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WATER WORLD
Graves sink, fisheries shrink as climate change hits Fiji
By Steven TRASK
Togoru, Fiji (AFP) Jan 18, 2023

Fiji military warns of 'concern' over new PM's reforms
Suva, Fiji (AFP) Jan 17, 2023 - Fiji's military chief warned Tuesday that reforms under new Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka could violate the constitution, but also pledged to respect the law and "stand with democracy".

Fiji has been shaken by four coups in the past 35 years, and the possibility of military intervention loomed over a tight general election last month.

Rabuka's election victory ended the 16-year rule of former naval commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized control of the Pacific archipelago through a putsch in 2006.

Under Fiji's constitution -- adopted in 2013 -- the military has wide powers to intervene in politics.

Rabuka's government has made reviewing the constitution one of its immediate priorities.

In a statement "authorised" by Major General Jone Kalouniwai, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) said it had "growing concern" over the ambition and speed of the government's "sweeping changes".

The military worries that the changes are being pursued "without full understanding" of procedures or are being "intentionally done to challenge the integrity of the Law and the Constitution of this land", Kalouniwai said.

Hours after issuing the statement, however, he said the military would continue to "honour the current government that is in place".

"Let me just reassure the public that the RFMF will continue to stand with democracy, we will continue to respect the law," Kalouniwai told online news outlet fijivillage.com.

In response, Rabuka said there was no reason to fret about the military's criticism.

"Relax. Do I look worried?" he asked reporters. "I have no concerns about my relationship with the military. I have every confidence in them."

Fiji's home affairs minister Pio Tikoduadua said he summoned the army chief to communicate the government's concerns over his statement.

"The commander has assured that today will be the last day that he will be making such a public utterances as that," Tikoduadua told reporters.

The minister said decisions to recall the country's diplomats and reinstate hundreds of airport workers, who were sacked during the pandemic, were among the issues raised by the commander.

Besides the touted constitutional review, Rabuka has said that the government plans to set up a "mercy commission" to decide on possible presidential pardons or reduced sentences for convicts.

The prime minister has rejected media suggestions that the commission is aimed at pardoning George Speight, a bankrupt businessman serving a life sentence after leading a coup in 2000.

The sea has already swallowed the village graveyard in Togoru, Fiji, and long-time resident Lavenia McGoon is dreading the day it claims her house.

She piles old rubber car tyres under the coconut trees that line the beachfront, hoping this makeshift seawall will at least buy some time.

The 70-year-old believes climate change, and the creeping ocean, will inevitably force her family to leave.

"Nobody can stop it," she tells AFP, as the tide sweeps in and crabs scuttle over the headstones.

"Nobody can stop water."

Togoru is a small settlement on the south coast of Fiji's largest island, Viti Levu.

It is one of dozens of coastal villages in the Pacific archipelago now confronting the reality of climate change.

McGoon, called "Big Nana" by locals, has spent almost 60 years here -- living on the shoreline in a basic wooden house without power or running water.

"We used to have a plantation right in front," McGoon says, pointing towards the sea.

"After 20 to 30 years we have lost almost 55 metres (60 yards) of land."

About 200 people were once buried in the Togoru graveyard, but McGoon says most of the remains have since been moved inland.

For now she refuses to follow, clinging on to her small piece of paradise.

"Relocation to me at this age, it's a bit too... sickening," she says.

- 'A big difference' -

Fiji has been meticulously preparing for the day it needs to relocate coastal villages because of climate change.

The scale of the challenge is enormous -- the government estimates more than 600 communities could be forced to move, including 42 villages under urgent threat.

More than 70 percent of the country's 900,000 people live within five kilometres (three miles) of the coast.

According to Australia's Monash University, sea levels have been rising in the western Pacific Ocean two to three times faster than the global average.

Entire low-lying nations such as Kiribati and Tuvalu could become uninhabitable within the next 30 years.

Fiji is fortunate that its highland regions make relocation a feasible option.

The settlement of Vunidogoloa, on the northern island of Vanua Levu, moved to higher ground in 2014 -- making it one of the first villages in the world to relocate because of rising sea levels.

Other villages, such as Veivatuloa, are exhausting their options for adaptation before abandoning their homes.

Veivatuloa lies about 40 kilometres west of the capital Suva and has a population of around 200 people.

The village's stilted houses sit in rows facing the water, while decaying wooden planks bridge the pools of seawater collecting on the ground at low tide.

The corrosive sea salt has eaten small holes into the walls of some buildings.

Veivatuloa has been lobbying the Fijian government to strengthen its old seawall, which is now regularly breached by waves.

Provincial spokesman Sairusi Qaranivalu says relocation is a painful idea for a village such as Veivatuloa, where customs are linked to the land.

"Once we take them away from the villages, it's like we are disconnecting them from the traditional duties they have to perform to their chiefs," he tells AFP.

"It's like deconstructing the traditional living and the way we live together."

The ocean is inching closer to the village, but elder Leone Nairuwai says he has to travel further out to sea to catch fish.

"When you used to go out to the sea you just go, I think, 20 yards (and) you catch the fish," he says.

"But now you take the outboard, it's a mile, and then you'll get a fish. There's a big difference."

- Shrinking catch -

About half of Fiji's rural population relies on fishing for survival, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

But the country's fisheries are under pressure on multiple fronts.

Warmer seas are disrupting coastal ecosystems, while stocks of valuable species such as tuna have been plundered by foreign vessels.

Local guide and subsistence fisherman Abaitia Rosivulavula ekes out a living selling his catch to the restaurants around Pacific Harbour, a tourist hotspot dotted with luxury resorts.

He uses the sawn-off bottom of a plastic milk bottle to scoop water from his fibreglass boat before gunning the outboard motor towards a nearby reef.

Most of his bait is taken by sharks, and the handful of fish he manages to reel in before sunset are too small to get his hopes up.

"Before, it's plenty (of) fish," he tells AFP before casting his line again.

"Before, the size of the fish is big, now it's just like this," he adds, making a shrinking gesture with his hands.

Fiji is ranked 12 on the Nature Conservancy's Fisheries at Risk Index, which looks at "climate-related risk to coastal fisheries" in 143 countries.

Four other Pacific nations -- Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga -- sit inside the top 10.

Back in the settlement of Togoru, "Big Nana" McGoon says small countries like Fiji are being left to foot the bill while others refuse to reduce their emissions.

"They only think of money coming in," she says. "They never think of other people, the ones who will be suffering."

While McGoon wants to stay next to the sea for as long as she can, she's resigned to watching her grandchildren leave.

"I love this place. It's beautiful," she says.

"The only thing I'm telling my grandchildren... go to school and achieve your goals. Aim for overseas.

"Because the water will always take its course."


Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics


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WATER WORLD
Fiji military warns of 'concern' over new PM's reforms
Suva, Fiji (AFP) Jan 17, 2023
Fiji's military chief warned Tuesday that reforms under new Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka may violate the constitution, but also pledged to respect the law and "stand with democracy". Fiji has been shaken by four coups in the past 35 years, and the possibility of military intervention loomed over a tight general election last month. Rabuka's victory ended the 16-year rule of former naval commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized control of the Pacific archipelago through a putsch in 2006. U ... read more

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