fiji

Chinese Resort Development Stopped in Fiji

April 30, 2020 by Pacific Peoples' Partnership

On 06 March 2020, Al Jazeera’s TV network aired a 25-minute documentary in its ongoing program, 101 East, that investigates a Chinese developer, Freesoul Real Estate, accused of ruining land and intimidating locals as it builds Fiji’s biggest resort, a 350 bure resort on Malolo Island near a world-famous surf break. This tourism development was being promoted as part of the Chinese government’s Belt and Road policy. Malolo is a tiny volcanic island in the Mamanuca Island chain off the west coast of Viti Levu.

Landowners claim that without any permits or permission, the company has ripped up 5,000 square metres (53,820 square feet) of the ancient reef, ploughed through a mangrove forest used by locals to source food, and illegally encroached on their property. The story unfolds as a grim struggle of wills between the local landowners and the developer until Al Jazeera’s documentary team comes to the attention of the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama. He has recently gone on record as a champion of Fiji’s environment saying that any developer who destroys its nation’s environment is not welcome. Legislation is on the books for violators with large fines and even jail time up to 10 years in prison.

The good news is that the government has now cancelled all that developer’s building permits and decreed that it must return the land to its original condition which many express doubts will actually be able to happen. While this story is ongoing, it offers hopeful signs that developers should beware of thinking they can do as they please with even the smallest islands that the Fijians call their paradise. This documentary is well worth watching.

Prepared by Alison Gardner, Editor, Pasifik Currents

My Life in the South Pacific

August 16, 2019 by April Ingham

By Taylor Blais

Fiji is paradise. White sand beaches, crystal clear blue water, thousands of coconut trees. These certainly were my expectations when moving here. But I soon learned that there is way more to it than that. That the “single story” that I had been told about Fiji my entire life, that it is a vacation spot, is only dipping my toe into what it actually is.

I have been living in Suva, the capital of Fiji for about 2 months now, and my preconceived notions about Fiji have changed completely. As an intern with the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), I’ve had the privilege of working with the most amazing people. I work with leaders in the international feminism world. Strong women and men working very hard to better the lives of people in Fiji and around the Pacific. It is very hard not to be absolutely star struck by these individuals. I work for the organization that held the first ever Pacific Feminist Forum (PFF) in 2016. The organization, which, together with a working group of regional partners, recently organised the 2nd PFF in May of this year and plans to create more of these spaces in the future. This event brings human rights activists together from around the South Pacific to discuss major women’s and human rights issues affecting them directly. Fiji is a hub for feminism around the Pacific and it has established itself as a leader. Spearheading so many amazing movements within Fiji, but also inspiring so many women around the Pacific to start their own movements in their respective countries. I did not get the chance to attend the PFF this year, but I have gotten the chance to transcribe some interviews that were done with women from all around the pacific that attended, individuals from Vanuatu, Samoa, a lot of Small Island Nations. I have been so intrigued as to how highly they all speak of FWRM. How inspired they are about the changes that FWRM has made, and the plans they have for the future, and how they can implement these different ideas, in their own ways, in their own communities.

A mural depicting their vision on the wall in the FWRM office.

I also attend classes at Fiji’s regional University, Fiji National University (FNU) and learned a lot about how climate change is affecting Fiji, and many Small Island Nations around the Pacific directly. Because of sea levels rising drastically, they are losing land mass and resources by the minute. It is widely acknowledged here that climate change is occurring because it is affecting them directly; no one is ignorantly refusing to believe that climate change is occurring because they do not have the privilege to do so. There are many amazing organizations such as International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), South Pacific Tourism (SPTO), and so many more within Fiji that work on conservation and activism and advocacy around climate change in the Pacific. People in Fiji are fighting the good fight against climate change even though they release some of the lowest amounts of carbon emissions around the world. It is the Western world that fuels climate change, but now the South Pacific is taking on the brunt of the consequences.

