A New Project for the Park
...we will have to rethink the ‘business-as-usual’ mindset, in the context of the changes happening in our natural world...
It has been over three months since I last published a dune inspired story. I kind of gave myself a sabbatical leave. I’m human and as all humans do, we have moments in life where we are challenged by some hard choices. So, I took some much-deserved time-out to decide on my choices.
It took me sometime and before I knew it, it was 2023. Now, I believe myself ready for anything. Here’s an update of where I am so far.
I’m still at the National Park and loving my job as a ranger. We’ve been busy with visitors and of course, I’m still out and about doing tours and patrols. There’s been a bit of tree planting too at the park. More stories on this in the coming months.
The weather has been both, cruel and kind. Some days, the sun is so hot, it sizzles away my enthusiasm, mind you this is only a momentary affliction. Some days it’s rainy, but I love these days. I get to sit in my office and be dreamy. Dreamy meaning, I am imagining a better world like John Lennon.
Climate project grant
During my sabbatical, I did a bit of local travel, mainly to Suva. My organisation, the National Trust of Fiji, had finally secured an external grant for a Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience project for the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. And I had to travel to and fro because there were several things to get done before the grant could be accessed.
We have a responsibility to get our acts in order and support initiatives that look at protecting what we have now. Jason Tutani Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park park ranger
When I first got news of our success with the grant, I did a little celebratory dance in the privacy of my office. I was so elated. A climate change adaptation grant for the park was overdue. The many years of hard work put into protecting the dunes was finally getting recognised. People are slowly opening their eyes to the climate change reality that confronts us. I felt vindicated, in a sense.
In my four-walled alcove, I said to myself, they are starting to see you now as I have always seen you, a dignified wonder of our Fijian Archipelago. Aside from being a unique landscape, rich in history with its own biodiversity twist, the Sigatoka Sand Dunes are a natural barrier. Standing tall and wide, the dunes buffer the effects of the encroaching sea whilst the human community on its leeward side, continue life as usual.
Building coasting resilience
I intend through the new project, Building coastal resilience - forest restoration, invasive management actions and the Heritage in Young
Hands Program – of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes ecosystem, to remind our community how important it is to protect what we have. I believe the project can be the gateway to harmonising the human-dune interface and getting the community to see the dunes as part of the community. This is so important. Humans are creatures of habit and I know there will a be a lot of work that will have to happen in our community. I’m not undermining our community. I’m saying that we will have to rethink the ‘business-as-usual’ mindset, in the context of the changes happening in our natural world. If we continue to ignore these changes, then we imperil ourselves and the generations still to come. The take-home message is simple, climate change is real, it will get worse and it’s affecting all of us right now.
Engaging local community
Therefore, we have a responsibility to get our acts in order and support initiatives that look at protecting what we have now. We need to begin the healing process because honestly, humanity has had such a huge impact on our planet and
most of it, isn’t bragworthy.
The new Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience project is not a solution, it’s an opportunity for the National Park to begin engaging the local community into the serious conversations about climate change, adaptation, and resilience. It’s an opportunity for environmental actions in the National Park and
in the community. It’s an opportunity for community people to begin rethinking their lifestyles and becoming more eco-consciousness. It’s an opportunity to bring women and youths into the helm of climate change adaptation and resilience and active leadership. It’s an opportunity for a new kind of education, one I call the ‘Outdoor Classroom’.
It’s an opportunity for empowerment and keeping the flames of hope burning. It’s an opportunity for many more things.
On Saturday, I will be working again with a group of enthusiastic youths.
They were the first lot of an outdoor classroom environmental program, started in 2016, run at the National Park.
They’ve been part of the program for 6 years. Tomorrow, they come to help the rangers look after the dunes and continue their training as mentors for our 2023 outdoor classroom environmental program. They are the future, so climate change beware.
Something that Greta Thunberg said a few years ago, maybe at one of the COP events, that I am guilty of over quoting, “Hope doesn’t come from words. Hope only comes from actions.” And that is how I truly see this new project, hope in action.
The new Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience project at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park is funded through the Kiwa Initiave.