Samoa Conservation Society

Samoa Conservation Society president James Atherton told Radio Australia the Samoa swallowtail butterfly, or Pepe Ae, was last seen there in 1979.

Mr Atherton says the butterfly can still be found in American Samoa.

He says Samoa has 30 butterfly species but the Pepe Ae was the biggest at 10 centimetres across - a blackish butterfly with white spots and also red on its wings.

Society members have been doing research on the country's terrain and sea and have included their findings in the e-book with Volume 1 focusing on hiking on Upolu and Volume 2 on Savai'i.

The book is co-authored by Ned Brown, James Atherton, Pepe Letoa and Charmina Saili.

Atherton, who is the SCS President, said e-copies of the book would be made available to schools in Samoa.

"We are still adding hikes to Volume 1 and doing the maps and photos and the book should be ready by the end of the year," he said.

The funding has been provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa announced the assistance at the opening of the Art Whistler Memorial Garden Thursday.

“We thank our N.Z. government partners for your ongoing support for conservation in Samoa.”

Sixty metal Manumea birds are being specially made by the Metalbird Company in New Zealand, who have partnered with Samoa to support the recovery of their national bird

“I hope for them to have an increase of understanding of how fragile our environment is, and also of the patriarchal things we can do as Samoan citizens, to minimise our impact. We can go further than that, to try to protect and improve our environment; to learn what causes climate change and realising that every one of us has an impact in the way we live our lives,” said Atherton.

He made the comments to students from 12 schools that were hosted by the Lanulauava Student Association.

There were students from six schools on Upolu and six from Savaii.

On Saturday May 23 around 50 members and friends of the organization met at the Malololelei Recreation Reserve to learn about the work that SCS and the MNRE are doing to save Samoa's biodiversity.

A range of short presentations were given by Leilani Duffy, James Atherton, Moeumu Uili, Jane M Va'afusuaga, Eugene Meleisea and Laulu Lei Enoka on the rat management work at Malololelei.