Yes, Fiji is made up of beautiful crystal-clear waters, and I have drunk from a lot of coconuts during my time here. But It is so much more than that. One of the biggest lessons that I have learned in my little time working and living here is to never judge a book by its cover. Fiji is so much more than its looks, and it is a force to be reckoned with on a global scale. Never underestimate.

Taylor is entering her third year of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge with minors in Women & Gender Studies and Population Health. She is interested in international women’s and human rights issues, as well as global health. Taylor has been working as an intern with The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) for almost three months, during which she has been working primarily with the communications team, engaging the public through social media and learning about the digital side of social justice work. She had the privilege of attending the “Pacific Connections: Community Filmmaking for Gender Equality in the Pacific” workshop held at the University of the South Pacific (USP). Taylor’s passion for women’s rights and feminism has grown immensely since she has started working for FWRM. She hopes to continue this nature of work in the future, carrying the skills that she has built from this experience into her future endeavors.

The reality of climate impacts in the South Pacific

November 20, 2017 by Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Women at a village feast in Toukou, Fiji.

Reflections from our Executive Director and Board President

Dearest PPP Friends and Family,

This past summer hundreds of wildfires scorched Canada from coast to coast, with the majority burning in British Columbia and Alberta. An iceberg the size of Prince Edward Island in Canada (roughly 5,660 km²) broke off Antarctica. The extreme unseasonable and devastating effects of climate change are now impacting us in every corner of our world.

And yet, our South Pacific friends living in some of the most affected nations of the world strongly remind us: “We are not drowning, we are fighting.” And so must we, as this is a matter of not only climate justice but our very survival globally. These passionate words were shared by Pacific 360 Warrior Mikaele Maiava live from Samoa during PPP’s Livestream event “Pacific Streams: Community Narratives on Climate Change” (sponsored by our long-time partner CAPI – Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives.) Watch it here:

PPP is serious about addressing climate change. This past summer I had the opportunity to participate in the Climate Reality Project Climate Leadership Corps Training with Former US Vice President Al Gore in Bellevue, Washington. Over 800 delegates inspired to be Climate Leaders attended, in fact this the 35^th cohort was one of the largest to date. This was encouraging, as the fight in the USA against climate change has taken such a disastrous turn under the current US administration.

Despite that administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on Climate Change, the very future of our world depends on our solidarity, so what an inspiration it was to participate alongside youth, scientists, Indigenous leaders, activists, inventors, teachers, retirees, and countless volunteers impassioned to take a stand and make a difference. We represented so many walks of life, and together we will unite in the fight against climate change.

Earlier this year I visited the Fijian town of Toukou on Ovalau Island. Here I was reminded of the continuing risk and ongoing climate devastation faced by those most vulnerable geographically. I was there to represent PPP and our donors who are providing support through our Pacific Resilience Fund to assist with the recovery efforts at the Loreto Catholic School which was nearly leveled last year.

My tour took place during unsettled tropical weather that alternated between continual rain deluges and wind storms. This made it even more difficult to bear witness to the damage from both 2015 and 2016 cyclones on this small historic island.

It was heartbreaking to consider that the community could be hit by yet another cyclone before they can recover from the last, especially since so many families have had to leave the island to pursue employment and find accommodations and education on the main island due to this accumulated damage.

Students of Loreto School in Toukou, Fiji.

With this realization, the fight can seem hopeless, but it is not hopeless if we take action now. Pacific peoples are strong and resilient. They advocate for “1.5 to just survive” and are counting on us all to do our part. In Bonn Germany, Fiji just hosted the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23). They brought a traditional Fijian canoe or drua, which serves as a powerful symbol of resilience and unity. This also serves to remind us that “The whole world is in the same canoe.”

“We need COP23 to accelerate climate action,” says Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. “The meeting is a staging post on our irreversible path to a low-carbon future, a path that we need to go on further, faster, together.”

In response to our shared climate crisis PPP has been developing a three year climate action response that includes knowledge sharing components, including two conferences. The first is Red Tide, our International Indigenous Climate Action Summit (May 2018 in Aotearoa) in followed by a youth climate summit in 2020 in British Columbia.

