FOTBOT volunteers attend Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands Society meeting

What took place at the meeting?

Our colleague from the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, Iain Orr gave a talk about his upbringing in Burntisland in Scotland, which is where Robert Pitcairn was from. He had a great knowledge of Pitcairn Islands, describing its politics, history, ties to the wider world and its unique biodiversity amongst other things.

Then the heads of Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands society described some of the issues faced, notably the decreasing population and bids to amend it through awareness and tourism. Anja Corlett gave a brief presentation about FOTBOT which attendees seemed to support and the heads of the society were glad that we wanted to form a partnership with them. Then we took lunch. Afterwards, a presentation was given about Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson Crusoe. This was probably my favourite part because the man was so knowledgable and had plenty of photos and maps to guide his story.

We were also shown lots of artefacts from the Pitcairns, some of them hundreds of years old, they were really interesting. And lots of literature on the island's ecology and history. I really enjoyed the meeting and all the attendees had amazing unique stories that they shared with me over lunch.