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	<title>Fiji environmental news</title>
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				<item>
					<title>Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 17:16:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
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											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Culture, Fisheries, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Traditional People, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
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											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[A group of Pacific island nations have agreed to formally establish the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area (MPA) that will span their territorial waters. Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu and Fiji made a joint declaration announcing plans for the corridor at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May. Solomon Islands joined the initiative in late June. Melanesia, a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific that also includes the French territory of New Caledonia and parts of Indonesia, is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Located in the Coral Triangle, its ocean waters contain an estimated 75% of known coral species, along with iconic marine megafauna, including sharks, rays, dugongs and whales. This part of the ocean is also a hotspot for the discovery of new species. “The initiative represents a bold and timely step forward, recognizing that our oceans do not end at national boundaries, and that our stewardship responsibilities must therefore extend across them,” 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Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told leaders at the summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The U.S.-based NGO National Geographic Pristine Seas, which has partnered with governments throughout the region to conduct research on priority protection areas, has confirmed to Mongabay that the MOCOR is an entirely separate initiative from the Melanesian Ocean Reserve (MOR) announced by Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and PNG at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in France. A variety of corals in the shallows off Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elizabeth Erasito, custodian of Fiji’s parks and places</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 04:04:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29140809/Elizabeth-Erasito-v2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312222</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Green, Islands, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The work of conservation in small island states is rarely abstract. It is shaped by land that is limited, institutions that are thinly resourced, and pressures that arrive from far beyond national borders. Decisions about forests, rivers, reefs, and historic sites are often framed as technical choices, but they are more often political ones, balancing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The work of conservation in small island states is rarely abstract. It is shaped by land that is limited, institutions that are thinly resourced, and pressures that arrive from far beyond national borders. Decisions about forests, rivers, reefs, and historic sites are often framed as technical choices, but they are more often political ones, balancing development promises against damage that cannot easily be reversed. In Fiji, those tensions were especially visible in the management of protected areas and heritage sites. National parks were expected to serve several purposes at once: conservation, public access, cultural continuity, and economic opportunity. They were also expected to endure storms, fires, invasive species, and illegal extraction, frequently with too little staff and money. Holding those contradictions together required patience, administrative skill, and a tolerance for slow progress. One of the figures who spent much of her working life doing exactly that was Elizabeth Erasito. She joined the National Trust of Fiji in 1997 and rose to become its director, a position she held for more than two decades. Under her leadership, the Trust managed a small but symbolically important network of parks and historic places, from coastal dunes to forest reserves and archaeological sites. Her focus was less on expansion than on making protection function in practice. Elizabeth Erasito. From the National Trust. She spoke plainly about constraints. Monitoring, she argued, mattered more than declarations. In public remarks she described the need for practical tools to track encroachment, fires, invasive species, and illegal sand mining.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/elizabeth-erasito-custodian-of-fijis-parks-and-places/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312222</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Fatal Watch’: Interview with documentary makers on fisheries observer deaths</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2025 20:47:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/20155919/7-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296195</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Fiji, Ghana, Global, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[data, Environment, Fisheries, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fisheries observers hold a job little known by the general public but essential to the health of the oceans: monitoring the work on industrial fishing vessels. The sector has its share of illegal fishing and even other illicit activity, so the job comes with risks. A new documentary shows just how dangerous it is. Fatal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fisheries observers hold a job little known by the general public but essential to the health of the oceans: monitoring the work on industrial fishing vessels. The sector has its share of illegal fishing and even other illicit activity, so the job comes with risks. A new documentary shows just how dangerous it is. Fatal Watch, co-directed by Katie Carpenter and Mark Benjamin, focuses on four unsolved cases in which fisheries observers died or disappeared during the last decade. There have been at least a dozen more worldwide since 2009. The film also casts a critical eye on the industry as a whole, touching on management and transparency issues that the filmmakers see as intertwined with the observer safety problem. The heroes of Fatal Watch are investigators and campaigners seeking justice for harmed observers and fighting for marine conservation more broadly. Elizabeth Mitchell-Rachin, a board member of the Association for Professional Observers, a nonprofit based in the U.S. state of Oregon, is featured as a leading advocate for observer rights. Mitchell-Rachin herself worked as an observer from 1983 until 2008 and knows the dangers firsthand: A captain once threatened to throw her overboard. Fisheries observers are biological technicians who collect scientific data and report on vessels’ compliance with a range of rules, including, for example, those dealing with protected species. They are subject to many of the same dangers and discomforts that fishers face at sea, and then some. As a fisheries observer, “you’re living with the people that you’re reporting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Funerary practices in Fiji protect marine areas while honoring the deceased</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2025 13:22:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/30141053/Tom-Vierus-A%CC%82%C2%A9-WCS.Fishers-and-COVID.Fiji_.2021.69.v.3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295128</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Religions, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the fifth day after the burial of their chief, Seru Moce, 66, and other clan members gathered for a meeting to decide what portion of the sea to protect in memory of their deceased leader. For generations, Indigenous (iTaukei) people in Fiji have not only protected a loved one’s burial grounds, but also freshwater [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the fifth day after the burial of their chief, Seru Moce, 66, and other clan members gathered for a meeting to decide what portion of the sea to protect in memory of their deceased leader. For generations, Indigenous (iTaukei) people in Fiji have not only protected a loved one’s burial grounds, but also freshwater and marine areas in their memory. “Funerary protected areas hold much significance for the iTaukei way of life and conservation,” Moce said. “It’s a part of our livelihood, culture and sustainable management of resources.” It’s a practice that still endures today, though it has evolved across the country, a group of researchers who sought to bring light to this understudied type of protected area found. “Despite more than three decades of conservation efforts in Fiji,” they said, conservationists did not document aquatic funerary protected areas (or FPAs). This, they said, prevented the use of FPAs as a potential resource management strategy for the country. Upon the burial of a family member or community chief on clan land, local Fijians demarcate customary tabu (no-go closed-off areas) as protected areas in a freshwater or marine ecosystem. The size varies and tends to be larger for chiefs but are small compared with typical protected areas, ranging from 1-10 hectares (2.5-25 acres). For chiefs, the FPA could stretch from the shoreline to the outermost reef. These traditional protected areas forbid people from fishing and harvesting marine species from the area until a funerary feast. The gathering typically comes 100&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/funerary-practices-in-fiji-protect-marine-areas-while-honoring-the-deceased/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295128</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘The forest is so much more than money’: Q&#038;A with Fijian carbon project ranger Jerry Lotawa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/the-forest-is-so-much-more-than-money-qa-with-fijian-carbon-project-ranger-jerry-lotawa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/the-forest-is-so-much-more-than-money-qa-with-fijian-carbon-project-ranger-jerry-lotawa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2023 15:42:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Evans]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/12130734/Jerry-Lotawa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273212</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LABASA, Fiji — Jerry Lotawa knows his forest. He was raised in the tiny settlement of Drawa, a village of 11 brightly painted houses tucked high in the mountains of Fiji’s largest island, Vanua Levu. Following older family members, he learned to hunt pigs and fish for prawns and eels in the surrounding rainforest that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LABASA, Fiji — Jerry Lotawa knows his forest. He was raised in the tiny settlement of Drawa, a village of 11 brightly painted houses tucked high in the mountains of Fiji’s largest island, Vanua Levu. Following older family members, he learned to hunt pigs and fish for prawns and eels in the surrounding rainforest that belongs to his mataqali, or clan, and to find his way around the jagged terrain. His grandfather, Timoti Ratusaki, is the clan’s chief, and like other village leaders on the island, was concerned about their future. Vanua Levu has a powerful timber industry, and logging company representatives regularly venture into the highlands offering quick money for permits from Indigenous landowners to fell the large, ancient trees on their ancestral land. On a smaller scale, local landowners also fell trees themselves, both for timber and to make space for growing food, as well as for high-value market crops like yaqona (kava, Piper methysticum). Cash is hard to come by in the highlands, and plenty of locals were tempted by the companies’ offers: by 2012, each of the mataqali had drawn up logging coupes (areas designated for harvest) in the highest-value parts of their forest — areas that had the best access and the highest numbers of large, old-growth trees. But many of the chiefs, including Ratusaki, were keen to find another way to generate money that didn’t compromise the health of the forests that form such a cornerstone of their lives. In 2012, they formed a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/the-forest-is-so-much-more-than-money-qa-with-fijian-carbon-project-ranger-jerry-lotawa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273212</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Fiji’s first Indigenous-owned carbon credit project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/photos-fijis-first-indigenous-owned-carbon-credit-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/photos-fijis-first-indigenous-owned-carbon-credit-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2023 15:42:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Evans]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/12105757/2-Drawa-village-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273186</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Offset Markets, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Environment, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Photos, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LABASA, Fiji — No one finds their way to the village of Drawa by accident. To get there, you must first board a tiny plane to Labasa, the biggest town on Fiji’s Vanua Levu Island. Driving southwest past hectares of sugarcane plantations and forests riven with gashes of red earth, you’ll pass pickup trucks piled [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LABASA, Fiji — No one finds their way to the village of Drawa by accident. To get there, you must first board a tiny plane to Labasa, the biggest town on Fiji’s Vanua Levu Island. Driving southwest past hectares of sugarcane plantations and forests riven with gashes of red earth, you’ll pass pickup trucks piled high and wide with tightly bound stacks of the starchy cane stems, and loggers tugging loads of freshly cut tree trunks to one of the island’s many sawmills. When you turn off the highway onto an unassuming gravel side road in the center of the island, your four-wheel-drive vehicle will shudder and shake as the track deteriorates into humps and hollows of greasy orange mud. But the view more than makes up for it: you’ll ford perfectly clear rivers and climb precipitously through tracts of deep-green cloud forest, before eventually parking among a scattering of colorful timber houses at the bend of a river at the very end of the road. The road to Drawa village. In the background lies Lutukina village, whose residents are also participating in the carbon credit project. Image by Monica Evans for Mongabay. This small settlement is a hub for Fiji’s first verified forest carbon project, which has been selling carbon credits on the voluntary market through the Plan Vivo standard since 2018, with the help of local NGO Live &amp; Learn Environmental Education and the Australia-based Nakau Programme. Lead forest ranger Jerry Lotawa, second right, and Live &amp; Learn&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/photos-fijis-first-indigenous-owned-carbon-credit-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/photos-fijis-first-indigenous-owned-carbon-credit-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273186</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds locally managed marine areas in Fiji yield mixed results</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/study-finds-locally-managed-marine-areas-in-fiji-yield-mixed-results/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/study-finds-locally-managed-marine-areas-in-fiji-yield-mixed-results/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2023 18:44:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/30091734/fisher-in-fiji-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270393</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Philosophy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fishing, food security, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent study found that locally managed marine areas in Fiji strengthened the mechanisms believed to advance conservation efforts but ultimately led to few social, economic or even ecological benefits. Based on these results, the authors suggest reevaluating community-based marine management projects to understand how they can be modified for success. Published in Nature Sustainability, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recent study found that locally managed marine areas in Fiji strengthened the mechanisms believed to advance conservation efforts but ultimately led to few social, economic or even ecological benefits. Based on these results, the authors suggest reevaluating community-based marine management projects to understand how they can be modified for success. Published in Nature Sustainability, the study examined the efficacy of Fiji&#8217;s locally managed marine areas, or LMMAs, which operate via a national network known as FLMMA. LMMAs refer to areas of nearshore waters and their coastal and marine resources that coastal communities and partner organizations locally manage. About 350 coastal villages in Fiji are currently part of the FLMMA network, sharing the goal of preserving, protecting and sustainably using marine resources. The research found that FLMMA communities exhibited higher levels of decision-making, increased marine resource knowledge, better access to financial and infrastructure support and had more basic management tools in place when compared with non-FLMMA villages. These results also showed “higher levels of subjective well-being and more reported benefits from management in FLMMA villages,” the authors wrote. However, the study also found that FLMMA villages didn’t necessarily experience improved economic well-being, wealth or food security or even better ecological outcomes for the marine resources — all of which are desired impacts of community-based approaches to marine resource management. A fisher mending a fishing net. The authors suggest reevaluating community-based marine management projects to understand how they can be modified for success. Image by Jo Munday via Flickr (CC BY&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/study-finds-locally-managed-marine-areas-in-fiji-yield-mixed-results/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/study-finds-locally-managed-marine-areas-in-fiji-yield-mixed-results/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For urban poor in Global South, nature-based solutions have always been a way to get by</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/for-urban-poor-in-global-south-nature-based-solutions-have-always-been-a-way-to-get-by/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/for-urban-poor-in-global-south-nature-based-solutions-have-always-been-a-way-to-get-by/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2023 15:59:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/08145117/bangkok-slum-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269546</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Community Development, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Development, Economics, Environment, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Poverty, Solutions, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[We live in a rapidly urbanizing world, with half of humanity now concentrated in cities. Without adequate and affordable housing, more than a billion people live in informal settlements or urban slums, which lack essential infrastructure and services such as sanitation and secure land tenure. As the climate changes, people living in these informal areas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[We live in a rapidly urbanizing world, with half of humanity now concentrated in cities. Without adequate and affordable housing, more than a billion people live in informal settlements or urban slums, which lack essential infrastructure and services such as sanitation and secure land tenure. As the climate changes, people living in these informal areas are increasingly at risk. “Informal settlements are some of the areas that are disproportionately affected by disasters,” says urban researcher Erich Wolff of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. These include pandemics, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, floods and tsunamis. “So people have very pressing issues in their sights, and they are at the forefront of the effects of climate change.” To cope with the lack of infrastructure and services, residents of informal settlements often turn to nature. They rely on local food systems, use wetlands to treat wastewater, or depend on trees to ward off the heat. Strategies like these fall under the umbrella of nature-based solutions, a term increasingly used in conservation circles to describe practices that rely on nature and heathy ecosystems to address a societal challenge while also