Message from the President at SCS AGM December 9, 2023

Talofa lava members and friends,

It has been my pleasure and privilege to have served another term as President in 2023/2024, my fifth as President.  I would like to first acknowledge and thank the 9 member Executive Board who served in 2023.  I would also like to thank our 5 hardworking and dedicated SCS staff- Faleafaga Toni Tipamaa, Aloma Black, Lafi Esera, Gene Meleisea and Paulo Vili for another big year of effort and commitment. I would also like to acknowledge our committed volunteer Ioane Etuale for supporting our work since September. You will be hearing more from the staff shortly on their respective projects.

We have been extremely busy since the 2022 AGM and I would like to highlight a few key achievements in the past 12 months. You will get more context and photos of many of these achievements in the staff presentations that follow:

• SCS income for 2022 was 470k and forecast income for 2023 is 566k tala over 9 projects
• Chloe Oldfield- a NZ volunteer supported our financial management and operational processes from Oct 22- March 23
• Moved to Xero based accounting and hired Lafi Esera our new Finance/Ops Manager
• Staff headcount maintained at 5
• Continued rat management at Malololelei in partnership with MNRE and helped secure the long term conservation of the Malololelei CA
• Continued seabird surveys with new seabirds recorded at Magiagi (Tahiti petrel) and Malololelei (Tropical shearwaters)
• Signed and maintained a trail to the highest mountain on Upolu- Mt Vaivai
• Developed and opened a new nature trail and nursery at Falealupo
• Planted more than 11,000 trees in our village projects at OLPP NP, Uafato and Falealupo
• Commenced a new conservation project at Magiagi to conserve natural and cultural heritage
• Had our 10th anniversary celebrations on July 1
• Re-opened the NUS Peace Garden in April and renewed our MOU with NUS
• Commenced a butterfly conservation project and did a feasibility study of the reintroduction of the Swallowtail Butterfly to Samoa from American Samoa
• Member activities increased with monthly member talks for most of 2023
• Coordinated the Mulinu’u Coastal Cleanup Day in September again
• Started a partnership with Live and Learn Environmental Education in October
• Featured in 11 stories in the Samoa Observer this year
• Obtained a double-cab pickup from the Yazaki Foundation for our field work
• Submitted around 6 grant applications this year and secured two major new grants for 2024- the Kiwa Inspire project at Malololelei (195k Euro) and the EU funded “Our Future is Now” (78k Euro)

Plans for 2024 and beyond:

Our main priorities for 2024 are firstly to renew our 5 year strategic plan which expires at the end of 2023, secondly to move to a bigger office space to accommodate two new staff, and finally to continue to build our capacity in administrative and financial management. We also still need to fundraise aggressively for more discretionary funds in particular so we can hire a full time Executive Director position to take over the day to day management of the organisation and relieve the Executive who are all volunteers.

To wrap up I would like to thank our many friends, partners and donors for your continued support and belief in us. Our mission is an important one and I truly believe we are making a very positive difference here in Samoa in terms of conservation. I wish the incoming Executive great success. May I also wish you all a blessed Christmas holiday season with friends and family.