The committee, chaired by the Ministry of Environment, included the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Fisheries.

The meeting discussed and validated major characteristics and challenges in the kava industry, mapping of actors and stakeholders, pressures triggered by kava production on biodiversity and impact, best practices and inspiring model and strengthening the transformative role of the national framework towards a sustainable kava industry.

BIODEV2030 Fiji project is implemented by the IUCN Oceania regional office in close collaboration with the Fiji Ministry of Environment. It was officially launched in March 2021 by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Mr Joshua Wycliffe.

The initiative has two key strategies which is mainstreaming of biodiversity into key economic sectors and to obtain voluntary commitment from at least 2 economic sectors to reduce pressures on biodiversity over the next 10 years, with concrete targets and action plans.

The Initiative follows the 3D approach – Diagnostic, Dialogue and Dissemination. The diagnostic phase of the project is centred around a National Biodiversity Threats Assessments which identified Agriculture as the economic sector posing the largest threat to Fiji’s terrestrial biodiversity owing to its impact on native forests which are endemic biodiversity “hotspots”. Fisheries was identified as the economic sector posing the greatest threat to marine biodiversity in Fiji.

A National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan Steering Committee Members coordinated by the Ministry of Environment will also be convened soon to further deliberate and validate the report.

The BIODEV2030 Initiative is funded by French Development Agency (AFD), coordinated by Expertise France and implemented in 16 countries by IUCN and WWF. Fiji is the only country in the Oceania region in the initiative. The focus of the project is to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and restore biodiversity by 2050  while promoting more sustainable and resilient economies.

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^{By Tavenisa Luisa, BIODEV Fiji Project Officer}