providing biodiversity benefits. But there’s been little formal study on the extent of these practices in the Global South, and their benefits and limitations in tackling the challenges of life in informal areas. In a recent study, Wolff and his colleagues attempted to quantify and analyze the different forms of nature-based solutions currently practiced in informal settlements in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, reviewing more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/for-urban-poor-in-global-south-nature-based-solutions-have-always-been-a-way-to-get-by/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/for-urban-poor-in-global-south-nature-based-solutions-have-always-been-a-way-to-get-by/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269546</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>It&#8217;s time to embrace community-led conservation vs. the colonial kind (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/its-time-to-embrace-community-led-conservation-vs-the-colonial-kind-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/its-time-to-embrace-community-led-conservation-vs-the-colonial-kind-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2023 19:54:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Audrey Moreng]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/15154753/animals_zh_129-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268593</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Colonialism, Colonization, Commentary, Conservation, Funding, Indigenous Peoples, Marine Protected Areas, National Parks, Parks, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When I lived on the remote island of Beqa, in Fiji, I watched as foreign-based NGOs entered villages and told Fijians how to live their lives, saying things like “no more eating ika bula (sea turtle),” and “it is time you stop fishing kawakawa (grouper).” These environmental NGOs had good intentions, of course, but their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When I lived on the remote island of Beqa, in Fiji, I watched as foreign-based NGOs entered villages and told Fijians how to live their lives, saying things like “no more eating ika bula (sea turtle),” and “it is time you stop fishing kawakawa (grouper).” These environmental NGOs had good intentions, of course, but their work was ineffective. Why would a Fijian man who has been eating ika bula for traditional occasions since childhood suddenly stop because some white guy who spent three days in his village told him to? Why do international conservation organizations often ask Indigenous people to halt their traditional and sustainable practices instead of focusing on larger issues at play, such as the bycatch of giant fishing vessels? I went into conservation to answer the call to better our planet. People like me who want to dedicate their career to help this earth and all of its species will not accomplish anything by allowing any sort of continuance of traditional conservation. Most of our current models of international conservation are dated and ineffective. If we want to make real change, we need to change our mindsets. We need to challenge current conservation practice. The village of Naceva, Beqa, Fiji on a cloudy day. Image courtesy of Audrey Moreng. Some of international conservation today still takes on a new form of colonialism. Colonialism is the exploitation of people, often Indigenous, by a foreign power. It usually involves taking resources, making the colonizer more powerful, all while furthering&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/its-time-to-embrace-community-led-conservation-vs-the-colonial-kind-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/its-time-to-embrace-community-led-conservation-vs-the-colonial-kind-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268593</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Worked to death: How a Chinese tuna juggernaut crushed its Indonesian workers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Sep 2021 10:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise GiseburtBasten GokkonMakoto WatanabePhilip JacobsonSeulki LeeTaufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/13034303/IUU-Henchman_Mongabay-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247027</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Finning the High Seas and Investigation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Ocean, Central Java, China, East Asia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Pacific Ocean, Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, South Korea, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Forced labor, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Poaching, Politics, Sharks, Tuna, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Investigative Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) in 2022. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia &#124; 阅读中文版  &#124; 日本語で読む) When Sepri was growing up, life in his village began to deteriorate. In the 1990s, the village, Serdang Menang, in the south of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, was centered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Investigative Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) in 2022. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia | 阅读中文版  | 日本語で読む) When Sepri was growing up, life in his village began to deteriorate. In the 1990s, the village, Serdang Menang, in the south of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, was centered around fertile rice fields and rivers full of fish. But after a palm oil company drained and denuded the swampy landscape, flooding and wildfires became commonplace, damaging local livelihoods. Sepri’s father, a tenant farmer, found new work as a janitor at a police station. But when Sepri reached adulthood, he, like millions of others in the world’s fourth-most populous country, saw migration as his only chance to make a living. With only a middle-school education, Sepri tried his hand in Jakarta, the nation’s capital, but his salary at an aging shopping mall was barely enough to meet his basic needs. He returned home disheartened after a few years. Back in the village, he spent much of his time at a loose end, watching soccer at his sister Rika’s house. She worried about her little brother. Many young men with too much time on their hands had fallen prey to methamphetamine use. Police in the village had recently shot dead one local dealer and were openly threatening to kill others. Rika, who ran a food stall with her husband, urged Sepri to take an easy job, stay out of trouble and start a family. But Sepri&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What’s fair in conservation to locals? Just ask, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/whats-fair-in-conservation-to-locals-just-ask-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/whats-fair-in-conservation-to-locals-just-ask-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2021 16:26:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nanditha Chandraprakash]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/07034042/Management-Committee_Vatu-i-Ra-Fiji-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246830</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Oceania, and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Philosophy, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The iTaukei, an Indigenous people of the Fiji Islands’ Ra province, have strong cultural ties to both land and sea. With their unparalleled knowledge of their home, these traditional Fijians co-manage a new marine protected area known as Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park. The park makes most of its money from tourists who come to dive in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The iTaukei, an Indigenous people of the Fiji Islands’ Ra province, have strong cultural ties to both land and sea. With their unparalleled knowledge of their home, these traditional Fijians co-manage a new marine protected area known as Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park. The park makes most of its money from tourists who come to dive in the coral-rich shores, but researchers with James Cook University in Australia and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Fiji wondered if the iTaukei felt the current distribution of funds was fair. What they found surprised them. In a new paper in Environmental Science &amp; Policy, the researchers compared what is considered “fair” for fund distribution by conservationists versus locals, in this case the iTaukei Indigenous people. Here’s what they found: the very people most affected by these practices may not find them fair. The study finds that managers must consider local views on fund distribution to craft more successful and inclusive protected areas. The researchers asked the local communities which of the five alternative principles seems the “most fair” approach to distributing funds: equality, needs, rights, merits, and opportunity costs. Current practices in Western, wealthy countries often favor the equality approach, where everyone in the region gets equal benefits, or the opportunity-cost approach, where the people who give up their historical resources, such as fishers, receive more funds. But the local Fijians did not hold the prevailing views of the West. “They consider the opportunity cost-based principle the least fair approach,” said Sangeeta Mangubhai, co-author of the paper&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/whats-fair-in-conservation-to-locals-just-ask-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246830</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nine new Fijian bees described, some restricted to a single mountaintop</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/fiji-bees-new-species-homalictus-mountaintop/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/fiji-bees-new-species-homalictus-mountaintop/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2019 12:06:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/24091022/terminalis-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222799</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Research, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From the island country of Fiji in southern Pacific Ocean, researchers have described nine new, and four previously known, species of bees, their colors ranging from black to golden-green and metallic, with hints of purple iridescence. All the bees belong to the genus Homalictus Cockerell, a group that’s not been taxonomically reviewed in Fiji