Contact the Land Resources Division:
'Aleki Sisifa
Director of Land Resources Division
Private Mail Bag,
Suva, Fiji Islands
Tel.: +679 337.07.33
Fax: +679 337.00.21
Last updated
September 19, 2005
© Copyright SPC
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Planned development for Pacific forests:
an awareness raising tour |
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Decision-makers will get an up-close look at Pacific forests during an innovative gathering in Nadi,
Fiji, 3-6 October 2005. Participants from six Pacific island countries have been invited to go on a tour themed,
‘Investing in forests and trees for a balanced and secure economic, socially and environmentally sustainable future.’
By-passing forestry professionals, invitations are going out to around 40 non-forestry
decision makers from the region. The participants will represent both public and private sector interests. While
these people are not directly involved in forestry, their decisions can significantly affect the future of our
forest resources and of Pacific Islanders.
The forestry-friendly tour, jointly organized by the Secretariat of the
Pacific Community’s Land Resources Division, the FAO National Forest Programme Facility and the
SPC/GTZ Pacific-German Regional Forestry Project, will involve activities at the Mocambo Hotel,
Nadi, including traditional songs and dances, drama, and plenary discussions focusing on the
beneficial contributions of forests and trees to Pacific Islanders’ livelihoods. This will be
followed by tours to Koroyanitu Ecotourism Park, villages of pine plantation landowners,
small/medium-scale forest product processing industries and a number of other sites on
Fiji’s main island. Participants will have the opportunity to see for themselves the links between
forestry and sustainable development. They will meet people who depend on forests, who make a living from processing
and marketing forest products, and who are doing their utmost for the future of our forests.
The tour will highlight examples of good forestry management by rural
villages which go largely unnoticed. By the end of the tour, participants will have a deeper understanding
of the role of forests in underpinning sustainable development, reducing poverty, and conserving the environment.
Organisers of the tour are excited about its potential to extend high-level awareness
of the Pacific’s forest resources. The combination of dialogue with forestry representatives and social and
cultural interaction with villagers promises to leave participants with a lasting appreciation of the dependence
of Pacific societies on proper management of their forests.
 
Further information,
contact the Forests and Trees Adviser,
SPC Land Resources Division PMB, Suva, Fiji
Phone: (679) 3300 432
E-mail: spforest@spc.int
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Fiji launches land use policy |
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Fiji is launching a land use policy to guide sustainable development of its land resources
— making it the first Pacific Island nation to do so. The policy addresses critical
issues such as the expansion of commercial cropping on to marginal lands, lack of
land conservation measures for fragile soils, burning of grasslands and rapidly
increasing deforestation, all fuelled by a growing population and commercialisation.
Titled ‘A Rural Land Use Policy for Fiji’, it was endorsed by the Fiji Cabinet in June
and will be publicly launched on 2 September 2005 at the Tanoa Plaza in Suva. Chief guest at the event will be
the Hon Minister of Agriculture, Sugar, and Land Resettlement, Illaitia Tuisese, with Mr Tilman Enders, Acting
Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Fiji.
“It has been a long journey towards this landmark, but now we come to the most
important stretch ― implementing the policy,” said Mr Inoke Ratukalou, Director of the Department of
Land Resources Planning and Development. “The new policy will serve as an effective information and
awareness tool and provide a rationale for land legislation, ensuring less arbitrary regulations. This
is a big step towards promoting sustainable land management practices in rural communities.”
Developing the policy was a joint effort by Fiji’s Ministry of
Agriculture, Sugar, and Land Resettlement and the SPC/GTZ Pacific-German Regional Forestry
Project (PGRFP). A participatory approach was used with more than 100 stakeholders, from more
than 20 agencies, being consulted over a two-year period. The consultation process was financed
by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the PGRFP.
The Rural Land Use Policy gives Fiji a framework for sustainable development.
With increasing intensification of agriculture, urban sprawl, and other demands on land, planned development
and effective monitoring are fundamental to maintaining sustainable relationships between Fiji’s people and natural resources.
Further information,
please contact Emil Adams,
SPC Land Resources Division Information Officer and
Leba Lua-Sovea,
Information and knowledge management Assistant, or by phone +679 337 0733.
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SPC funds expansion of email network connecting rural communities
in the Solomon Islands |
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Solomon Islanders in remote rural communities will be able to communicate and
access information online through email stations funded by SPC.
SPC provided funding to set up two rural email stations in Shortlands, at the boarder
of Papua New Guinea, and Masupa, in the southern region of the Malaita Province,
Solomon Islands. The additional email stations will expand the network of email stations
connecting rural communities and will support agricultural information and quarantine monitoring
activities undertaken by the Solomon Islands Department of Agriculture and Livestock.
In the Solomon Islands, where most of the population lives in isolated rural
communities and relies on subsistence agriculture, the availability of communication technologies is crucial
to achieving agricultural development objectives.
Farmers will be able to obtain the latest agricultural information as well as maintain
contact with their clients and suppliers online. They will also be able to readily access quarantine information
and advice as well as notify local authorities of pests or disease incursions in their area. The email stations
will also assist with community consultation activities and the coordination of rural projects by local ministries
and development agencies.
The wider community will also benefit greatly from the email stations which
will enable people to communicate and obtain important information and advice on health, education and
legal issues online. People will no longer need to travel to major town centers to access such technologies.
Collaborations on this project with the Department have led to the possibility of the network
to be used by farmers through the Agriculture Farmers Market Information Project – an initiative to strengthen delivery
of market information to farmers.
Using a short wave radio, computer and solar power, the email stations
are inexpensive to install and operate making them sustainable and accessible. The use of wireless networking
in HF band enables inexpensive, fast and more reliable connections than afforded by expensive satellite phones
and unreliable short wave radios. The remote email stations work by automatically connecting to a hub station
in Honiara several times each day to transfer incoming and outgoing emails between the hub and the Internet.
Both SPC funded rural email stations will be ready to use by September 2005
and will form part of a wide network of rural email stations being installed throughout the Solomon
Islands by the not-for-profit organistation – People First Network (PFnet).
PFnet is a project of the Rural Development Volunteers Association (RDVA)
a non-profit organization established by the Solomon Islands Department of Provincial Government and
Constituency Development.
Further information:
contact Stephen Hazelman or go to the
PFnet website.
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