Fiji: Indigenous Women Defend Community and Environment

Feb 20, 2006
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In September of 2005, women from rural and urban areas throughout the Macuata Province, Fiji, met to create a strategic, ten-year sustainable development plan. The three-day workshop was first time Fijian women had formally organized for the purpose of improving the socioeconomic and environmental health of their communities. As a result of the meeting, the Macuata Soqosoqo VakaMarama (Macuata Womenís Organization) is the first NGO in Fiji to have a strategic plan for the next 10 years, a valuable model for other women’s leadership groups.

Macuata Province is located in Northern Central Vanua Levu, the second largest of Fijiís 300 islands. The region is less developed than the rest of Fiji, and the population is limited by scarce resources and insufficient infrastructure. Poor roads restrict shipping and travel and there is little adult education. In the Macuata Province, a typical day’s work ends at noon, with dinner at three o’clock, because there is no kerosene for light after sunset. Most native forests were relinquished to plantations and the province is very dry. Some villages have no water tanks to store rain water and climate change threatens to raise sea levels and contaminate fresh ground water reserves as well as displace the villages closest to the seashore. Within these limitations, the women of Macuata came together to develop an innovative plan to overcome infrastructure limitations and preserve their environment and resources.