Ministry shifts focus
THE Ministry of Forests has shifted its focus and operations following Fiji’s commitments at the Climate Action Summit in New York last year.
Minister for Forests Osea Naiqamu said the ministry had focused 60 per cent of its resources towards the new initiative of planting 30 million trees in 15 years, which replaced the ministry’s former initiative of planting four million trees in four years.
Mr Naiqamu said the ministry aimed to plant two million trees each year within the 15-year period.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s two million trees initiative in Nawaisomo Village in the interior of Naitasiri, Mr Naiqamu said the reason behind the operational shift was to minimise illegal deforestation ensuring that more trees were planted.
For this purpose, Mr Naiqamu said they had decentralised 60 per cent of the ministry’s manpower to their 20 beat stations around the country.
As per the aim of the ministry, Mr Naiqamu said the Central Division was earmarked to plant 512,500 trees this year, meaning that the division had to plant 10,677 trees in a week, or 2135 trees a day.
Under the initiative the province of Naitasiri was expected to plant 211,500 trees.
Mr Naiqamu explained to villagers during the launch that trees they planted would secure a brighter, cleaner environment for their future generations.
Meanwhile, Tui Wailevu and traditional leader of the Nawaisomo people, Ratu Waisea Drakusiwale, said the six landowning units in their clan were willing to give 20 hectares of land for replanting of trees.
Ratu Waisea said the main reason was that villagers intended to replace the trees cut down by their ancestors.