for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the island country of Fiji in southern Pacific Ocean, researchers have described nine new, and four previously known, species of bees, their colors ranging from black to golden-green and metallic, with hints of purple iridescence. All the bees belong to the genus Homalictus Cockerell, a group that’s not been taxonomically reviewed in Fiji for 40 years, the researchers report in a new study. Many Homalictus bee species either have very restricted distributions or are known only from single mountaintops, the researchers say, and could soon become extinct due to changes in climate and other environmental risks. One such species is Homalictus terminalis, a new-to-science species of bee that&#8217;s only been recorded from Mount Batilamu on the largest island of Viti Levu. On the mountain, the bee seems to be restricted to the top 95 meters (312 feet) of the mountain peak, which lies at an elevation of 1,195 meters (3,921 feet) above sea level. In fact, the researchers named the bee “terminalis” to refer to the limited range of elevation and temperature within which the species occurs. “Homalictus terminalis is named so to indicate that, like many Fijian bees, it is nearing its limit and is at risk of climate-related extinction,” James Dorey, lead author of the study and a graduate student at Flinders University, Australia, said in a statement. Another newly described species, H. ostridorsum, has only been documented on Mount Tomanivi, the highest mountain in Fiji on Viti Levu, while H. taveuni is named after the island&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/fiji-bees-new-species-homalictus-mountaintop/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222799</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘From possibility to certainty’: Climate strikers seek action to avert disaster</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/from-possibility-to-certainty-climate-strikers-seek-action-to-avert-disaster/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/from-possibility-to-certainty-climate-strikers-seek-action-to-avert-disaster/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2019 15:50:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Imelda Abano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/22152849/Image-133-_banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222744</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering Climate Now]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Global, Philippines, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Human Rights, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW YORK CITY — Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to many low-lying Asian and the Pacific island countries, with rising seas putting people’s lives, livelihoods, environment and culture at risk. At a more extreme level, some communities are already being relocated because of rising oceans, making movements across borders a worrisome reality [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW YORK CITY — Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to many low-lying Asian and the Pacific island countries, with rising seas putting people’s lives, livelihoods, environment and culture at risk. At a more extreme level, some communities are already being relocated because of rising oceans, making movements across borders a worrisome reality of the future for many people, especially the young generation. “Our existence is at stake. The consequences of a burning planet is coming and is already felt in many parts of the world by our people,” said Lavetanalagi Seru, coordinator of the Fiji-based Alliance for Future Generations. “We are on a suicidal [course] and we need to act courageously, urgently and boldly. And that human rights should underpin the actions we take.” Seru was among thousands of protesters, many of them youths like himself, gathered in New York on Sept. 20 for a global climate strike to highlight the urgency of tackling climate change. Having arrived from his village in Fiji, Seru brought the dire message that some islands have already been submerged completely and that more people will be forced to move in the coming years, which will pose a massive challenge for regional governments in terms of dealing with internal displacement. “Young people have certainly realized the gravity of the climate catastrophe, and the possibility of inheriting an inhabitable planet. We share our frustrations of the lack of political will and climate inaction from our leaders and from our governments. Let us rise&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/from-possibility-to-certainty-climate-strikers-seek-action-to-avert-disaster/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/from-possibility-to-certainty-climate-strikers-seek-action-to-avert-disaster/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222744</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cyclone harmed Fijian crab fishery in 2016, research finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/cyclone-harmed-fijian-crab-fishery-in-2016-research-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/cyclone-harmed-fijian-crab-fishery-in-2016-research-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2019 13:22:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/01/03054017/visuals.dec1b0627949444cbf285b5c2aa618fa-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214312</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Invertebrates, Islands, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Storms, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The devastation wrought by hurricanes and cyclones, persistent and growing threats in today’s changing climate, can ripple through communities dependent on harvesting food from the sea, a new study has found. Often, the reverberations felt in daily life are drowned out by the figures that tally up a storm’s physical damage. “It’s important to realize [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The devastation wrought by hurricanes and cyclones, persistent and growing threats in today’s changing climate, can ripple through communities dependent on harvesting food from the sea, a new study has found. Often, the reverberations felt in daily life are drowned out by the figures that tally up a storm’s physical damage. “It’s important to realize that tropical cyclones can have immediate effects on food security and the economic well-being of small villages that depend on natural resources,” Sangeeta Mangubhai, a marine ecologist who leads the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Fiji program, said in a statement. A home in Fiji destroyed by Tropical Storm Winston. Image by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade via Wikimedia Commons (CC 2.0). In 2016, Tropical Cyclone Winston tore through the South Pacific with winds reaching 280 kilometers per hour (174 miles per hour), making it one of the Southern Hemisphere’s strongest storms on record. It was also one of the costliest, especially to the island nation of Fiji. The government estimated the cost of the damage at around $943 million. The storm destroyed tens of thousands of houses and hundreds of schools, and killed 44 people. Mangubhai and her colleagues at WCS also wanted to understand how a storm of this size might impact the fisheries that local communities depend on. In 2015, a few months prior to Winston’s landfall in Fiji, the team spoke with more than 100 mud-crab fishers, mostly from the iTaukei ethinic group, in the province of Bua. Bua&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/cyclone-harmed-fijian-crab-fishery-in-2016-research-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/cyclone-harmed-fijian-crab-fishery-in-2016-research-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214312</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Women in small-island states exposed to high levels of mercury: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2018 11:03:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/31112250/MANUEL-SALDARRIAGA.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212644</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Barbados, Caribbean, Comoros, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Pacific Islands, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Coal, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Mercury, Oceans, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Saltwater Fish, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CBO2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Women of childbearing age from small-island states and countries have been found to have toxic levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can harm unborn children, a new report shows. The study took hair samples from 757 women between the ages of 18 and 44 years from across the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Women of childbearing age from small-island states and countries have been found to have toxic levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can harm unborn children, a new report shows. The study took hair samples from 757 women between the ages of 18 and 44 years from across the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. Nearly 60 percent of them were found to have mercury levels of more than one part per million, or 1 ppm — the threshold above which brain damage, IQ loss, and kidney and cardiovascular damage can occur, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The mercury level associated with the onset of fetal neurological damage is lower, at 0.58 ppm, and the number of women whose hair samples exceeded that level for mercury was 75 percent, the study found. The researchers used hair samples from women ages 18 to 44 to analyze the mercury levels in their bodies. Image courtesy of IPEN. The study, published Nov. 19, was carried out by scientists from the nonprofit Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) and IPEN, a global coalition of health and environmental groups. They took hair samples from women in 21 countries and territories — including Fiji, Barbados, Comoros, Sri Lanka, and the U.S. islands of Molokai in Hawaii and Saint Lawrence in Alaska — where industrialization remains low and the population relies on local fisheries as a major source of dietary protein. “The highest level found in the sampling that can be confirmed was over 20&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/women-in-small-island-states-exposed-to-high-levels-of-mercury-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212644</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Bali and beyond: An urgent