Pathfinders in Kiribati plant 1,160 mangrove seedlings

World Pathfinder Day 2026 in Kiribati became an environmental work day on the coast. On Sunday, September 20, 2026, a group of more than 50 Pathfinders from the Kiribati Mission, in the Central Pacific, put 1,160 mangrove propagules into the ground on the Tarawa coast, according to the Adventist Record, the official magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific, which ran the story on September 29. The 10- to 15-year-olds had adult company, from young adults to church leaders and pastors; Pastor Taabua Rokeatau, president of the Kiribati Mission, was part of the group.

The seedlings came from the government. Technicians from the Environment and Conservation Division (ECD), part of Kiribati's Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development, brought the propagules and oversaw the planting. On October 3, the Adventist News Network (ANN), the official news agency of the Adventist Church, included the planting in its worldwide roundup of the day, next to reports from Brazil, Bangladesh and southern Africa.

📰How was World Pathfinder Day 2026 celebrated in Kiribati?

World Pathfinder Day fell on Saturday, September 19, 2026, under “Speak, Lord!”, the World Pathfinder Day 2026 theme. In Kiribati, the work day that marked the celebration was held the next day, a Sunday, on the Tarawa coast.

The report does not say which stretch of coast was planted or how long the work took, and the two church sources publish the same figures. In the ANN roundup, Kiribati shares space with the celebration in Bangladesh, told in our coverage of World Pathfinder Day in Bangladesh and Mongolia.

As the Pathfinder ministry marks its 76th year, the stories from World Pathfinder Day show a generation not only listening for God's voice but also answering.Alfred Kwasi Asiem, associate director of General Conference Youth Ministries, quoted by ANN, 2026

🤝Who took part, and what role did the government play?

The Adventist Record story does not give an exact count of Pathfinders; it says only “more than 50.” Of the adults present, the only one it names is Pastor Taabua Rokeatau, president of the Kiribati Mission.

According to the Adventist Record, the ECD expressed its gratitude to the Adventists for lending a hand in caring for the country's islands and natural resources. Leeden Aluta, youth director of the Kiribati Mission, summed up the day: “Our kids enjoyed planting and are looking forward to more community service activities like this.”

📊How many mangrove seedlings were planted in Tarawa?

Because the group included adults, the published data do not allow a per-Pathfinder count. And the figure counts seedlings: a tree is what each one may become, if it takes root and gets follow-up care.

Sources: Adventist Record (Sept. 29, 2026) and ANN (Oct. 3, 2026).

🌊Why is sea level rise a concern for Kiribati?

Kiribati is a nation of atolls: 33 of them, scattered across the Central Pacific and adding up to roughly 800 km² of dry land, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). At their highest points, these islands sit 3 to 4 meters above mean sea level. UNDP ranks the country among the world's most vulnerable to climate change and reports that erosion is already wearing away the coast and that storm-surge water is already pushing onto land. In the 2020 Census, Kiribati had 119,438 inhabitants, according to the country's National Statistics Office.

Tarawa, home to the Kiribati Mission office, feels this up close. In September 2024, experts from the Copenhagen Climate Centre, linked to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), studied two South Tarawa sites highly exposed to rising seas and erosion: Tungaru Central Hospital and Bonriki village. Mangrove restoration was among the solutions they assessed.

🌱What is a mangrove propagule, and why are mangroves important?

UNEP describes mangroves as trees and shrubs that tolerate salt water and grow at the edge of the sea. It points to them as nurseries for fish and crustaceans and as a natural barrier for the coast against storm surges, tsunamis, erosion and sea level rise. The ECD, speaking to the Adventist Record, adds the local effect: the trees hold the islands' soil together and slow the loss of natural resources.

The report uses the expression “mangrove pods,” another name for propagules. In mangroves of the Rhizophoraceae family, in genera such as Rhizophora and Bruguiera, the embryo sprouts while still attached to the parent plant, a trait called vivipary. A 2023 study from Xiamen University, in China, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, sums up the advantage in a setting of salt, tides and unstable soil: the seedling leaves the tree better protected, travels on the water and takes hold more easily.

⛪What is the church's background in Kiribati?

According to the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, the Kiribati Mission belongs to the Trans Pacific Union Mission, based in Suva, Fiji, within the South Pacific Division. We have already told another chapter of this story, including where Kiribati is, in our report on the 2021 baptisms in Kiribati.

🧭How do you plant mangroves with your club?

The lesson from Tarawa applies in Brazil too: mangrove planting is done with people who know the site. In Brazil, under the Forest Code (Law 12,651/2012, Article 4, item VII), mangroves are Permanent Preservation Areas along their entire extent. That is why the safe route there is to contact the city or state environmental agency and join one of its projects, with the species, site and season chosen by specialists.

To organize the work day and care for the seedlings afterward, use our guide to tree planting with your Pathfinder Club. The planting can also count as one of the four hands-on actions in requirement 7 of the Ecology Honor (check with your instructor first).