In the past 15 years according to a recent study, 70,000 hectares have been lost to unsustainable logging, unsustainable agriculture, clearing, burning and improper land use.
A major initiative has been launched today (13) by the Ministry of Primary Industries and Nature Fiji-MareqetiViti to encourage landowners throughout the country to use their forests wisely.
The new Fiji Forest Policy (2007) has been translated into Fijian. This publication will be distributed to landowners throughout Fiji and plans are now underway to introduce an awareness campaign.
“Working with the Fiji Department of Forests and the provincial offices, we plan to visit selected mataqali in Vanua Levu and Viti Levu.
“This will provide an opportunity to explain the role that landowners play in ensuring sustainable forest management.
They need to know their rights and obligations under the new forest policy,” said Nunia Thomas, Conservation Coordinator, NatureFiji-MareqetiViti.
“We will establish a forum in which landowners can voice their questions and opinions about the Fiji Forest Policy to the Fiji Department of Forestry because this is a living document and it is important that we get feedback,” she said.
She said that 80 percent of land in Fiji is owned by the mataqalis and is their main source of their livelihood, especially to the rural people.
It is a direct supplier of timber and non-timber products; the provider of environmental functions such as soil conservation, regulate water catchments, and carbon sinks; and for their various social and cultural values.
“It is a home of a wide range of unique birds, mammals, freshwater fauna, reptiles and amphibians, insects and other invertebrates.
Many of these are endangered, with at least eight Critically Endangered species (IUCN 2007) and over 250 other species have been identified as threatened.
In addition to the loss of our biodiversity, we are also losing our traditional environmental knowledge, dialects and even basic customs,” she added.
In 2009 NatureFiji-MareqetiViti and BirdLife International secured a grant from the Aage. V. Jensen Charity Foundation to implement their ‘Creating Permanent Forest Estates for Fiji’s People and Biodiversity’ project - the launch is the result of their contribution, Miss Thomas said.