ese le kala ga ou maua. Fai mai e vaai aku ga i koeaiiga Tuanai i le laumei e ivi lona mata ma lona papatua e limulimua, o le ala alofa lea o matai o le nuu i si mea ma fai atu loa i tama e faasola. Ae fai mai foi le isi molimau ua fiu i sue se aumaga e faia se suavai e faavela ai le ia, fai atu loa toeaiina i tamaiti e toe amo le laumei e faasola o lea e ta ane lava le lotu afiafi o tau saili se taulealea o avanoa na te faavelaina le ia. E foliga mai ua see uma lava outou na alii i si na mea mao mai le Tuamasaga he he he Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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