Ridge to Reef Marine Monitoring of Fanga'uta Lagoon, Tonga, October 2017

This dataset is an outcome of a project titled: “Integrated Environmental Management of the Fanga’uta Lagoon Catchment” Project Overview This Global Environment Fund (GEF) project seeks to conserve the ecosystem services of the Fanga’uta Lagoon Catchment on the Tongatapu Island of the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific through an integrated land, water and coastal management approach thereby protecting livelihoods and food production and enhancing climate resilience. The project is part of the Program on “Pacific Islands Ridge-to-Reef National Priorities – Integrated Water, Land, Forest and Coastal Management to Preserve Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Store carbon, Improve Climate Resilience and Sustain Livelihoods” under GEF support, maintaining and enhancing the ecosystem goods and services of Tonga’s main lagoon catchment and marine reserve areas through integrated approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management that contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience. It also makes a stronger linkage between sustainable development of freshwater catchment and coastal areas and promotes the implementation of holistic, integrated management of natural resources at the catchment level. The project objective is to conserve the ecosystem services of the Fanga’uta Lagoon through an integrated land, water and coastal management approach thereby protecting livelihoods and food production and enhancing climate resilience. This will be achieved through interventions at two interconnected levels: national and site level. Targeting to achieve an integrated management and conservation of the lagoon ecosystem services, the project devised and implemented creative ways to address the critical gaps in environmental and ecosystem services conservation in the Fanga’uta Lagoon catchment through the establishment of an effective governance system and sustainable management of the lagoon ecosystems; implement integrated environmental management approaches for improving conditions of critical habitats, productivity, water quality and fisheries in the lagoon catchment; and strengthen knowledge and awareness of the Fanga’uta Lagoon ecosystem functions and associated socio-economic benefits within the national stakeholders and local communities. Project interventions were structured according to these three interconnected components and have been designed and developed through a participatory process and subsequent consultations with the Tongan Government and other stakeholders.