Fiji and United States Reaffirm Partners …

Rapidly advancing climate change bears a strongly negative impact on several of the earth’s species and its ecosystems, resulting in biodiversity loss. Conversely, the protection and the restoration of the earth’s biodiversity is crucial to addressing climate change.

The Ministry of Environment has showcased a healthy track record of achieving this through Nature Based Solutions and the Jobs for Nature Restoration (JNR) programme.

Minister for Agriculture, Waterways, and Environment, Dr Mahendra Reddy, shared this sentiment while speaking at the commemoration of the International Mother Earth Day in Suva today.

“As I speak, we are faced with the greatest threat — a triple adversity of our time — climate, biodiversity, and pollution emergencies. Climate change has greatly impacted our daily lives, leading to the relocation of many Fijians away from their ancestral homes.”

“The climate crisis has also led to serious biodiversity loss in Fiji and all over the world. Scientists have found that climate change and biodiversity loss are crises that cannot be tackled independently of each other. The key to success lies in conserving, managing, and restoring ecosystems.”

“We all realize and agree over the urgent need to protect our environment. The first step to do so is to live in harmony with our nature — the very purpose behind the commemoration of the International Mother Earth Day.”

“This year’s theme, “Invest in Our Planet,” calls for the need to reverse and activate change for good, foster pathways for the sake of our future generations. To regenerate and strengthen our partnerships and our collaborative efforts, creating a paradigm shift in tackling the causes for the degenerative behaviour we see all around us.”

“All living things, including us humans, are supported by our Mother Earth. Our very future is determined by her health. We humans have disrupted the delicate balance maintained by our Mother Earth. We have pushed ourselves to this spot through some careless and unsustainable practices including the extraction of natural resources and years of mindless actions that have become detrimental to our ecosystems,” Minister Reddy said.

“Waste and Pollution are also a grave threat to sustainable development, second only to climate change. Inadequate management of wastes and poor controls over polluting activities can affect the health of Pacific Communities, degrading their natural ecosystems and reducing their resilience to climate impacts.”

“Across the planet, people celebrate the earth day in different ways. Celebrating Earth Day promotes the understanding of important environmental issues and shows that you are part of this global mission to conserve our Mother Earth in harmony with our nature.”

“We align our celebrations today to the theme. We have co-invested and partnered with the Suva City Council who think globally and act locally. This investment from the Ministry is symbolic and forms a part of our portfolio of investments towards restoring nature and flourishing our Mother Earth. This investment will directly impact the efficient collection of green waste, recycling resulting in composted material for the benefit of our communities”

“Annually, a considerable amount of green waste gets dumped at our landfills and rubbish dumps. Although green waste does decompose overtime, it releases methane and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and contribute towards climate change. Through this partnership, the Suva City Council will be able to divert green waste away from the Naboro landfills and compost and reuse it as soil amendment to improve soil health and sustaining nutrient cycling.”

“This will also help reduce the vast amounts of space taken in the landfills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions over a period of time,” Minister Reddy added.

“The Ministry encourages all communities and individuals to join the Government and all our partners in participating and organising your own activities, and most importantly, carrying these out at home and teaching our children so that they too are climate resilient and environmentally aware to appreciate the true value of Mother Earth and the intricate relationship that is shared.”