Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project
Te Ngāhere - The Forest
Sirebe Tribe is a member of the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project, which brings together eight tribes and helps legally protect more than 7,000 hectares of tropical rainforest on South Choiseul in Solomon Islands.
Sirebe’s customary forest is 806 hectares and is reached via the Kolombangara River. The river and forest alongside it are rich in biodiversity and comprise part of the nationally important Mount Maetambe Kolombangara River Corridor.
The healthy and intact rainforests that are protected as part of the Babatana project provide habitat for 21 frog species and many important birds including Midget flowerpeckers, Golden whistlers, Song parrots, Eclectus parrots, Crested cuckoo doves, black and white monarchs, White–billed crows, Blyth’s hornbills, fruit doves, lorikeets and Ultramarine kingfishers.
Choiseul is also home to the highest number of native mammals in the Solomon Islands, including the Giant horseshoe bat, and 14 species of reptiles including the green bellied skink, Pacific black skink and the Solomon red krait.
Te Tāngata - The People
Sirebe are leaders in conservation carbon projects in Solomon Islands. They were the first tribe in the country to establish an official Protected Area under the Solomon Islands Protected Areas Act and have been selling credits since 2021. They completed their second project verification in 2025.
Income from credit sales has contributed to livelihood needs, school fees and sanitation facilities, with benefits shared fairly among community members. Sirebe families have also invested in alternative incomes including a fishing business, mechanic workshop and bakery
Following the leadership of Sirebe Tribe, other Babatana tribes have joined this initiative including Siporae, Vuri, Padezaka, Garasa and Lukulobere. Right across the Babatana lands, each forest conservation carbon project is owned and led by the Indigenous customary landowners.
Forests, rivers and coastal environments provide the main source of food, income, medicine, building materials, water, firewood and cultural connection for all the communities in the Babatana project.
Wāhi - The Location
Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project is located on the southern coast of Choiseul Island, in the Solomon Islands.
Technical Stuff
Sirebe: Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project
Project Name
806 ha of protected rainforest
Project Area
Sirebe Community Company Ltd (representing Sirebe Tribe)
Project Owner
Nakau (Program Operator), NRDF (Project Coordinator), Ekos (Technical Services)
Project Developers
Babatana Area, South Choiseul, Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands
Project Location
Baseline Scenario
Continuation of conventional logging
Permanent forest protection
Project Scenario
Improved Forest Management: logged to protected forest (IFM-LtPF)
Activity Type
Carbon sequestration; carbon emissions reduction; biodiversity conservation; water quality protection; climate resilience; community alternative income.
Project Benefits
Not applicable
Trees Planted
108,895 tCO2e
Carbon Credits Issued
Carbon Credit Standard
CPMA (Sweden), and Shawn McMahon (first verification). Mutu International (second verification)
Verifier
S & P Global Registry
Carbon Credit Registry
Whāia Te Pūtea - Follow The Money
Rainforest conservation costs money. The main cost elements are:
Conservation management such as forest ranger and management committee salaries, monitoring boundaries to safeguard against illegal logging and tracking biodiversity.
Opportunity costs. This is the logging revenue for community and economic development that landowners chose to give up so they can protect the forest. Carbon income contributes to alternative community development and small business enterprise.
Measurement, reporting and verification costs of an internationally certified project, where rangers are required to regularly report that the forest protection is real and permanent. Costs are also required for remote forest monitoring technology to verify carbon measurement and reporting.
Ekos served as technical lead for the development of this project. This was a fruitful partnership between Nakau, NRDF, Live & Learn International, and the local community. Ekos also co-founded Nakau along with Live and Learn International, but we are no longer a shareholder.
The project would not have been possible without each contributor to this partnership for nature.
