Conserving Abaca’s Dry Forests Through Nature-Based Solutions
‘Biodiversity is the fabric of life, the crucial glue holding us all together’ – David Attenborough, British Biologist
Abaca, a small and mystic village located in the mountainous inland of the district of Vuda, in the Ba Province. The village had two Yavusa: Navatulevu and Naviyagoisaukova, with its leader being the Taukei Navatulevu (leader of the tribe) and it is under the authoritative rule of the Vanua Vunisei to the Momo na Tui Vuda (High chief of the Vuda district).
The village is surrounded by the Koroyanitu mountain range, that harbours a treasure of diverse natural ecosystems, consisting of lush rainforests, cascading waterfall, pristine rivers and vibrant native flora and fauna. Which not only contributes to the village’s rich cultural tapestry, but also sustains the welfare of the people at Abaca. Unfortunately, the village is currently experiencing the severity of climate change and its impacts, which poses severe risk to the survival of its people and the environment. The impacts of climate change that they usually encounter, consists of changing of weather patterns, sudden changes to the environment setting, extreme heat, associated with the illegal logging activities and other human-induced initiatives happening without the village consensus, which adds more fuel to the impacts of climate change.
Surprisingly, the impacts of climate change create a lot of changes to the village way of living, sources of income, new lifestyles, dietary preferences and many other factors associated. For instances, in a group interview, one of the participants shared his sentiments on how climate change has affected Abaca: ‘Our elders did not ride their horses into the village. The generation today ride their horses and wear hats when entering the village. This is considered as disrespectful if our elders were still alive to witness this. People shout from their homes to neighbouring houses. Regarding food for our families, the crops and vegetables we used to plant are not enough because of wild pigs that dig up our crops and consume it while it’s still maturing. We consume more food products from supermarkets and supplement it with vegetables and crops that we grow in our backyard’.
Additionally, tourism is one of the village sources of income, as it harbours one of the oldest national parks not only in the country but across the South Pacific region, which is the Koroyanitu National Park. This national park protects the dry rainforest ecosystem, which provides habitat and food sources to the diverse bird and other animal species that are found within the area. With climate change, there is a high chance of the national park getting affected by its impacts. Which could destroy the dry forest, causing birds and other animals to migrate to new areas, increasing chances of illegal logging activities, eradicating that interconnectedness between the land and its people and deteriorate their well-being.
The term Vanua refers to the land area in which an individual or a group is identified, together with its flora, fauna and other natural constituents. Simply, the concept of Vanua is an encompassing one, it is the totality of a Fijian community (Sevudredre, 2023). To protect the Vanua of Abaca, there is a need to mainstream Nature-based solutions. In this case, the community needs to adapt to these three types of actions of Nature-based solutions which are: Preserving the integrity and good ecological status of the ecosystems, improving sustainable management of ecosystems used by human activities and restoring degraded ecosystems (IUCN,2016).
Therefore, to guarantee the success of mainstreaming this approach, it will require strong collaboration and partnership between the Vanua Abaca and the government, non-governmental organisations and other supportive agencies. Also, the Vanua of abaca will need to take full responsibility and dedication in terms of protecting its resources, just as their forefathers did during their time. Because if we mainstream this nature-based solution approach through strong collaboration and taking full responsibility, it will constitute a sustainable and economically viable alternative, making it more cost effective in the long term than technology investments.
This way it will help in reducing the risks and impacts of climate change, uplift the people’s welfare, the ecosystem will flourish, and the interconnectedness between the land and the people will be maintained. Hence, building that resilience to withstand the external forces and providing a safe place for their future generation.
