The ordinary folk here are doing a very good job in preserving natural habitats

Aug 23, 2012 14:40 GMT  ·  By

According to a new report, the people living in Fijian local communities are playing a very important role in terms of environmental protection and natural habitats conservation, meaning that the areas they have under their care are quite prosperous and likely to increase in surface throughout the following years.

Thus, recent estimates released by researchers working with three major green-oriented organizations (the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, and the Wildlife Conservation Society) indicate that, as soon as 2020, about 12-18 per cent of Fijian coastal and inshore ecosystems will be part and parcel of the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Area.

However, there seems to be one catch: the areas found to prosper under local management are those that help boost food security for the people.

Therefore, the main drive behind protecting them is that of making sure both agricultural practices and fishing activities are not negatively affected by dramatic changes in the availability of natural resources.

However, the specialists who looked into this issue believe that, given a proper flow on information, natural ecosystems such as mangroves, intertidal mudflats, and coral reefs will also soon benefit from properly carried-out management.

NewsWise quotes Dr. Morena Mills, the person in charge of overseeing this research, who supposedly commented on these findings as follows: “The results of the study are remarkable given that locally managed marine area networks in Fiji and the Western Pacific region are generally established only to meet local objectives, most notably to improve food security.”

Furthermore, “We cannot expect local communities to bear the full cost burden of contributing to national objectives,” which means that locals need be given financial incentives in the not-too--distant future if they are to keep up the good work and extend their attention to other endangered areas as well.

Hopefully, this concept of “people power” will soon begin to manifest itself in other parts of the world as well, seeing how – as we previously reported – indigenous communities must not be left behind when it comes to environmental protection, but made to share their insights into how their surrounding habitats are wired.