focus on coral conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/in-bali-and-beyond-an-urgent-focus-on-coral-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/in-bali-and-beyond-an-urgent-focus-on-coral-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2018 13:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cristián Samper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/29130553/1-Photo-by-EmilyDarling-WCS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211586</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Mozambique]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Commentary, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some corals look like giant boulders, others like branching trees—anything but what they actually are: animals. That is, unless you are lucky enough to see coral at night, when their polyps open and feed in the ocean current. It’s an awe-inspiring sight. Coral reefs are important places, too, as habitats that provide food and shelter [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some corals look like giant boulders, others like branching trees—anything but what they actually are: animals. That is, unless you are lucky enough to see coral at night, when their polyps open and feed in the ocean current. It’s an awe-inspiring sight. Coral reefs are important places, too, as habitats that provide food and shelter to thousands of species of reef fish, anemones, mollusks, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, tiny crabs, octopus, cnidarians, soft corals, and more. There are around 800 known species of reef-building corals in the world. Though we think of reefs as tropical places, they can be found further north—like deep in the cold, Atlantic waters off New York. Conditions of the northern Mozambique Channel, which include a confluence of tides, currents, eddies, along with less exposure to waves and storms, seem to protect the channel’s high coral richness, making the corals of the Mozambique Channel a priority for conservation action. Photo credit: Emily Darling/WCS. Millions of people depend on coral for their nutritional health and well-being, chiefly by fishing for the marine life that depends on reefs. By protecting reef habitats, conservation efforts help fish populations to recover—in the process improving both local livelihoods and ensuring a future for intact coral reefs. Corals also drive a tourism industry that attracts thousands of snorkelers and divers every year. A 2017 study estimated that industry to be worth some $35.8 billion annually. Seventy countries have reefs that generate more than a million dollars per square kilometer. But we are damaging coral&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/in-bali-and-beyond-an-urgent-focus-on-coral-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/in-bali-and-beyond-an-urgent-focus-on-coral-conservation-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211586</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Casting for another job: will fishers take up a new livelihood?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/casting-for-another-job-will-fishers-take-up-a-new-livelihood/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/casting-for-another-job-will-fishers-take-up-a-new-livelihood/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2015 19:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amy West]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/01/casting-for-another-job-will-fishers-take-up-a-new-livelihood/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mongabay.org, Oceans, Overfishing, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Can alternative income programs save Fiji&#8217;s reef fish? If a country&#8217;s residents, historically, didn&#8217;t fret about their coastal resources or concern themselves with starvation, what happens when those previously abundant resources start diminishing? How does a culture shift gears into thinking conservatively? There&#8217;s no question that solutions are sorely needed for Fiji&#8217;s declining reef fisheries. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Can alternative income programs save Fiji&#8217;s reef fish? If a country&#8217;s residents, historically, didn&#8217;t fret about their coastal resources or concern themselves with starvation, what happens when those previously abundant resources start diminishing? How does a culture shift gears into thinking conservatively? There&#8217;s no question that solutions are sorely needed for Fiji&#8217;s declining reef fisheries. The debate, though, usually hinges on what needs fixing first, and how. Many implicate the failure of Fiji&#8217;s government to prioritize sustainable management over fisheries development projects, or suggest that Fijians&#8217; mindsets must dramatically shift first. Similarly, people in Fiji believe that communication between rural people and the government needs improving, laws should be rewritten to tighten poaching and loopholes, or fishing should simply be curtailed. Still others contend that communities need more resources to protect their reefs. Either way this tangled web of ideas leads to no single overarching solution. Remote yet picturesque coastal villages such as Nauouo in Fiji are subsistence societies that live mainly off the land by farming and fishing, but now require more income. Photo by Amy West. Helen Sykes, the founder of Marine Ecology Consulting in Fiji, says the most important thing that conservation organizations and scientists need to consider when working in Fiji, or other regions that mainly depend on fish for protein, is to think like a fisheries manager first, not a preservationist. This notion is echoed by Joshua Cinner, a professor at James Cook University, who specializes in the relationship between coral reefs and coastal communities.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/casting-for-another-job-will-fishers-take-up-a-new-livelihood/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/casting-for-another-job-will-fishers-take-up-a-new-livelihood/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reeling in religious messages: how faith impacts fisheries in Fiji</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/reeling-in-religious-messages-how-faith-impacts-fisheries-in-fiji/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/reeling-in-religious-messages-how-faith-impacts-fisheries-in-fiji/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2014 18:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amy West]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/11/reeling-in-religious-messages-how-faith-impacts-fisheries-in-fiji/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation and Religion]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay.org, Oceans, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Marrying religion and conservation could be key to making Fiji&#8217;s fisheries sustainable Fijians appear to enter life with vocal cords prepped for singing. It&#8217;s an ideal trait, because most are deeply devoted to church where their voices are put to good use. When walking through villages on any given day, these beautiful sounds can be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Marrying religion and conservation could be key to making Fiji&#8217;s fisheries sustainable Fijians appear to enter life with vocal cords prepped for singing. It&#8217;s an ideal trait, because most are deeply devoted to church where their voices are put to good use. When walking through villages on any given day, these beautiful sounds can be heard reverberating along the jungle backdrop. Fijians have strong religious beliefs, which were primarily introduced by Christian missionaries in the 1835, and today profoundly guide their daily lives. More than half of all Fijians are Christian, with the majority being Methodists followed by Catholics. In Fiji, no work or planning occurs on Sunday—that day is typically devoted to honoring God. Churches and other places of worship are a very common sight in Fiji. Though the majority are Christian-based, nearly 40 percent of the country is of Indian decent, and thus Hinduism constitutes the second largest religion. Photo by Amy West An evening discussion around dinner in the capital of Suva highlighted the fact that Fijians would give their last dime to fund the church. They practically do, as villagers contribute portions of their income to pay for a pastor and build or repair their church. In rural areas, indigenous Fijians spend considerably on religious financial contributions &#8211; F$22 million annually— even higher than loan repayments or other village fees, according to the most recently published census in 2008-2009 from Fiji&#8217;s Bureau of Statistics. For comparison, rural communities spent a total of F$40 million on education&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/reeling-in-religious-messages-how-faith-impacts-fisheries-in-fiji/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/reeling-in-religious-messages-how-faith-impacts-fisheries-in-fiji/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24415</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishing for coherent regulations along Fiji&#8217;s coral reefs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/fishing-for-coherent-regulations-along-fijis-coral-reefs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/fishing-for-coherent-regulations-along-fijis-coral-reefs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2014 15:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amy West]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/07/fishing-for-coherent-regulations-along-fijis-coral-reefs/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay.org, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Will Fiji implement a much-needed update to its fisheries laws before the September election? If you want to quiet a room in Fiji or feel like a lobster in a boiling pot, bring up coastal fishing rights, and ask what&#8217;s happening with the plan to update the country&#8217;s fisheries laws. In September Fiji will hold [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Will Fiji implement a much-needed update to its fisheries laws before the September election? If you want to quiet a room in Fiji or feel like a lobster in a boiling pot, bring up coastal fishing rights, and ask what&#8217;s happening with the plan to update the country&#8217;s fisheries laws. In September Fiji will hold its first election since the 2006 bloodless coup. That coup was partly inspired by fears of the government passing several pieces of legislation—including a contentious coastal fisheries bill