We are also embarking on a research program in partnership with the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Victoria to inform future policy and program development, and hosting public engagement activities such as our annual One Wave Gathering and our educational program FrancOcean Pacifique. Also in design is a Pacific Eco Youth Alliance, and a growing media hub.

PPP is contributing to many networks and community engagement projects both domestically and internationally, ultimately building solidarity and resolve together within our global community.

For Pacific… Peace… In Solidarity,

April Ingham, Executive Director & Mua Va’a, President

Please donate today to help Pacific Peoples’ Partnership take action on climate change.

Pacific Resilience Fund in Toukou

August 30, 2017 by April Ingham

In February of 2016, the strongest and costliest cyclone in the history of the South Pacific swept across Queensland, Tonga, Vanuatu, Niue, and Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston illustrated the widespread damage an extreme climate event can inflict upon island nations and its communities.

For Tokou village, on the Fijian island of Ovalau, the cyclone resulted in the loss of many local residences and the destruction of the Loreto Catholic School.

One school building, rushed by storm surges of up to seven meters high, floated off its foundations before coming to rest across the schoolyard. That same building began to serve as a temporary schoolhouse and meeting space for the community at its unanticipated new location.

The entire Tokou village, including the site of Loreto school, had been previously marked by the Fijian government for relocation. But in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston the Fijian government began reconstruction in the exact location Loreto was destroyed: adjacent to a steep hillside, flanked by road, river and ocean.

Disasters such as cyclones can reveal poorly informed and supported foundational frameworks—whether in architecture or in the disaster relief system.

In the aftermath of Cyclone Winston, international support channelled through the Fijian government provided funding for temporary classroom tent structures. These classroom tents baked in the tropical heat and became soaked from the ground up in the rain.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership became involved with rebuilding a more resilient Loreto School in this shifting landscape. We had pinpointed Loreto School as a strong candidate for support through consultations with hereditary Fijian leaders living in Victoria, BC. This oversight proved to be critical, as a strong understanding of the community was needed to navigate multiple sources of funding rushing in to support insufficient temporary infrastructure in the community.

Together with a variety of donors—including the local Pacific Islander community of the Victoria area—Pacific Peoples’ Partnership raised $15,000 for rebuilding Loreto Catholic School. The funding was channelled through the Pacific Resilience Fund, a flexible funding mechanism designed to promote medium term climate resiliency programming in communities as a supplement to the short term disaster relief system.

In 2017, Executive Director April Ingham travelled to Tokou Village to determine the full scope of Loreto School’s needs. Through consultations with elders, teachers and the broader community, April determined that PPP funding would be most useful to support the ongoing repairs, materials and labour needed to repair the Headteacher’s house. The school’s structural issues were being addressed by the Fijian government, and the Headteacher’s house proved to be a central meeting and community space for the school and village. Any additional funds would support the associated costs of a seawall to protect the school, incorporating recommendations of restoring coastal mangroves to protect against storm surge.

The Pacific Islands region is among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Geographic isolation, small size, and narrow resource base—coupled with the increasing magnitude and impact of existing natural hazards—threaten the lives and livelihoods of Pacific Island countries and territories.

The clear overlap between risks related to climate change and disaster management inspired the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific: An Integrated Approach to Address Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (FRDP). The FRDP provides guidance and critical insights for community stakeholders, from grassroots to government initiatives, to private interest investment. The shift from a vulnerability based framework to a resiliency based framework is an important recognition of the leadership and strength of Island communities.

Through the efforts of local leaders and collaboration between community stakeholders, Pacific Islanders have the opportunity to develop more resilient communities and a stronger climate and disaster response framework. Extreme weather events will only continue to increase in frequency and severity. We need not wait for the next disaster to begin addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability, predominantly poverty, resource scarcity, ecological degradation, and land loss.

Please donate today to grow our Pacific Resilience Fund for communities in the South Pacific.

Chinese Resort Development Stopped in Fiji

My Life in the South Pacific

The reality of climate impacts in the South Pacific

Pacific Resilience Fund in Toukou

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