Fiji is also home to the Great Sea Reef, the third longest barrier reef in the world.
Nature at the centre of Fiji's way of life
The islands of Fiji provide one of the world’s most outstanding tropical marine environments, attracting escalating numbers of tourists and marine resource users from around the world every year. Fiji comprises of around 844 high islands, cays and islets, occupying an area of around 1.3 million sq km.
The extent and remoteness of its shallow tropical marine habitats, from oceanic reefs to near-shore fringing reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, lagoons, estuaries and deep oceanic drop offs, make it an area of high marine biodiversity, with many species unique to Fiji.Fijians have an important traditional relationship with the sea, reflected in their lifestyles, customs, traditional knowledge and history.
Around 80% of the population live on the coast and rely heavily on marine resources for food, livelihoods and cash income. Marine resources are also used for minerals, pharmaceuticals, construction material and a vast range of useful products.
The major sources of economic growth and livelihood are fisheries, the third largest export industry accounting for 1.5% of GDP, and the tourism sector, which accounts for 17% of the GDP.
Over 80% of land is communally owned by indigenous Fijians. This customary tenure system in Fiji enables natural resource owners to have complete control over utilisation of resources within all of the inshore fishing areas or i qoliqoli.
Like many island ecosystems, Fiji’s marine biodiversity faces the growing threat of over-fishing, unsustainable fishing practices, unregulated extraction of other marine resources, land-based pollution, increasing sedimentation from logging and poor land-use practices, climate change and associated coral bleaching, as well as increasing tourism and urbanisation.
In some Fijian communities, many popular varieties of edible mollusc and invertebrates are already facing the local extinction. In addition, marine environment is continuously impacted through natural events, such as cyclones.
The cumulative effects of these impacts, coupled with the dependence of Fiji’s coastal communities on marine resources and limited alternative livelihood options are putting increasing pressure on the marine environment. The need to manage the Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion (FIME) sustainably and in an integrated way is becoming increasingly imperative.
