Fiji Commits 30 Per Cent of Fiji’s EEZ to be Marine Protected Areas, says Sayed-Khaiyum
Thirty-per cent of Fiji’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are now Marine Protected Areas.
This is part of our commitment to the Climate Change Bill.
It was highlighted by the Attorney General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum during the opening of the Asia-Pacific Judicial Conference on Climate Change Adjudication at the Sheraton Fiji Resort in Denarau, Nadi yesterday. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Fiji’s total EEZ covers 1.26 million square kilometres.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said: “We recently launched for public consultation the Climate Change Bill.
“It provides, for example, the legal basis the Government will further reform our environmental impact assessment and legally requires that climate risks are assessed when building infrastructure,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“The bill also advances Fiji’s commitment to state support of a community learning plan.
“The climate change bill will also help incentivise and enhance the environmental protection we require in the establishment of a framework to progress the emission reduction project, more broadly the bill also commits Fiji’s management of our Economic Exclusive Zone and that we gave 30 per cent of our EEZ to be marine protected areas.”
Relocation Trust Fund
He said the Relocation Trust Fund which was also launched, saw 43 villages which were identified to be relocated.
“We’ve already relocated three. It not only comes with cost but it also has an implication for land ownership, land title ownership,” he said. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum added there would also be a setup of a centralised carbon trading system because there were a number of property rights that were coming about in respect of the carbon trade of goods.
He said 80 per cent of all the funds related to climate change went towards mitigation while 20 per cent or less went towards adaptation.
Climate Change Bill:
According to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s ministerial statement in Parliament recently, the Climate Change Bill is for an Act that will be implemented to better prepare us for the challenges we face from climate change.
It will enshrine, in law, our domestic response to the climate threat and the threat to our oceans and place that law at the heart of our national policies and priorities.
Marine Protected Areas:
Marine protected areas restrict human activity for a conservation purpose, typically to protect natural or cultural resources.
Exclusive Economic Zone:
An exclusive economic zone is a sea zone prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and sea-bed resources.