An enchanted evening for the endangered turtle

The Annual Turtle Benefit Ball is promising to be another evening of fun, feasting and most importantly, gathering much needed support for turtle conservation in Fiji.

The event scheduled for the 7th June, 2008, has already attracted commitments from resorts such as Castaway Island Resort, Hideaway Resort, Musket Cove Resort, The Pearl Resort & Golf, Sonaisali Island Resort Fiji, Beachcomber Island Resort, Lagoon Resort, Tradewinds Hotel & Convention Centre, Tanoa International and corporate bodies such as Pure Fiji, Fiji Water, Pacific Manufacturers and Pacific Coatings Limited. (See full listing)

The inaugural Turtle Benefit Ball held in 2007, attracted more than 200 guests from different professions and repute to aid WWF Fiji and partners in their efforts to protect the endangered sea turtle – a cultural icon for the island nation. The Ball raised a total of FJD 10,000.

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Macuata Women’s Association ‘switches on’ with renewable energy

28 March 2008. As the rest of Fiji gears to turn off their lights for one hour on the 29th March in solidarity for Earth Hour and reducing carbon emissions globally, Visoqo Village will be showing their support by turning their lights on using renewable energy.

Visoqo Village is on the northern province of Macuata, Vanua Levu the second largest island in Fiji. For this isolated village in the north, basic lighting has been long overdue. With the support of the Macuata Soqosoqo ni Vakamarama (Macuata Women’s Association) and UNDP- GEF Small Grants Programme, this community will finally experience the novelty of turning on their lights with a switch, but doing one better by going solar.

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‘Marama ni Yadua’ Returns!

Fiji's first satellite turtle tagging

12 February 2008. Feature story by Jone Niukula & Sainivalati Navuku

Attempts over the last 2 years to locate and satellite tag a nesting turtle in Fiji bore fruit in January this year. The collaborative effort between the National Trust of Fiji (NTF), the community of Yadua, SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme), NOAA (National Ocean & Atmospheric Administration) and WWF has been the climax of on-going efforts over the past years to protect an endangered cultural icon.

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Ono-i-Lau Community work towards preserving Fiji’s southern most natural jewel

7 February 2008, Suva, Fiji. Conservation efforts have reached one of the most isolated islands of Fiji - Ono-I-Lau, Fiji's southern most territory.

Ono-i-Lau is currently listed as an area of national significance for marine biological diversity as identified during a ‘national marine biodiversity prioritization workshop’ conducted by WWF in 2003 with the participation of local and international marine experts and scientists.

Recently, a group of environmental workers together with government and community partners visited Ono-I-Lau for its first extensive environmental survey.

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Sperm whale washed ashore on Mali Island, Fiji

WWF is saddened by the news of the dead sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) that washed ashore on Mali Island. Sperm whales, which yield the symbolic tabua for Fiji, are classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List – which indicates that they face a high risk of extinction in the near future.

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Kabara villagers foster reforestation

24 October 2007. Suva, Fiji – Recently, the Kabara community in Lau planted 2,600 Vesi trees as part of their reforestation effort to save local Vesi tree stocks from depletion. The wood from vesi tree is the only or major source of income for majority of households in Kabara.

“Vesi, a high value native timber, is being used at a very rapid rate for tanoa carving in Kabara, but bulk of the wood as off-cuts are not utilized and no re-forestation effort was taking place to replenish diminishing stock,” said Francis Areki, WWF Fiji Forestry officer.

The Forestry Department of Ministry of Fisheries and Forest and WWF Fiji partnership set up the first-ever tree nursery in the Kabara District in late 2005. This nursery enabled the community to collect and nurture vesi seedlings for the restoration work that occurred this year.

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Locals contribute to protecting the marine turtles

13 June 2007. More than 200 guests from different professions and repute attended the black tie event - inaugural Turtle Benefit Ball on Friday, 8th June 2007, in aid of WWF Fiji's effort to protect the endangered seas turtles-a cultural icon for the South Pacific.

The event was a hit and showed that locals are concerned and willing to contribute for the protection of their/Fiji's fragile environment and unique species.

With this Ball, WWF increased awareness on sea turtle conservation and successfully fund-raised a little above $10,000 to support their protection in Fiji.

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Locals engage to protect Fiji’s environment

Whether you live along the coast or far inland, each one of us is connected to the world's ocean and the unique species that inhabit that aquatic environment. On Friday, June 8th 2007, Fiji will join the global community in celebrating World Oceans Day (WOD) – a UN event observed since 1992.

World Oceans Day celebrations in Fiji is an initiative lead by WWF Fiji Country Programme, USP’s Institute of Marine Resources, Laje Rotuma Initiative, Department of Fisheries and the Ministry of Environment to raise awareness on the need to protect our marine environment. The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Food Security beyond Climate Change’ with a particular emphasis on protecting our mangroves which are a nursery for many of our ocean foods.

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