Nabavatu Expresses Interest in Fiji's ER-Program
The community of Nabavatu, Dreketi in Macuata have expressed their interest to participate in Fiji’s Emission Reductions (ER) Program in two specific areas – forest conservation and sustainable forest harvesting.
Their immediate priority is to harvest part of their native forests to support their plans for housing as the community now needs to be relocated from their current village site as a consequence of a climate-induced disaster.
The villagers had to be temporarily relocated in early January 2020 after the onslaught of Tropical Cyclone Ana caused heavy rain and flooding resulting in large land cracks within their houses and the village church building. They were relocated temporarily to the Savadrua Assemblies of God Church compound and the Maramarua District School. A geological survey finding by the Department of Mineral Resources at Nabavatu village after this unfortunate disaster, found that it was unsafe to reoccupy the village.
Nabavatu village spokesman and former Fijian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Filimoni Kau said that the 13 Mataqalis have been interested in participating in Fiji’s ER Program despite the current situation they are facing.
“We are hopeful that participating in Fiji’s ER Program and also getting assistance from the Ministry of Forestry will benefit both ways. We will be able to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions and we will also not have to look far to source building materials for our new homes,” he said.
In terms of the relocation, Mr Kau said his village has been working closely with the Divisional Commissioner and the Forestry Director in the North.
“We believe that participating in Fiji’s ER Program and in particular in forest conservation and the sustainable management of forests will be beneficial to us as landowners in the medium and long term. We will be providing a balanced approach to how we utilize our natural resources so that the biodiversity within our forests are protected and our children will be able to utilize the same forests in years to come.”
Permanent Secretary for Forestry, Pene Baleinabuli said that the Ministry is currently carrying out an inventory of the Nabavatu forest area to provide real time information and guide the decisions to be taken, moving forward.
“For Nabavatu, the harvesting of their forest to support their housing project is also supported under the ER-Program. A sustainable approach to harvesting will be adopted, which means lower volume removal. However, this information and the decision to take will be clearer when the inventory is completed in the next two months,” he said.
Mr. Baleinabuli said it is encouraging that communities who have forests on their lands are aware of and are consciously choosing to engage in forest conservation, protection and carbon trade.
ER Program
The ER-Program does not prevent nor restrict the forest owners in the use of the land and forest resources to support their immediate and future needs and community-level development plans. The program is merely championing the concept of sustainable development, which means improving the “business as usual” methods to standards that ensure that forests are able to perform its natural ecological function of providing clean water and clean air.
In each of the ER-Program activities, trees will either be reintroduced into degraded land systems or retained in its natural state to support the ecological function of the forest.
The benefit for landowners, apart from the ecological services, is that the ER-Program provides an alternative income stream, through the carbon payments, if they so wish to participate.
Participation in Fiji’s ER Program
The Fijian Government signed an agreement, Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA), with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for Fiji to participate in carbon trading for five years, i.e. from 11th July 2019 – 31st December 2024. The Fiji ER-Program has five activities, which are expected to improve the manner in which Fiji’s forest and land resources are managed and utilized, whilst establishing and dedicating forest areas as carbon sinks that will sequester carbon and other greenhouse gases (GHG), as per below.
• Forest Conservation
• Sustainable Forest Management
• Climate Smart Agriculture
• Tree Planting (afforestation and reforestation) on barren and degraded land systems, including the rehabilitation of riparian systems to protect major and artery water-ways.
Within these activities will be the element of alternative livelihoods as a means of encouraging communities to reduce the use of the forests.
The following steps for engagement are:
a) An expression of interest is submitted to the Conservator of Forests, upon which, an awareness raising and information sharing session with the village community will be carried out. The awareness raising team will include key agencies like the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, the iTaukei Lands Trust Board and the Ministry of Forestry. The outcomes of this participatory session are:
i. The collective consensus of the community members to participate in the ER-Program – consequently, the signing of the iTLTB Consent Form (55% of registered members of legal age), if land is under communal ownership.
ii. Development of a village-level land use plan, agreed and mapped, and the identification of the ER-Program activity or mix of activities, which they wish to implement.
b) The issuance of lease by iTLTB, for communal land
c) The development of a Forest Management Plan at the village level and subsequently, the issuance of a license by the Ministry of Forestry. The Forest Management Plan will guide the implementation of the agreed activities, timeline and standards.
d) On the completion of the implementation ER-Program activities, the Ministry of Forestry will conduct its internal monitoring and verification process to ascertain if the agreed activities have been completed to the set standards, and are in a position to be considered for trade.
e) The lease title is then registered with the Registrar of Titles Office, upon which a Carbon Sequestration Property Right (CSPR) certificate will be issued. The certificate is an indication that the associated land has established forest carbon sinks and has been dedicated and/or set aside for the sole purpose of reducing emission and consequently, carbon trade. Apart from landowning communities the Ministry of Forestry also encourages the participation of farmers, freehold landowners and in particular the participation of women and youth groups in Fiji’s ER Program that will contribute to building climate resilient communities.