The Matuaileoo Environment Trust Inc. (METI) is a Charitable Trust incorporated under Part III (6) of the Charitable Trusts Act 1965, which was registered by the Registrar of Incorporated Societies of the Independent State of Samoa on 1 September 2000 under No. 86. All Trustees and the Executive Director were active in environmental and developmental work well before they decided to set up the Trust. They had therefore developed a clear vision of what should be the strategic objectives to make the Trust a successful outcome-based enterprise.

An initial gap analysis of government policies identified several areas where METI could effectively implement some of its objectives. They were: a) in the area of Capacity building of the grassroots communities towards spiritual and physical self-reliance, so that they would become equal partners in Environmental management and the sustainable development process; and b) in the area of Health promotion, specifically the diagnosis and treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a common condition among the Samoan adult population and for which government support services were lacking.

Over the years, METI has developed a wide-ranging project portfolio that covers the various activities as projected by its Objectives. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came as a ‘wake-up’ call. admits that Global Warming is destined to have a far more destructive and earlier impact than previously estimated and that significant rises of global temperatures could well be experienced by the end of this century, bringing irreversible and devastating changes to the Planet. As a result, METI has now mainstreamed climate change action in all its project and programme activities.

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[1] IPCC (2007) Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.