Industries Called to Make Difference
With nothing to show for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Fiji has a long way to go. Just seven remaining years to SDG deadlines, an academic yesterday called for improved coherence between policy and implementation of programmes and projects.
The University of Fiji vice chancellor, Professor Shaista Shameem, said the biggest challenge was to link policies and processes to mitigating climate change effects. Pushing for a circular economy – where polluters pay – the university vice-chancellor said there was a disjunction between growth and climate.
“The need for growth cancels out our ability to protect the planet and its natural resources, which includes human resources,” Ms Shameem said.
Linear Economy Facilitates Slavery
“The linear economy is by its very definition a one-way street to climate disaster,” she said.
Advances made in the name of progress, including accumulating surpluses, were absent in eras preceding industrialisation, Ms Shameem said.
“It made some people very rich, but it made a whole lot of people very, very poor at the same time,” she said.
“It facilitated slavery and
Fixing the conundrum
indenture.”
Tourism and agriculture are classic examples of areas that need to get its act together to reduce carbon footprint, Ms Shameem said.
“Tourism, we have been told, particularly at the recent National Economic Summit, is the answer to our national debt problem,” she said.
Given sufficient support, tourism would lead to growth, second to none, according to the National Economic Summit 2023.
But waste products from tourism wreaked havoc, like coral bleaching, in the Western Division, Ms Shameem said.
“I see no discussion tourism industry is worst examples of printing,” she said. of how the one of the carbon foot
Aviation
Burnt jet fuel produced carbon dioxide and non-carbon dioxide emissions, including nitrogen oxides, soot, water vapour and sulfate aerosols, Ms Shameem pointed out.
“Researchers calculate that aviation contributes around four per cent to human-induced global warming, more than most countries do,” Ms Shameem said. Curtailing emissions required a host said.
“The most effective solution to reducing the climate and health impact of aviation is to fly less,” she said.
“Can we of solutions, Ms
Circular economy More inside > P18
Shameem tell that to the Government?”
Agriculture
In agriculture, where talk centred heavily on reviving the sugar industry through financial and material injection, there was less concern on the overuse and adverse impact of sugarcane farming, Ms Shameem said.
The impact was to the extent where sugarcane farms could not be used for anything else, not for a long time, she said.
Tourism and agriculture were deemed important answers to Fiji’s economic woes, according to the recent National Economic Summit.
Planet-friendly tourism and agriculture were the optimum options, Ms Shameem said.
“We will be looking for a long time, unless we come up with some alternatives,” she said.
The university recently called for a circular economy, against the current practice of a linear economy.
A circular economy, based on the policy and philosophy that those who pollute must pay are founded on the 3 Rs- reduce, reuse and recycle.
“Reduce dependency on natural resources, reuse products instead of throwing them away which then clog up landfills, and recycle to transform a product into something else useful at the end of its life,” Ms Shameem said. “The model used depends on right-sizing tax allocations.
“Taxation is levied on nonrenewable resources and not renewable resources, including labour.”