Key project activities in the past year include:
Initial project workshop was held in Suva from February 25 to 28, 2003. Outcomes from the workshop included the clear definition of project roles of the national coordinators, research assistants and other project staff as well as development of activities to be carried out to meet the research project objectives. Following the workshop an e-mail discussion list 'Wastenet' was established by the project and hosted by SPC. The list enables communication between members of the research team. In particular the discussion list will help to overcome the communication issues in the project related to both its multidisciplinary nature and being spread over five countries.
Activities in the last year related to specific objectives were as follows.
Objective 1: The project has developed links with the LEAD project in FAO and is currently testing and modifying the NuFlux nutrient model for use in Pacific island countries. The NuFlux model will provide information required to develop an appropriate economic model to illustrate the benefits from alternative options for livestock waste management. Initial results from testing of the model suggest that with limited modification it will be useful in the Pacific. Additional data specific to model requirements are now being collected by research assistants and country representatives.
Objective 2: Training workshop for research assistants was led by Lionel Gibson in November 2002 to prepare the research assistants for the initial data collection. The research assistants then travelled to their home countries and the first phase of data collection was carried out in three of the four project countries during the period December 2002 to February 2003. The research assistants then presented their data to the project meeting held from 25 to 28 February in Suva.
Objective 3: The identification of culturally acceptable strategies for managing animal waste is building on the findings of the initial work by the research assistants. Important in this has been the perception of the communities in the larger islands that the current situation is acceptable-in contrast to those on the atoll islands who feel a strong need for action. Initial environmental monitoring suggests that on larger islands animal waste is playing a role in reducing water quality. A workshop was held in September 2003 to work with environmental health officers from the various countries as well as research assistants and country project leaders to develop methods of environmental monitoring to assist communities.

During the past year considerable progress has been made towards meeting the objectives. In particular further consultations have been held with the various communities in Fiji, Tuvalu, Tonga and Kiribati as well as with government departments involved with agriculture and environmental management and health. The communities have been enthusiastic in their response to the consultation process and in some cases are starting to take over management of the process.

A workshop on environmental monitoring was held in Suva, Fiji from 16 to 18 September 2003. Participants including staff from departments of environment and agriculture from the four countries involved with the project attended the workshop. The workshop participants developed protocols to monitor the environmental impact of changes in the management of animal wastes and received training on the use of equipment supplied by the project to assist in that monitoring. Workshop participants are now working with the various communities to develop community environmental monitoring systems so that the communities are able to monitor the impacts of changes in the animal waste management systems associated with pig production on the health of their local environments. Preliminary environmental analysis on waterways and soils has been undertaken by project staff in various Fijian villages and the results from that analysis together with other factors such as land condition, vegetation cover and odour, will form the baseline for comparisons after implementation of the animal waste management systems. Water sampling was undertaken at Votua and Komave Villages where interventions have been planned. Further information on the background condition of the physical environment is provided by investigations carried out at Lutu and Navicular villages into soils and local waterways. Full analysis of the data is yet to be undertaken however, in the water quality results there are indications of organic contamination in the form of low dissolved oxygen at Navicula Village, evidence of animal and/or human waste contamination demonstrated by the presence of high faecal coliform levels at Lutu, Votua and Komave Villages and nutrient contamination with the presence of oxygen supersaturation at Votua and Komave Villages.

Community workshops to design appropriate integrated pig production and waste management facilities have been held in Fiji, Tuvalu and Tonga. At the workshops the communities involved with the project in association with project staff determined the features they believed were needed in pig pens and associated waste disposal systems. Using a cooperative approach the communities developed and produced designs with those designs now being drawn up by staff from local public works departments. The design workshops focussed on the production of facilities that can be build using local skills and materials and that are within the financial capacities of families. In this way once project support is no longer available families will be able to continue to improve their animal and waste management. The communities will meet again with project staff to examine and modify the designs to ensure they meet labour availability as well as environmental and animal husbandry requirements before construction commences.

Studies using the FAO developed NuFlux nutrient flow model have highlighted various issues with respect to nutrient management in Fiji. Initial findings of the study indicate that at the national level, in Western Division and in Nadroga Provenance there was a general undersupply of N and K2O and a surplus of Mg, Cu and Zn. The levels for P2O5 varied being balanced at the national level, but in undersupply at the division level and in high surplus at the provincial level, the reasons for this variation are currently being examined. All of the above elements and compounds were found to be in high surplus for the individual commercial pig farm examined. The lack of site-specific information constrained the development of the Nu-Flux AWI Model for Pacific Island Countries, especially in the animal production subsystem. However, the process did identify these information gaps for future research requirements and resulted in some significant changes in the model outputs from the original default values. Therefore, further modelling studies need to be carried out to determine the veracity of this finding and provide further information on the situation for the areas of the Coral Coast included in the project. Base data for Kiribati and Tuvalu have been collected but it is necessary to confirm the reliability of that data before commencing any modelling studies. The studies have required the collection of Pacific Islands published data in relation to nutrient demand of plant crops. Through developing and applying the model, appropriate management strategies can be determined to assist policy and decision makers in protecting and enhancing the associated social, economic and natural resources.

