NANISE NEIMILA
It was one of memorable day for the people of Nadroga/ Navosa as they were the first province to pilot ‘1Man 1Tree, 1Day Tree Planting Day’ during the launch at Tuvu village, Navosa last week.
This initiative which started out as ‘4 Million Trees in 4 Years’ initiative has now increased to 2 Million Trees per year for the next 15 years after Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s recent announcement at the World Wildlife Fund Leaders for Nature and People Event in New York in September that Fiji has the opportunity to plant around 30million trees in the next 10 to 15 years.
Minister for Forestry Osea Naiqamu thanked the village headman from the neighbouring villages for sharing the same vision as Government in ensuring that natural forest reserve is protected under this initiative.
“Fiji’s tree-planting initiative is an investment in our country, especially in our environment as a climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy.” “It is an investment in biodiversity, and our economy.
Importantly, it is an investment in our youth and children - the future of our beloved Nation.”
Minister Naiqamu added, “We all know that without a habitable planet for our children to inherit, all our work to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals will be futile”.
Tuvu village headman Neumi Leka thanked Government for having the vision to ensure that the forest reserve is preserved for the future generation.
“The effects of climate change is slowly affecting people, vegetation and our food source and that is one of the reasons why we have agreed to plant more trees in our province.”
“Trees that will be planted by today will definitely reduce soil erosion and siltation; and they will certainly offset some of our carbon output and help in our efforts to mitigate against climate change.”
Almost 30 per cent of Fiji’s total land mass is degraded landscape and these landscapes are without trees due to deforestation for various reasons.
Minister Naiqamu highlighted that some of these landscapes are predominantly covered with grass and are more prone to burning. This is common in the drier part of the islands.
“Replanting of trees in these areas will provide significant benefits both environmentally and economically.”
The Nadroga/Navosa Province has paved the way for the other 13 provinces in Fiji by allocating a tree planting day, whereby it will see a total of 33 villages situated in 5 districts with an estimated population of 10,000 people planting one or more trees on the day.
It has become the first province in Fiji to take up the tree planting initiative on a big scale.