Wan Smolbag's
Environmental Drama

Sea turtles are endangered everywhere in the world and getting rural fishers to consider not killing them or people from raiding their nesting sites is a complex and difficult issue. In most Pacific islands, there is no enforcement of fisheries regulations or laws - even where these exist. Many people in Vanuatu did not fully understand the plight of the turtles or why they were endangered. In 1995, during the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme's Year of the Sea Turtle, Wan Smolbag Theatre performed a special sea turtle play in communities around Efate. The troupe came up with the idea of having village based turtle monitors who would report on the numbers of turtles coming ashore to lay eggs and help with an ongoing campaign to help the sea turtles recover. These monitors went on to develop their own organization that is now funded by SPREP. They meet for workshops and visit other islands to talk to villagers about their work and encourage turtle conservation. They also teach outer island turtle monitors to tag turtles. The network is now mobilizing around other coastal issues such as over-harvesting of beche-de-mer and unsustainable logging.  Today, Vanuatu is one of the leading Pacific nations in turtle conservation thanks to the widespread community support and the continued information on turtle numbers and movement from the village turtle monitors.

On the Reef is a video production that was funded by the British Government (DFID) and NZ ODA. It is the story of a triton, a crab, a sea cucumber, an octopus and a fish practicing for the "Great Reef Band Competition." The other competitors are going to arrive in a few tides and they need to choose a song, but it's very hard to decide. This amusing, poignant musical looks at marine life under threat. It has had a big effect on villagers around Vanuatu and has helped everyone understand the dangers of over-exploiting marine resources. The video was distributed throughout the Pacific by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme as a cornerstone of their Year of the Coral Reef Program.

Logging is one of the most controversial environmental issues in Melanesia. The indigenous peoples of Melanesia own their land, and certainly in Vanuatu, this right is protected through the Country’s Constitution giving them ultimate control on how their land and resources are to be managed. Foreign logging companies have been working in Vanuatu, and elsewhere in Melanesia, for decades, having convinced custom landowners to sign logging agreements. This has lead in the past to little-regulated, and unsustainable harvesting practices that bring with it long term environmental disasters, including the loss of soil, contamination of water sources, and loss of the non-timber forest products like leaf medicines, local building resources and traditional hunting grounds.

In 1998, Vanuatu passed a new "Code of Logging Practices," setting out criteria for sustainable, minimum impact logging. For it to work, however, communities need to be aware of the code, how it can benefit them, and how they can help enforce the law by monitoring logging activities. The Project Manager of the AusAID funded Vanuatu Sustainable Forest Utilisation Project, David Wood, said, "The single best thing I have done during the three years of the Sustainable Logging Project was to ask Wan Smolbag Theater to design and perform a play on sustainable logging practices."  Not only did the group produce a powerful drama, they trained a local theatre group from that island to perform the play, and in the accompanying workshop, used the local language to enhance the power of the drama. 

The Department of Fisheries worked with the Wan Smolbag Theater to enlist community support for conservation of marine resources. 

Community theatre, especially participatory theatre, where the villagers themselves become the creatures of the reef, the trees of the forest, or the turtles in the sea, thoroughly engages people in the issues.