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Fiji Ridge to reef programme provides hope for families

GEF-UNDP/SPC Pacific Ridge to Reef Project

Por IW:LEARN

07 de September de 2020

Re-published from: https://www.forestry.gov.fj/pressdetail.php?id=21

Strong, determined and humble are three words that come to mind when you meet Mesake Dralolo.

A casualty of the lay-offs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mesake did what most Fijians are doing and that is to go back to his roots.

Mesake, who worked in the Tourism sector, took this set-back into his stride and returned to his village of Koromakawa, Wairiki in Labasa. Through sheer will and determination, the 40-year-old has made up his mind to make things work on the farm.

Mesake urgently needed an interim source of income to make ends meet before his farm produce could be ready for harvest. His prayers were answered in the form of the Ridge to Reef Programme (R2R) tree planting initiative as Mesake is one of several individuals participating in this program. The income that he earns from planting trees in his area through this programme is helping to sustain him and his family.

The R2R programme is funded through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is managed by the Ministry of Environment. The Ministry of Forestry is one of the implementing agencies responsible for delivering the program outcomes.

With the objective of trying to preserve biodiversity, eco-system services, sequester carbon, improve climate resilience and sustain livelihoods through a ridge to reef management of priority water catchments on Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, the programme empowers communities to plant trees and pays them for their efforts.

“I am very lucky to be able to take some money home just by helping to plant trees and it is not only that, I know what I have planted will benefit my children and those that come after them,” Mesake said. “I know I am doing my part to keep Fiji green and to fight climate change. I thank the UN and the Fijian Government for thinking of people like me who have lost our jobs. I am definitely not left behind and I know this Government cares for all Fijians.”

Minister for Forestry Honourable Osea Naiqamu met with Mr Dralolo during his visit to Koromakawa Village in Labasa last month in which he stated that the R2R programme under UNDP is part of the Fijian Governments green recovery strategy to restore nature.

Minister Naiqamu said Fiji’s R2R programme has come in leaps and bounds as it will bolster Fiji’s national system of marine protected areas (MPA’s) through an enhanced, representative and sustainable system of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) including greater protection of threatened marine species.

He added this basically means how we manage our ridges and catchments also determine the health status of our reefs and marine life.

Minister for Forestry Osea Naiqamu meets Mesake Dralolo at Koromakawa Village (WHICH Pacific R2R activity?) in July.

The project will further negate the impacts of land-based activities through the development and implementation of integrated catchment management plans including mangrove protection, the adoption of appropriate sustainable land use practices and river bank restoration in adjoining upstream water sheds as well as restored and rehabilitated forests.

These terrestrial protected areas, coupled with an increase in the permanent native forest estate, including through assisted natural reforestation and degraded grasslands will also contribute to Fiji’s REDD+ strategy through enhancement of carbon stocks.

The protected area networks rehabilitated through this programme will help conserve threatened ecosystems such as lowland and tropical and moist forests and endangered species of plants, amphibians, reptiles and freshwater vertebrates and invertebrates.

As the name implies, the Ridge to Reef project aims to cover all activities from the ridges through the catchments and out to the sea and reefs to ensure a system of high biodiversity, rehabilitated, well managed and protected flow of ecosystem services.

Under the R2R programme which started in 2015, four selected priority catchments were identified and these include the Ba and Waidina Catchment in Viti Levu and the Labasa and Tunuloa Catchment in Vanua Levu.

27 villages from around these four catchment areas will benefit directly from the R2R project and the indirect benefits will filter down to all Fijians of our beloved nation.

Fiji Ridge to reef programme provides hope for families

About the Pacific R2R Programme

The GEF Pacific R2R Programme is a global test case aimed at achieving the sustainable development of Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS) within a truly integrated environmental and natural resource management framework. The goal of the programme is “to maintain and enhance Pacific Island countries’ ecosystem goods and services (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural) through integrated approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management that contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience.” The Programme is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Pacific Community (SPC) was identified as a regional executing partner to lead programme coordination due to its success in managing regional initiatives of the GEF in the past as well as SPC’s existing capacities in a wide range of areas relevant to the programme.

The Fiji GEF 5 STAR R2R project under the Pacific R2R Programme works toward preserving biodiversity, ecosystem services, sequester carbon, improve climate resilience and sustain livelihoods through a ridge-to-reef management of priority water catchments on the two main islands of Fiji. Through mangrove protection, rehabilitation of forests, sustainable land-use practices mangrove protection, and riparian restoration in adjoining upstream watersheds, among other priorities, it aims to preserve biodiversity, ecosystem services, sequester carbon, improve climate resilience and sustain livelihoods.

For more information on the GEF-UNDP/SPC Pacific Ridge to Reef Project, please contact the Regional Coordinator, Samasoni Sauni (samasonis@spc.int), visit the project website and the project page on iwlearn.net.