NANISE NEIMILA
As Government aims to achieve its target of planting 30 million trees in 15 years, Minister for Forest Osea Naiqamu is on mission to ensure that this target is achieved.
Minister Naiqamu with his team of officials are currently visiting villages in Udu Point with the clear message that the Government’s efforts to revive the forest sector cannot be done alone but needs support from all Fijians.
While holding consultation in villages in Vanua Levu namely Qaranivai, Nukudamu, Nabouono, Yasawa, Gasauva, Tawake, Wainigadru and Vunikodi, he reiterated that reviving the forestry sector cannot be done in isolation.
“We will continue to build on the recovery strategies. The consultations will for instance, provide the ministry an opportunity to enhance its facilitation processes without negotiating standards that will ensure the sustainable management of our forest resources.”
“As a community we need to continue to recover our forests and encourage our younger generation on the importance of tree-planting.”
Minister Naiqamu emphasised with “the frequent tropical cyclones and low-pressure systems that has gone past us in the past few months, we have to come to a realisation that climate change is not some far off problem, it’s happening here and it’s happening now”.
“We would like to drive this concept of tree planting because scientifically it has been proven that to mitigate the effects of climate change, we need to replenish our forest cover that is by planting more trees.”
Minister Naiqamu also highlighted the high demand of sandalwood trees where he has assured people that they can cater for the high demand as stakeholders have assured the Ministry their support towards their “30 Million Trees in 15 Years” initiative.
“Specifically, we hope to encourage more Fijians to actively participate in Fiji’s tree-planting revolution. This has now become one of our core functions aimed at protecting the environment, enhancing biodiversity, and addressing climate change.
“Fiji’s tree-planting initiative, which His Excellency the President launched in January last year, is gaining much traction.”
With the help of the communities, the ministry has so far planted over 1.9 Million trees and mangroves, covering close to 2,000 hectares.
Minister Naiqamu reminded the villagers that they need to plant more trees and grow more forests.
“Trees and forests are home to over 80 per cent of all species including plants, animals, and insects. Forests are increasingly becoming the most tangible nature-based solution to addressing climate change through counteracting carbon emissions.”
Meanwhile, the ministry of forests recently launched two tree-planting dashboards.
The first is the public tree-planting dashboard which will enable any member of the public who plant trees to log in and provide details such as their names and contact, the types and number of trees planted, the location and photographs.
The Ministry will then validate the information by physically checking on the ground before the details are transferred into the second dashboard.
The second dashboard will contain only the validated information. This dashboard has so far recorded over 1.2 million trees and mangroves.
The rest of the trees and mangroves will be added into the dashboard as soon as the information have been physically validated.
The dashboards will keep the public informed as we progress with our ultimate goal of planting 30 million trees and mangroves within 15 years.