Conservation in Fiji

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Revision as of 07:46, 13 February 2007

Conservation in Fiji

Fiji signed and ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in June, 1992. Fiji also signed and ratified the Convention on Endangered Species (CITES) in 2000 and the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 2002.

National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBSAP) was developed in response to CBD and correlates with much of FIME Conservation Plan (see below). The NBSAP makes a thorough assessment of Fiji’s natural environment, denoting it within it as a component the significance of Fiji’s marine environment, its biodiversity, state of existing knowledge, valuation of benefits derived from it, trends in current biodiversity utlisation and the need for marine biodiversity management and protection. papers/10 Ecoregion Planning and Conservation - Kesaia Tabunakawai & Francis Areki.pdf| ref

WWF Fiji Country Programme. WWF Fiji has been working with the community to identify the best strategies for local resource owners to better manage their reef and increase their capacity to manage income generating activities. The following projects are currently been carried out in Fiji:

• of Protected Areas
• Community Resilience to Adverse Impacts of Coral Bleaching
• Fijian Community Resilience towards Effective Management of their Fishing Grounds
• Domestic Turtle Harvest through Community Education and Participation in Turtle Management

Islands Marine Ecoregion (FIME). Since mid-2002 WWF began to drive the process for developing an FIME Conservation Plan for sustaining Fiji’s marine environment which will support and add to the NBSAP. In 2003, more than 80 representatives and experts from the scientific community, government and nongovernment organisations, local communities and other key marine resource user groups were convened by WWF to discuss the importance of, and to gather current scientific and anecdotal information on, the biodiversity and threats to Fiji’s marine environment. Areas of global, national or local importance were identified according to their unique biological, geological or cultural attributes. Thirty-five priority conservation areas (PCAs) were identified and agreed by stakeholders, five of which were considered to be globally important, 15 of national importance (mainly national fisheries areas) and 15 of sub-regional importance. These 35 areas attempt to capture the full range of marine biodiversity, species, and communities that makes FIME unique and that, if conserved, will contribute to maintaining the integrity of the whole of the Fiji’s marine systems.

Locally Managed Marine Area (FLMMA) Network started as a community based resource management initiative (formed in 2000) and comprises of 189 FLMMAs (in 2005) covering over 15 per cent of the country’s coastal areas.

Big Win] was initiated in 2004 to accelerate the Ecoregion Action Plan. This aims to provide the Fiji Government and the NBSAP process with a pathway to the establishment of the comprehensive network of MPAs. In addition the FIME Big Win, through its promotion of a framework of collaboration and sustainability, will support the Government of Fiji's commitments and obligations to a number of additional Conventions related to Marine Conservation. [[1]

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). In 2005 the government committed its support to the FLMMAN and establishing MPAs, training of local community members (qoliqoli owners) and a learning framework for community monitoring of successes of locally managed marine areas. By 2020 they aim to have at least 30 per cent of Fiji’s inshore and offshore marine areas (I qoliqoli) will come under a comprehensive, ecological representative network of MPAs, which are effectively managed and financed, making it the largest system of underwater sanctuaries in the world [2]

There are myriad other existing projects, activities, strategies and policies at the international, national, regional, and local level that present important opportunities for collaboration and building partnerships. National frameworks and plans that offer potential for synergy with conservation action within Fiji include the:

• National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (NBSAP), 1999;
• National Environment Strategy, 1993;
• National Strategic Development Plan (SDP), 2003;
• Mangrove Management Plan, 2003;
• Fisheries Strategic Plan, 2003.
• National Tourism Strategic Plan (NTSP); and
• Tuna Management Plan, 2004.
• Conservation Society (WCS): A key partner in developing an ecosystem based management and reserve network development in the priority areas in Fiji. WCS is taking the lead on providing the science behind reserve network establishment in the Great Sea Reef and in the Bligh waters as part of an ecosystem based management joint initiative by a number of partners, including WWF Fiji Country Programme. [3]
• of the South Pacific (USP): Research and capacity building for students who are also local resource owners, particularly students from the provinces whose resources are being looked at (e.g. with the Great Sea Reef, students from the provinces of Macuata and Bua get the first priority on scholarships for a masters study program that will focus on a topic of socio economic relevance to the communities and a topic of biological or ecological importance to the Great Sea Reef). [4]
• Project – South Pacific. The International Centre for Protected Landscapes (ICPL) in partnership with SPREP and USP run a short-course training scheme for community-based conservation management in the South Pacific. The programme now offers regular training workshops for community conservation professionals, many of whom become trainers in the field themselves.
• Fiji. Working in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Greenforce Fiji is surveying the reefs surrounding Suva. Greenforce and WCS intend to create a UNESCO Seascape multi use reserve.
• National Trust of Fiji is a statutory organization in Fiji devoted to conservation of public resources. The trust was created in 1970 by the National Trust of Fiji Act.

Reports and Studies

• papers/10 Ecoregion Planning and Conservation - Kesaia Tabunakawai & Francis Areki.pdf|Ecoregion Planning and Conservation in Fiji For a Sustainable Ocean
• Report on Fijian Marine Conservation
• Coastal Resources Management For Fiji 2002
• Reconnaissance.pdf|Fijian Islands Marine Ecoregion: An overview of outstanding biodiversity, threats, opportunities and key stakeholders for conservation WWF Fijian Programme, 2003.
• Priorities For Marine Conservation in The Fijian Islands Marine Ecoregion WWF.
• a Tapestry of Protection and Sustainability WWF.
• 2004 Survey of the Great Sea Reef
• Resource Conservation: The Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area Network and its Influence on National Policy Development
• Environmental Assessment of Fiji's Tourism Development Plan was carried out in 2003 by WWF-SPP in partnership with ADB and Fiji’s Ministry of Tourism.
• Marine Turtle Factsheet