MINISTER SERUIRATU - ADDRESS ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS

21/03/2014


Address by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forests
Minister for Rural & Maritime Development & National Disaster Management On the International Day of Forests

MR. INIA B. SERUIRATU

Date: 21st March, 2014
Venue: Thurston Garden, Suva
Day: Friday


Distinguished Guests
Government Officials,
Non Government Officials,
Members of the Media,
Stakeholders,
Students and Teachers,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Morning to you all,

It is a great pleasure to see you in here this morning in joining us and others around Fiji and around the world in this significant international occasion on raising awareness and celebrating the important role that forest play in supporting life on earth and providing for the needs of all humanity.

In this regard, I wish to thank all Government Departments who are represented here today, Regional Organizations, NGOs, Corporate Bodies, Private Sector, and individuals. Most importantly I wish to thank the schools and teachers who are here today, schools had always been a key player in raising awareness on the importance of forests and trees.

Ladies and gentlemen
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the 21st of March every year as the International Day of Forests starting from 2013, in order to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests. The key massage from the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon: “As we deliberate on the post-2015 development agenda, let us acknowledge the vital role of forests and pledge to work together to protect and sustainably manage these vital ecosystems”. And in recognition of this, Fiji has identified a theme which some of you may have seen in the newspaper this week and in the TV as well which says:

“Celebrate our Forests- RISE (Restore; Improve; Sustain; and Enhance”

A national call to rise to the occasion and a call to rise to the challenge.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Your presence here today is a positive indication of your pledge to working together to promote, protect and sustainably manage our trees and forests and the vital ecosystem services it provides.

And there can never be a more fitting place to hold this occasion than right here in Thurston Garden, in the Heart of the City of Suva. I therefore wish to thank the Special Administrator of Suva for his support in this, and I hope that this occasion will further contribute to the current work at Thurston Garden that was recently launched by his Excellency the President of Fiji with support from a number of organization including funding from The Global Environment Facility (GEF) in an effort to raise the profile of the Thurston Garden.

Raising Awareness:
The Ministry of Fisheries and Forests initiated a major awareness campaign in a serious way from 2010 to 2011 (with a significant budget) in which a target to plant 1 million trees in 12 months in which all the whole country participated, and the target was surpassed.

This was done to raise awareness on the essential role that forests play in supporting national development and livelihoods, we can never say at one point that we had raised enough awareness and we need to take a break. In this regard, government has always allocated significant amounts of funds annually (over $200,000 annually) for raising awareness on the importance of forests in providing for our livelihoods, and also for the implementation of informal training programs to forest owning communities on how to make better management decisions with regard to the utilization of their forest resources. These activities are often carried out in partnership with or solely by our other development partners such as International Organizations; Regional Bodies, NGOs, and sometime community groups. I therefore wish to thank everyone who had contributed in one way or another in raising awareness on the importance of forests and trees.

So often, we take for granted the most precious things in life such as: fresh air; clean water; food; shelter, and medicine. Forests and trees play a significant role in the provision of these items. Trees play a vital role in providing fresh air “a byproduct of photosynthesis”. All our cities, towns, villages, schools, and government stations are supplied with water that is sourced from our forests; our agricultural plains that supplies our markets with food are irrigated by rivers that flows out of forests, a significant amount of our national power need comes from hydro-power; a significant amount of food sold in our markets and beside the road are from forests: examples are: Ivi; Tarawau; Kavika; Dawa; Wi; Tamarin; Duruka; Ota. Most of our houses and furniture are from timber. Over half of the medicine that is sold in our pharmacies are derived from plant based materials that are found only in forest ecosystems. The papers that we write on including paper packaging materials are made from trees. Basically forests and trees is the backbone that provides the services that we need in order just to live. It therefore freely provides support to the economy and national development, all these services if economically valued runs into hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Celebrating Forests

The ecosystem services that forests provide are always taken for granted, and is always totally absent from our national accounting books, and if we try to value it, the figures can really be enormous. A study was undertaken in 1994 to try and value Fiji’s ecosystem services, Forests and mangroves contributes a total value of over $543.7 million annually in terms of ecosystem services, the forest is indeed “our silent provider”. These figures are never appreciated, and not accounted for in our national books for various reasons. It brings home the message that the central role that forests freely play in supporting national development and sustaining livelihoods must be celebrated. Trees and forests are to be loved, protected, nurtured, and enhanced for what they are, and celebrated for all that they had to freely offer. Today the whole world is celebrating this, and we are here today to join in that celebration.

Working together

Working together in collaboration is the key to addressing forest related issues due to issues associated with land tenure and forest ownership. Compared to other Pacific Island Countries, Fiji is fortunate that we have a number of International and Regional and Local Organizations including NGOs that we work in collaboration together with rural communities in raising awareness. A number of key organizations that the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests is working together with in 2014 are: GIZ in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation; Regional REDD+ Project on Sustainable Forest Management including REDD Plus: The Global Environment Facility and FAO in the Management of Forest Protect Areas; the Global Environment Facility and UNDP on the Ridge to Reef Project; the European Union with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) on the Reforestation and Afforestation in the sugar cane areas in the Western Division, Nature Fiji and Mareqeti Viti on the Establishment of Permanent Forests Estate, and another one which is in the pipe line which is with the International Timber Organization (ITTO) on the Management of Mangroves in the Rewa Delta, with an estimated total value of expenditure of close to $50 million Fiji Dollars of external funding, this figure excludes the amounts for NGOs.

Protecting our Forests
Fiji has a total land area of 1.827 million hectares of which 58% is covered with Forests, consisting of 85.3% natural forests, 2.4% pine (Pinus Carribaea) plantations and 5.0% of mahogany (Sweitenia macrophylla) plantations. Fiji’ forests are home to at least 1,518 species of vascular plants, of which 50.1% are endemic and 9.9% of Fiji is protected under IUCN categories. The national program for the protection of Fiji’s forest biodiversity is contained within Fiji’s “National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan” (NBSAP 2010). Forest degradation due to number of issues ranging from economic, social, and demographic, were identified in 2009 as a major issue posing a great degree of threat to the sustainability of Fiji’s forest ecosystem.

The cornerstone of the 2007 Forest Policy is Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Protection and Conservation is a major objective. In this regard, Fiji is going to look at how we can review and strengthen our policies and legislations in order to better protect our forests and the services they offer, and this work is currently underway under the Fiji Protected Areas Committee.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One thing is clear, and that is we cannot continue to ignore the important role that forest play in supporting livelihoods and as a backbone to national development, and the need to continue to raise awareness on this important issue. With those words I would like to encourage us to continue the good effort of working together and raising more awareness on the important role of forests.

Finally I would like to thank all those that provide financial support and support in kind to enable us to stage a successful occasion and celebration today. A special appreciation is extended to all those who paid media coverage and newspaper articles in regards to this occasion.

I urge you all, to each plant a tree today

May God blesses us all.