A-G hears of plea for Turtle Conservation Site
The economic potential of Voqava Island as a Turtle Conservation Tourism site was brought to the attention of the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy during a public Budget consultation in Suva yesterday.
Taniela Tabu presented an economic development plan for Voqava Island that is located in Kabara in the Lau Group and is owned by his Mataqali, Naivotavota. Mr Tabu requested for a Government grant from the 2019-2020 Budget as a compensatory and relief measure to help landowners owning unique resources that have been barred by international law from being used for economic development.
He was referring to international laws that have banned the killing of turtles which he said existed in abundance in the Voqava seawater lake.
He presented a proposal for a turtle conservation tourism project for Voqava Island. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum replied: “I am not saying that I agree with what you are saying, but it has given me an idea in respect of conservation and what we can do to allow people to conserve. “From a tourism perspective, opportunities can arise, there is no doubt about that, but it is far away from Viti Levu and those costs will have to be factored in,” he said.
Second suggestion:
Aspire Network founder Kaajal Kumar suggested for monitoring and transparency be brought to the process in which community forums were organised and conducted.
“When there are training opportunities that come from Government, there are some divisional and district officers who are assigned for these jobs, but they do not visit every community to get those numbers in for the trainings,” Ms Kumar said.
She added, some officers ended up bringing their relatives for these community trainings and forums.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said it was a very useful suggestion which they needed to think about. Edited by Percy Kean