Considerable progress has been made in the last twelve months towards meeting the objectives of the project. The project has continued the consultation with communities and, in partnership with the communities has moved to an implementation phase in which new piggeries with alternative waste management systems are being constructed. New piggeries were constructed in Fiji, construction commenced in Tonga and an existing piggery was renovated for demonstration purposes in Tuvalu.

One new piggery was constructed in Votua Village on the Coral Coast of Vitu Levu, Fiji. The area has an increasing human population due to the growth of the tourism industry. This had led to an increased number of pigs and therefore higher risk of water contamination from pig waste. The new piggery is built away from water sources and is a simple construction that could be copied elsewhere. Further work has been carried out at one village in Fiji with an emphasis on the catchment above the village. Several sources of faecal pollution have been identified and are being investigated. It has been found that while the village had reticulated water that the small dam and reservoir were insufficient to meet the needs of the community and therefore contaminated water from the creek adjacent to the village was still the main source of water to the community. Water monitoring has been carried out monthly for over three years and good quality data is available to show the environmental and health risks of contaminated water.

Two new piggeries are being constructed in Ahua, Tonga and will be used as demonstration sites. This project aligns with and will provide information to support the AusAID project on total solid waste management in Tonga. The Tongan Agriculture Department, one of the project partners, is working with the Ministry of Forestry in Tonga and the Tonga Trust (an NGO), that are both working on solid waste management.

The project generated support and interest from the UNDP/GEF International Waters Project that has similar aims and activities in several Pacific Island countries. An agreement was developed to share information between the projects and provide support where relevant.

A consultant in Fiji was employed to assess the success of participation in the project in the two villages that were contacted at the beginning of the project. A report was produced that gave good insights into dealing with waste management and working with communities in Fiji. The objectives of the consultancy were:
1. To assess the understanding of and response to the intervention by the community
2. To analyse the factors that may have contributed to the acceptance of the project in Votua and its rejection in Komave.
3. To consider the knowledge and view that the community has of other projects /institutions operating in the area.
4. To provide recommendations on how waste management community process may be improved in future and a checklist of factors that may hinder and those that may promote community collaboration.

A major study has been conducted on the importance of pigs in Pacific culture, filling a large gap in the documented knowledge. This study brought together information on the historical links between pigs and people and provides insights into the attitudes of people towards pigs and the customs of raising pigs and using them for ceremonies.

The project has continued to develop and review methods to reduce the impact of livestock waste on the physical environment in Pacific island countries through a combination of methods. One of the key areas of the project was the critique of methods currently used to engage with communities in order to develop more effective ways for engagement. As part of the process a workshop involving all project participants including farmers from each of the participating countries was held in Suva, Fiji. The workshop provided a forum for all participants to outline the activities that had taken place, the outputs from those activities and the broader impact of the project and its activities on the community. In addition the workshop participants were invited to critique the research processes. The workshop also formed an important part of the ACIAR managed external review of the project.

The workshop demonstrated that many impacts had occurred as a result of the project. The impacts included significant capacity building in communities and government organisations in relation to animal waste management, that farmers from the villages but not directly involved with the project have also modified their management systems in line with those in the project demonstrating the use of that increased capacity.

Workshop participants also highlighted Issues related to communication and project management in particular in the more isolated countries involved in the project. In part the issues relate to physical issues with breakdowns in communication due to issues with equipment failure a key feature. The issues associated with project management related in part to the varying expectations from the project of the various participants. Each group of participants appear to have a different perspective as to what the project will be able to do for them and each jurisdiction had different ways of managing external projects. Another key issue is the nature of research projects versus development projects and the need for clarity as to the aims of the project and their relationship to the expectations of the participants. This issue of perspectives of projects is currently being explored by the project as part of the research process.

All of the farmers who attended the workshop were pleased to have been involved with the project and proud of what they had achieved in the design and construction of alternative piggeries. In particular the Tongan farmer Paea Kisepi commented that many farmers not only from his village but also from other districts had visited his piggery after they had heard about it. As a result numerous other farmers in the village have also changed the way in which they manage their pigs and now house them rather than allowing them to range freely and use the manure in their gardens and plantations. Farmers at the workshop from Tuvalu and Fiji also reported that other members of their communities had demonstrated an interest in the piggery once construction had commenced and that those members of the community were interested in learning from the experience gained from the project.