MES Newsletter - Feb Issue
Added to website: 10 February 2005
MES Welcomes Qauqau!
The Mamanuca Environment Society has started off 2005 with new ideas and a fresh face! The MES has hired a new Project Manager, Alifereti Qauqau. Alifereti comes from Naviti Island in the Yasawa group and is very excited about getting his feet wet near his own turf! He has taken over the Mamanuca Environment Society’s managerial duties from Swiss marine biologist, Di Walker, who over the two years was very instrumental in getting the MES project up and running. Alifereti Qauqau is an excellent addition to the MES team. A graduate of USP, Qauqau was also a former employee of the Institute of Applied Science (IAS) at the University of the South Pacific, where, he worked under the Environment Unit’s Integrated Coastal Management project. Headed by Prof. Bill Aalbersberg, the ICM Project with its pilot site along the Coral Coast aims to integrate all aspects of coastal management for both land and marine resources. Activities, including formulating efficient sewage treatment and waste management options, mangrove replanting programs, community resource management and gender related workshops are some of the works that Qauqau has been involved with. This ‘integrated’ approach ensures that government departments and officials, traditional i qoliqoli owners, tourism operators, non-government organisations, and all relevant stakeholders do have a ‘say’ in the management of the Coral Coast’s coastal zone and its resources. Based on his previous work experience, he will have invaluable insight to offer and a different approach and focus to the project. Alifereti graduated from USP with his B.Sc. in Biology and Chemistry and has also attended overseas conferences pertaining to conservation science, such as the Fisheries Leadership Development Course at Kagoshima University in Japan. Local community stakeholders are extremely keen and enthusiastic to receive Alifereti on board!
MES regrettably had to farewell Di Walker who leaves Fiji for Queensland, Australia, where she will pursue her Masters Degree in Marine Reserve Management at James Cook University. She will be greatly missed by all her colleagues and workmates and those in the community who have benefited from her training and wealth of knowledge. The Executive Committee and MES would like to take this opportunity to thank Di for all her hard work and effort these past two years. Without Di’s passion and commitment to Fiji and the environment, the Mamanuca Environment Society would not be where it is today! We wish Di all the very best in her future endeavours! Vinaka vaka levu, Di!
Malolo District School Fires Up Environment Program
The Mamanuca Environment Society and Coral Cay Conservation have commenced the Term 1 primary school’s Marine Environment Program with the Class 7 students of Malolo District School at Solevu Village on Malolo Island. The students are from the villages of Solevu and Yaro and are between the ages of 12 and 13. The kids were all wide-eyed and curious when Alifereti Qauqau and Teri Tuxson of the MES and Gwilym Rowlands, Project Scientist of CCC showed up on their doorstep on the second day of school! The first day was introductory with teachers and students getting to know one another. The students got to jump straight into the course by conducting an on-land ‘survey’ across the school’s rugby field! The course is coral reef intensive with related topics, such as the introduction of tabu sites and Marine Protected Area implementations, coastal zone interactions, coral reef biology, threats to reefs and the coastal zone, and possible solutions to these problems and threats. Education on the coastal zone covers details on upland forest areas, mangroves, seagrass beds, as well as the coral reefs. The program also includes learning about different marine animals and their specific roles on the reef. This will help the children gain a fair idea on what is going on in their own backyard and they will be able to understand the interactions between living and non-living facets of their environment. The environment program also aims to introduce the important buzz word for Fiji, tourism, and the future - that is, “sustainable”! This will be done through the variety of in-class lectures and a number of different activities and field trips that have been scheduled for the students: a snorkel survey of the common reef organisms found living on their school and community reef, a nature hike, the creation and maintenance of compost heaps, and a school and beach litter and clean-up campaign. The program will end with the children’s prize-giving ceremony where they will perform their own “Coral Reef” skits based on the benefits coral reefs have for the Fiji community and the threats that Fiji reefs are currently facing. Special thanks to Castaway and Malolo Island Resort for their assistance.
Coral Reefs Save Lives!
Scientists from around the world have agreed that “coral reefs and natural defences save lives!” As much as 50% of Southeast Asia’s reefs and natural defence systems, e.g. mangrove forests, have been removed, and some, from as early as the 1960’s. The protective reefs have been dynamited, mangroves, and sand dunes have been replaced with tourism, aquaculture, and urban development. In lieu of the recent tsunami, experts have established that this is the very reason India, Thailand and Indonesia were so heavily devastated. Governments have resolved to implement regulations and enforce environment laws; however, for some countries this may be too late and may take decades for these developing nations to recover.