that sought to transfer full legal ownership of the qoliqoli (fishing grounds) from the state to ethnic Fijians. These indigenous Fijians comprise a little more than half of the population, and don&#8217;t own the reef but currently have the legal resource rights to fish in their qoliqoli. So many feared the legislation would exacerbate a racial divide with the other major group in the country, the Indo-Fijians (just under half the population), who don&#8217;t own the resources. The legislation also raised concerns within Fiji&#8217;s powerful tourism sector, whose total contribution is a third of the GDP. They believed the bill could pose access problems for recreational activities like swimming or diving. Spearfishing off the reefs of the island Ovalau. Fishing solo with a spear is legally allowed in all areas of Fiji, even the locally protected ones. Photo copyright © 2014 Amy West. A long-standing challenge for Fiji has been how to balance resource rights of native Fijians with the rights of other citizens. After Fiji ceded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/fishing-for-coherent-regulations-along-fijis-coral-reefs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/fishing-for-coherent-regulations-along-fijis-coral-reefs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24928</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dying for Fiji&#8217;s Sea Cucumbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/dying-for-fijis-sea-cucumbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/dying-for-fijis-sea-cucumbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2014 18:49:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amy West]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/06/dying-for-fijis-sea-cucumbers/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Mongabay.org, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[What&#8217;s it Worth? Deepening pressure on Fiji’s coral protectors. Redfish, Greenfish, Blackfish. Pinkfish, Curryfish, Lollyfish. They sound like Dr. Seuss characters and certainly look like they should be. Yet these sausage-shaped, rubbery animals stippled in fleshy bumps are not fish at all, but an invertebrate in the group that includes sea stars, sea urchins and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[What&#8217;s it Worth? Deepening pressure on Fiji’s coral protectors. Redfish, Greenfish, Blackfish. Pinkfish, Curryfish, Lollyfish. They sound like Dr. Seuss characters and certainly look like they should be. Yet these sausage-shaped, rubbery animals stippled in fleshy bumps are not fish at all, but an invertebrate in the group that includes sea stars, sea urchins and sand dollars. Sea cucumbers, referred to as &#8220;bêche-de-mer&#8221; or &#8220;trepang&#8221; when sold as dried food, are largely motionless creatures, which is why divers scoop hundreds of them up daily to export to Asia. A single high value individual in Fiji can fetch about $80 US, notes one report. Sea cucumbers are not a new food craze; the Chinese have eaten them at least since the 1600s and sought this delicacy from Fiji since the early 1800s. Today, the increasing market demand and the push to dive deeper for these invertebrates and start new fisheries in other countries have sent stocks declining worldwide. Some have disappeared locally in Pacific Island nations, and in Fiji, divers are actually dying for them. A surf redfish, a high-valued sea cucumber, wedged into reef crevices near Mago Island in Fiji’s Lau group. Photo courtesy of Stacy Jupiter Sea cucumbers are often found just offshore, in sea grass beds, on the sandy seafloor, or wedged within reefs. Their slow nature and proximity to shore encouraged an easy harvest, particularly without a specific management plan or an enforced licensing system in Fiji. They&#8217;ve been taken before they can mature, or thinned to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/dying-for-fijis-sea-cucumbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25050</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Former Miss South Pacific steps into new conservation role</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/former-miss-south-pacific-steps-into-new-conservation-role/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/former-miss-south-pacific-steps-into-new-conservation-role/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2014 17:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amy West]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/05/former-miss-south-pacific-steps-into-new-conservation-role/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Environment, Fishing, Green, Interviews, Mongabay.org, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Alisi Rabukawaqa, an articulate, vibrant, 26-year-old Fijian known in Oceania as Miss South Pacific 2011, has set her sights on a novel conservation program in Fiji. The Conservation Officer program, created in 2013, supports natural resource management within villages in Fiji and links them with the government arm overseeing the needs of indigenous Fijians (iTaukei [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Alisi Rabukawaqa, an articulate, vibrant, 26-year-old Fijian known in Oceania as Miss South Pacific 2011, has set her sights on a novel conservation program in Fiji. The Conservation Officer program, created in 2013, supports natural resource management within villages in Fiji and links them with the government arm overseeing the needs of indigenous Fijians (iTaukei Affairs Board). Though Fiji’s Environmental Management Act finally passed in 2005, sanctioning natural resource protection, the Act wasn’t brought into force until 2008 due to a coup. Three years later, iTaukei Affairs Board decided it was in the best interests of native Fijians to form the Conservation Unit, which houses the officer program, and address such concerns as mining, pollution, and indiscriminate fishing practices. Numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the Peace Corps have historically supported environmental projects in Fiji due to this previous gap in government capability. That support will remain, but Rabukawaqa thinks, “we should stop pulling at the coattails of others to help us.” Nevertheless, NGOs currently fund most of the Conservation Officers. Alisi Rabukawaqa as Miss South Pacific in 2011. In contrast to Miss America, a contest primarily focused on physical virtues, this pageant honors the talents and traditions of female Pacific islanders, including the Hawaiian islands. Photo by Epeli Tuibeqa. Indigenous Fijians comprise more than half of Fiji’s population, and communally own 87 percent of the land around the 330 islands. Roughly eight percent is “freehold” land for outsiders to own. Native Fijians have strong, customary links to their land, but&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/former-miss-south-pacific-steps-into-new-conservation-role/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25240</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protected forests linked to healthy coral reefs in Fiji</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/protected-forests-linked-to-healthy-coral-reefs-in-fiji/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/protected-forests-linked-to-healthy-coral-reefs-in-fiji/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jan 2014 15:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew Mann]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/protected-forests-linked-to-healthy-coral-reefs-in-fiji/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Fishing, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Oceans, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Increasing forest protection in the right areas could increase benefits up to 10.4 percent to coral reef condition, according to a recent study of Fiji&#8217;s forests and reefs in Marine Policy. Benefits from protected forests such as improved water quality due to decreased runoff and increased distribution of the vegetation are more closely linked to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Increasing forest protection in the right areas could increase benefits up to 10.4 percent to coral reef condition, according to a recent study of Fiji&#8217;s forests and reefs in Marine Policy. Benefits from protected forests such as improved water quality due to decreased runoff and increased distribution of the vegetation are more closely linked to coral reef health than previously thought. Researchers from the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society modeled six different scenarios for improving Fiji’s coral reefs through the management of their forests. The aim of four of the scenarios was to fulfill Fiji&#8217;s terrestrial conservation goals, such as increasing plant representation, while the other two attempted to maximize benefits to coral reefs, by minimizing potential for land-based runoff. The health of coral reefs are significantly linked by the quality of protected areas on land, particularly if terrestrial parks are designed to include deep forest cover, according to a new study by the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Photo credit: Stacy Jupiter/WCS Fiji Program. However, the results from the study revealed that any increase in forest protection benefited coral reefs because of a decrease in sediments, nutrients, and pollutants in the rivers that lead to the oceans. “Small adjustments to the proposed terrestrial protected areas can deliver large benefits to coral reefs,” Carissa Klein of the University of Queensland told mongabay.com, “This run-off can cause die-offs of coral reefs which indirectly affects fisheries… [an industry that] supports the livelihoods of 12 percent of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/protected-forests-linked-to-healthy-coral-reefs-in-fiji/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25778</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two journalists awarded prizes for reporting on fisheries in the Pacific</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/two-journalists-awarded-prizes-for-reporting-on-fisheries-in-the-pacific/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/two-journalists-awarded-prizes-for-reporting-on-fisheries-in-the-pacific/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jan 2014 15:41:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/two-journalists-awarded-prizes-for-reporting-on-fisheries-in-the-pacific/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Fish, Fishing, Green, Journalism, and Mongabay.org]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fisherman loading sardines for export into the back of a pickup truck in Batu Putih, North Sulawesi. Recently, Mongabay.org &#8211; a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of social and environmental issues relating to tropical forests and other ecosystems &#8211; has announced the winners of two environmental reporting prizes under its Special Reporting Initiative (SRI) program. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fisherman loading sardines for export into the back of a pickup truck in Batu Putih, North Sulawesi. Recently, Mongabay.org &#8211; a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of social and environmental issues relating to tropical forests and other ecosystems &#8211; has announced the winners of two environmental reporting prizes under its Special Reporting Initiative (SRI) program. The prizes sought proposals to investigate questions around marine fisheries management in the Pacific. The first aims to explore the state of marine fisheries in Indonesia. The second, structured as a special reporting assignment, looks at locally managed marine areas in Fiji. In both places, fisheries are often poorly managed, leading to overexploitation and economic losses that especially affect small fishing communities. The reporting projects will investigate what&#8217;s driving overfishing and the potential for the improvement in management and policy. The winner of the Indonesia reporting project is Melati Kaye, who was selected by an independent panel of journalists, conservationists, and Indonesian fisheries experts. Kaye&#8217;s SRI topic is entitled A Tale of Two Fish: Unsustainable Supply Chains in Indonesia. Indonesia’s vast coastline is home to some of the world’s richest coral diversity and two-thirds of the nation’s 200 million people, over half of whom rely on near-shore fisheries for income. Add to this, burgeoning global demand for seafood and the ability to deliver fresh fish to far-flung customers, and the outline of the opportunities and challenges facing stakeholders and policy-makers emerges. Melati plans to follow two fish — the 160-kilo reef-dwelling Napoleon Wrasse that can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/two-journalists-awarded-prizes-for-reporting-on-fisheries-in-the-pacific/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25803</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>98% of marine fish headed for the aquarium trade die within a year in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/98-of-marine-fish-headed-for-the-aquarium-trade-die-within-a-year-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/98-of-marine-fish-headed-for-the-aquarium-trade-die-within-a-year-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2013 16:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Natalie Millar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/10/98-of-marine-fish-headed-for-the-aquarium-trade-die-within-a-year-in-the-philippines/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji and Solomon Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquariums, Biodiversity, Environment, Fish, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Pet Trade, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Almost all wild caught marine fish for the aquarium trade will die within a year of capture, according to WWF. Following months of interviews with Filipino marine exporters and hobbyists, WWF-Philippines have found that roughly 80% of all marine fish die before they are sold, and those that survive long enough to be bought by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Almost all wild caught marine fish for the aquarium trade will die within a year of capture, according to WWF. Following months of interviews with Filipino marine exporters and hobbyists, WWF-Philippines have found that roughly 80% of all marine fish die before they are sold, and those that survive long enough to be bought by hobbyists are extremely likely to be dead in under a year. Unregulated capture techniques and improper bagging along with poor transportation and stocking practices result in the high mortalities, according to WWF-Philippines. Only the hardiest fish are likely to survive, such as clownfish (Amphiprion spp), damselfish (Pomacentrus spp), wrasses (Labroides spp) and gobies. Clownfish in an anemone. Photo by Tiffany Roufs. Technological advances in the 1970s meant that it was possible to keep marine life in your home aquarium, and by 1992 the trade of marine fish, coral and invertebrates was worth $1 billion worldwide. This industry is a significant driver for the Filipino economy, being especially important for fish collectors throughout the archipelago. Although factors such as climate change, pollution and poor harvesting practices have decimated reefs and depleted marine populations. Brackish fish (species found where freshwater and saltwater meet) and freshwater fish have long-adapted to dealing with rapid changes in their environment. With heavy rain and storms filling their habitat with mud and silt, they have evolved to cope with major fluctuations. However, marine fish live in one of the most stable environments on earth – the ocean – where any change in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/98-of-marine-fish-headed-for-the-aquarium-trade-die-within-a-year-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26233</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Picture: Fluorescent lizardfish, glowing reefs in Fiji</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/picture-fluorescent-lizardfish-glowing-reefs-in-fiji/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/picture-fluorescent-lizardfish-glowing-reefs-in-fiji/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2011 20:13:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/06/picture-fluorescent-lizardfish-glowing-reefs-in-fiji/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coral Reefs, Environment, Green, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Photos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Blue light shows off the flourescence of this lizardfish on Toyota reef, Fiji. Photo © Keith Ellenbogen The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other partners are currently exploring a remote coral reef off Fiji&#8217;s Totoya Island. Accompanying the organizations is Roko Sau (Roko Josefa Cinavilakeba), the current high chief of Totoya Island who will this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Blue light shows off the flourescence of this lizardfish on Toyota reef, Fiji. Photo © Keith Ellenbogen The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other partners are currently exploring a remote coral reef off Fiji&#8217;s Totoya Island. Accompanying the organizations is Roko Sau (Roko Josefa Cinavilakeba), the current high chief of Totoya Island who will this week declare the reef off-limits to fishing in recognition of World Ocean&#8217;s Day on June 8. In so doing, Roko Sau hopes to ensure there are fish for future generations. To promote awareness of the expedition and World Ocean&#8217;s Day, WCS released a series of pictures from the reef. Flouescent mushroom coral. Photo © Keith Ellenbogen Totoya Glowing Reefscape. Photo © Tali Treibitz Tali Treibitz with flourescence camera. Photo © Keith EllenbogenThis article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/picture-fluorescent-lizardfish-glowing-reefs-in-fiji/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32439</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fiji eyes investment from Malaysian palm oil industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/fiji-eyes-investment-from-malaysian-palm-oil-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/fiji-eyes-investment-from-malaysian-palm-oil-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2011 17:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/03/fiji-eyes-investment-from-malaysian-palm-oil-industry/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Malaysia, and Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Green, Islands, and Palm Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Fiji met with investors from the Malaysian palm oil industry this week to discuss the potential development of oil palm plantations in the Pacific island nation, reports FijiVillage.com. Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Industry and Trades Saipora Mataikabara said the Malaysian investors have identified land in Lomaivuna. The developers are seeking a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Fiji met with investors from the Malaysian palm oil industry this week to discuss the potential development of oil palm plantations in the Pacific island nation, reports FijiVillage.com. Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Industry and Trades Saipora Mataikabara said the Malaysian investors have identified land in Lomaivuna. The developers are seeking a minimum of 30,000 hectares and said the project would generate employment opportunities for locals. High palm oil prices and land scarcity in Malaysia, which together with Indonesia accounts for more than 85 percent of global palm oil production, have led plantation developers to seek opportunities overseas, including Africa and other parts of Asia. Palm oil isn&#8217;t presently produced on commercial scale in Fiji.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/fiji-eyes-investment-from-malaysian-palm-oil-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32746</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On the edge of extinction, Fiji petrels observed at sea for the first time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/on-the-edge-of-extinction-fiji-petrels-observed-at-sea-for-the-first-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/on-the-edge-of-extinction-fiji-petrels-observed-at-sea-for-the-first-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2009 02:14:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2009/09/on-the-edge-of-extinction-fiji-petrels-observed-at-sea-for-the-first-time/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji, Pacific Islands, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Oceans, Saving Species From Extinction, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Critically Endangered Fiji petrel has been observed at sea for the first time by BirdLife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti. First recorded in 1855 from one specimen found on Gau Island, Fiji, the rare seabird disappeared from scientific view for 130 years. Beginning in 1984 a handful of &#8216;grounded&#8217; Fiji petrels Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi were found after [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Critically Endangered Fiji petrel has been observed at sea for the first time by BirdLife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti. First recorded in 1855 from one specimen found on Gau Island, Fiji, the rare seabird disappeared from scientific view for 130 years. Beginning in 1984 a handful of &#8216;grounded&#8217; Fiji petrels Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi were found after landing on village roofs in Gau, but this is the first observation of the bird in its element: at sea. &#8220;[The] Fiji petrel is one of 192 bird species which are Critically Endangered,&#8221; said Jez Bird, Global Species Officer at BirdLife International. &#8220;Because Fiji Petrel is exceptionally rare and extremely poorly known any new data concerning range and abundance are vital to its conservation.