A Fiji story about aggregates

Environment ministers are meeting presently in Honiara to talk about issues they face in common.

But will they talk about aggregates, the big one for Vanuatu this week? Probably not, even though it’s a big one for Fiji, too.

Not because of “foot-and-mouth,” but mainly because of environmental damage to rivers. It’s there on page 1 of the Fiji Times yesterday. More than a thousand villagers of the higher Navusi River feel they are losing their food source, income and access to markets. And tourism is losing its place in the Navusi economy, too.

Three years ago gravel extraction started in various places on the river which had been well-known for its white-water rafting, river canoeing and jet boats. The waters have become dangerous as larger stones and rocks have been brought downstream as aggregate sales have taken over. Tourist village visits stopped about three years ago. River fish stocks have declined, and use of the river waters to take villagers to market with their produce decreased as the waters became unsafe for navigation. A village headman said the water level in the river had reduced significantly. And he told the Fiji Times people in his village want the aggregate extraction to stop.

Fiji is one of the countries in the Pacific from which CCECC is legally entitled to buy aggregate for use on the Bauerfield runway extensions. New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia are also ‘available’ in the same way. But shouldn’t this source of income become the sort of thing Pacific ministers discuss together when they meet? It may well be that the topic makes it to the Honiara meeting, we cannot know.

But the best thing would be we take all our problem issues to regional meetings when we go. Let’s start solving regional issues regionally.