{"id":15674,"date":"2017-03-31T00:49:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T15:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/?page_id=15674"},"modified":"2023-01-20T05:54:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T20:54:37","slug":"public-service","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/education\/public-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”center” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1491340463094{padding-top: 50px !important;background-color: #e2d62d !important;}”][vc_column][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”Education Menu” el_class=”extra”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1495496079716{padding-top: 75px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]CRRF has always worked towards the goal of being a “positive asset” to Palau, doing things that will benefit Palau and make a worthwhile contribution. We have had active engagement in education programs about important resources in Palau, such as Jellyfish Lake and fish spawning aggregations, for students, the Koror State Rangers, managers and law makers responsible for protected areas.\u00a0Worthwhile activities can also include less visible efforts to assist with protection and promotion of environmental work. We often ask “what will people want to know in 100 years from now.” \u00a0With that long term focus in mind, we try to provide some of that information. \u00a0If we don’t make an effort today, then there will be nothing for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Additionally, we believe it is important to share with the public our findings or new discoveries made during our work.\u00a0 We give a variety of talks to interested groups, such as the Palau Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Belau Tourism Association and the local community.<\/p>\n

One of our most important public service activities has been reviewing Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB) Environmental Assessments (EA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) since 1996. CRRF was a major reviewer of the Palau Compact Road project EIS, as well as the supplementary project EIS to dredge coral sand fill from villages in Babeldaob.\u00a0 This was the largest public works project ever undertaken in Palau and the EIS prepared was massive, covering the marine, terrestrial and archeological aspects of the project.\u00a0 When the construction kicked off in 2000, there was no mechanism to do overall monitoring of the disturbances and progress.\u00a0 CRRF proposed to do aerial photographic monitoring of the construction every three months for the duration of the project. \u00a0For the next 5 years both vertical and oblique aerial photos were shot at regular intervals of the entire road way and provided to the contractors and the Palau National Government.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”16674,16675″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1494382055180{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”16676″ img_size=”full” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]In the same spirit CRRF started taking regular aerial photographs of every major infrastructure project in Palau without having any funding support\u00a0 to do this. For us, this is “public service”. Such projects included the Palau National Capitol, the new KB Bridge (to replace the one that collapsed in 1996) and many smaller construction and road building projects.\u00a0 The Koror landfill has been the subject of regular photographic coverage as well as various dredge and fill project throughout Palau. We have also assisted many visiting researchers and local scientists by providing aerial images of their study areas and documenting how things have changed over time.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Among the most exciting of these was photographing all the massive earthwork terraces of Babeldaob for Dr. Jolie Liston, an authority on these structures. Babeldaob has the largest earthworks found anywhere in the Pacific Islands and these are most easily seen from the air.\u00a0 Such photos provide a perspective on these cultural icons that most Palauans have never seen able to see themselves and help to guide archeological work on the sites.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”16673″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1495496089469{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 75px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Another public service contribution was a report on beach erosion in the rock islands of Koror.\u00a0 It had become a serious issue by 2010 and CRRF volunteered to do a preliminary study\u00a0of how the beaches, heavily used for tourism, had changed.\u00a0 The report concluded that the changes seen were “natural” to an extent, but that efforts of control the movement of the sand were often making matters worse.\u00a0 Interestingly, the early concerns about beach erosion in the rick Islands were “swept away” by typhoon Bopha in December 2012, which caused immense changes in these beaches, far beyond what had been seen from earlier gradual erosion.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”yes” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”16672″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”center” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1491340463094{padding-top: 50px !important;background-color: #e2d62d !important;}”][vc_column][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”Education Menu” el_class=”extra”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1495496079716{padding-top: 75px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]CRRF has always worked towards the goal of being a “positive asset” to Palau, doing things that will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":18249,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full_width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18328,"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15674\/revisions\/18328"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coralreefpalau.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}