&#8221; Searching south of Gau, an expedition succeeded in sighting eight Fiji petrels in eleven days. Researchers received their first chance to record the species flight and behavior, and also to compare it to other seabirds. Expedition member Tony Pym said, &#8220;To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical.&#8221; The expedition did not stumble on the rare bird, but strategically sought it out. They lured the seabirds with chum specially prepared by volunteers with NatureFiji-MareqetiViti. The scientists with the expedition believe that the species is rightly classified as Critically Endangered. &#8220;We observed only a few Fiji Petrels,&#8221; said Hadoram Shirihai, lead author of the paper describing the discovery in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists&#8217; Club. &#8220;This was despite choosing what we considered to be the optimum month,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/on-the-edge-of-extinction-fiji-petrels-observed-at-sea-for-the-first-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-36322</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/09/unknown-but-critically-endangered-iguana-species-discovered-in-fiji/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/09/unknown-but-critically-endangered-iguana-species-discovered-in-fiji/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2008 14:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2008/12/unknown-but-critically-endangered-iguana-species-discovered-in-fiji/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Fiji]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Herps, Invasive Species, Lizards, Reptiles, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji mongabay.com September 19, 2008 Researchers have discovered a third species of iguana in Fiji. It is believed to be critically endangered, with a population of a &#8220;few hundred&#8221;. The bright green lizard, which reaches a length of [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji mongabay.com September 19, 2008 Researchers have discovered a third species of iguana in Fiji. It is believed to be critically endangered, with a population of a &#8220;few hundred&#8221;. The bright green lizard, which reaches a length of around 90 cm (35 inches), is marked with white bands. According the species has been dubbed the Fijian banded iguana. Its scientific name is Brachylophus bulabula. Scott Keogh from the Australian National University told The Sydney Morning Herald that the species &#8212; like many other species native to Fiji &#8212; is at risk from introduced animals, including cats, dogs, mongoose, goats, and rats. Habitat loss could also pressure the species, which lives in the rainforest canopy. Keogh said that Fiji was once home to at least two other species of iguana that were likely eaten into extinction long ago by humans when they settled the islands. There are X species of iguana, most of which live in the New World. Scientists believe the species in Fiji colonized the islands after floating in vegetation across the Pacific Ocean.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2008/09/unknown-but-critically-endangered-iguana-species-discovered-in-fiji/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-37977</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Avoided deforestation could send $38 billion to third world under global warming pact</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/11/avoided-deforestation-could-send-38-billion-to-third-world-under-global-warming-pact/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/11/avoided-deforestation-could-send-38-billion-to-third-world-under-global-warming-pact/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Nov 2006 04:28:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
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						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
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							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Gabon, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
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											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mitigation, Politics, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainable Development, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
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							<![CDATA[Avoided deforestation help fight third world under global warming pact Avoided deforestation could help fight third world poverty under global warming pact $43 billion could flow into developing countries Rhett Butler, mongabay.com October 31, 2006 An avoided deforestation strategy for mitigating climate change could mean billions for world&#8217;s poorest countries while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Avoided deforestation help fight third world under global warming pact Avoided deforestation could help fight third world poverty under global warming pact $43 billion could flow into developing countries Rhett Butler, mongabay.com October 31, 2006 An avoided deforestation strategy for mitigating climate change could mean billions for world&#8217;s poorest countries while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services Avoided deforestation will be a hot point of discussion at next week&#8217;s climate meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Already a coalition of 15 rainforest nations[1] have proposed a plan whereby industrialized nations would pay them to protect their forests to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, last month Brazil &#8212; which has the world&#8217;s largest extent of tropical rainforests and the world&#8217;s highest rate of forest loss &#8212; said it will promote a similar initiative at the talks. At stake: potentially billions of dollars for developing countries and the future of the world&#8217;s climate. How would it work? When trees are cut greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere &#8212; roughly 20 percent of annual emissions of such heat-trapping gases result from deforestation and forest degradation. Avoided deforestation is the concept where countries are paid to prevent deforestation that would otherwise occur. Funds come from industrialized countries seeking to meet emissions commitments under international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. Policymakers and environmentalists alike find the idea attractive because it could help fight climate change at a low cost while improving living standards for some of the world&#8217;s poorest people, safeguarding biodiversity, and preserving other ecosystem services.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2006/11/avoided-deforestation-could-send-38-billion-to-third-world-under-global-warming-pact/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-40103</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in Coalition nations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/rainforests-worth-1-1-trillion-for-carbon-alone-in-coalition-nations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/rainforests-worth-1-1-trillion-for-carbon-alone-in-coalition-nations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2005 15:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2005/11/rainforests-worth-1-1-trillion-for-carbon-alone-in-coalition-nations/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Gabon, Guatemala, New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Science, Conservation, Forests, Green, Mitigation, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, and Solutions]]>
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							<![CDATA[Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in &#8220;Coalition&#8221; nations Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in &#8220;Coalition&#8221; nations Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 29, 2005 [2006 update] If a coalition of developing countries has its way, there could soon be new forests sprouting up in tropical regions. The group of ten countries, led [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in &#8220;Coalition&#8221; nations Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in &#8220;Coalition&#8221; nations Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 29, 2005 [2006 update] If a coalition of developing countries has its way, there could soon be new forests sprouting up in tropical regions. The group of ten countries, led by Papua New Guinea, has proposed that wealthy countries pay them to preserve their rainforests. The Coalition for Rainforest Nations argues that all countries should pay for the benefits &#8212; from carbon sequestration to watershed protection &#8212; that tropical rainforests provide. Forests play an important role in the carbon cycle. As forests grow, they absorb atmospheric carbon into their tissues via photosynthesis. The opposite occurs when they are cut, thinned and degraded carbon is released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. The UN estimates that 20-25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the destruction and degradation of forests, an amount similar to the volume produced each year by the United States. The Coalition will argue that developing countries should be paid for the amount of carbon locked up by their forests. Focusing specifically on the value of carbon sequestration the coalition could be talking a lot of money. At the current going rate of $20 for a one-ton unit of carbon dioxide, the forests of Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Papua New Guinea are worth around $1.1 trillion for their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/rainforests-worth-1-1-trillion-for-carbon-alone-in-coalition-nations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-61745</doi>				</item>
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