Community Action in Fiji
Added to website: 19 July 2003
A crucial part of the Fiji Reef Conservation Project is establishing strong working partnerships with different elements of the local community.
Marine Ecology Workshop
Marine ecology workshops are designed for diving professionals working in the Mamanuca Islands. The workshops consist of four half-day sessions that aim to:
- Provide participants with a general background to the ecology of coral reefs.
- Emphasise conservation issues, strategies associated with tourism, sustainable development and ethics in a fun and practical manner.
- Give participants ecological information in a format that can be easily passed on to their students, clients and members of their community.
- Provide a forum for the exchange of information between CCC and the Fijian dive community.
- Following the workshop, participants are asked to fill out a feedback form that examines the importance of the workshop, new information learned and who else may benefit from such information.
- Currently all participants of the Marine Ecology Workshop have strongly concurred that the information was applicable to their work and that such workshops were invaluable.
Environmental Awareness Workshops at Local Schools
In the early stages of the Project, an environmental education programme was implemented at Malolo District School. Six sessions were conducted for class 8 students to highlight the importance and threats to reefs, coastal zone management issues and strategies.
Following this initial success, we were invited to conduct a similar programme at the start of the new school year and incorporate our lessons into their curriculum. A ten-week programme was developed to coincide with their term time and was again directed at class 8 students.
The course introduced reef ecology and biology concepts and highlighted the fragile nature of the reef systems and the need for effective management. Concepts were promoted through worksheet exercises, word games, drama, art, group debates, and physical exercises such as litter surveys. The aims and objectives of the scheme were to:
- Increase the environmental awareness of the local school children.
Incorporate general science subjects from the National Curriculum into the environmental sessions.
- Provide a range of teaching methods and opportunities for the children to express themselves in different media.
- Monitor the increase in the children’s knowledge levels to evaluate the success of the education scheme.
- Facilitate the relationships between the villagers of Solevu and CCC volunteers by providing opportunities for interaction with the community.
- Experiential learning played a key role in our workshops. Activities included:
- Rubbish Survey - examining the impact of rubbish pollution on the marine environment.
- Sulu Painting - painting marine related pictures on Sulus (traditional Fijian unisex skirts) to give the children a lasting memory of the workshops.
- Presentations - the children performed a series of plays to their peers and parents drawing on the importance and threats to the reef.
Community Action
PADI Project Aware Cleanup Events - a series of lectures on the effects of rubbish on the environment followed by Volunteers and the local community joining forces to clean up the villages, beaches and reef.
Community Meetings
Over the course of a year, FRCP facilitated and organised meetings with local community groups including:
- Environmental workshops held with staff from local businesses who use and rely on the marine environment.
- Department of Fisheries - discussing the training of departmental staff at CCC base camp.
- Community leaders - to discuss establishing a tabu protected area in front of the village.
- Workshops with the local schools.
- Attending and presenting information at Local Tourism Association meetings.
- Hosting local and national media.
- Hosting local, national and international scientists.
