“The people of Palau have depended on their islands’ biodiversity since their first arrival several
millennia in the past…. The abundance of the natural resources of these islands have maintained
the social and economic well-being of the Palauan people; using and protecting these resources
are part of the Palauan way of life.”
So begins the Palau National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The Palau
NBSAP was developed over a 3-year period, from January 2002 through December 2004. It was
developed through an extensive process of research and multi-sectoral consultative activities
involving a broad range of government (State and National), NGO, and private sector and
community stakeholders. This process included a series of community consultations in all 16
states, held in order to discover issues, themes, and local concerns regarding biodiversity in
Palau. The state consultations were particularly important in identifying issues and actions that
are important at the community level. Scientific reviews of available literature on the nation’s
biodiversity were also undertaken, along with studies of resource use and the availability of
human, financial, and technical resources. Local capacity building was incorporated throughout
the consultative process as a secondary objective of the project.