Wainisavulevu weir

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori The issues surrounding the raising of the weir at Wainisavulevu reveals many factors and raises further questions to the Department of Environment (DOE) and Energy Fiji Limited (EFL).

For over four years, I was National Coordinator for the Fiji Wetlands Working Group preparing Fiji’s accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Wetlands, by definition, include mangroves, coral reefs, rivers and their tributaries and all lakes and ponds.

This includes the catchment area surrounding Wainisavulevu and the dam itself, the whole Monasavu catchment and dam.

In 2003 I was part of the team that presented a proposal to Cabinet requesting;

1. For Fiji to ratify the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.

2. For the Department of Environment to prioritise Fiji's wetlands.

3. For the Fiji Wetlands working group to be officially recognised as the Wetlands Steering Committee and to advise Government on all wetland issues. All three proposals were endorsed and approved by Government then.

Dr Dick Watling and Marika Tuiwawa, who later became founding members of Mareqeti Viti Nature Fiji, were senior members of our committee and we worked very closely with Government then.

Also in our committee were representatives from the Department of Fisheries, Department of Lands, Department of Forestry, Department of Agriculture, USP, NLTB, Fijian Affairs Board, National Trust of Fiji and conservation NGOs such as WWF, Live and Learn, WCS, Birdlife International and etc. Behind this committee is more than 200 years of combined experience in the field of conservation and environment. No one in Fiji knows and understands the ecology of Monasavu and its surrounding areas more than this group. They are regular visitors there and I have camped with them in those thick dense forests for up to two weeks at a time while doing field surveys.

Dr Dick Watling has been the author of the Fiji Government’s “Status of Environment Report” and has done countless work for Fiji and the region.

I find it sad that their warning was taken lightly by the Director of Environment and Energy Fiji Limited (EFL). If the Wetlands Steering Committee was active and still running today this problem at Wainisavulevu would have never happened because they would be the first people Government would have referred to for advice as endorsed in our proposal to Cabinet.

The fact that a site in the affected area is marked as a site of national significance because of its biodiversity values is worrying. Fiji is a signatory to the Convention on Biodiversity and it was the funding from this agreement that assisted in the establishment of our Department of Environment in the first place.

Let us hope an amicable solution can be found early and let this be a lesson to both DOE and EFL.

Maybe multiple EIAs should be done for developments of such magnitude to ensure various opinions are taken and a thorough assessment is carried out.

If the Prime Minister can ride horses, cross rivers on foot and climb hills to visit rural communities, why can’t the top brass of DOE and EFL visit their assets and sites around the country to fully understand and comprehend what actually transpires on the ground? Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj