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. 2022 Dec;51(12):2376-2388.
doi: 10.1007/s13280-021-01669-w. Epub 2022 Jan 11.

The ridge-to-reef approach on Cicia Island, Fiji

Elodie Fache  1 , Simonne Pauwels  2
Affiliations

The ridge-to-reef approach on Cicia Island, Fiji

Elodie Fache et al. Ambio. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Many Pacific countries and territories embrace an officially recognized 'ridge-to-reef' approach to environmental management. This is the case of Fiji, where the Lau Seascape Strategy 2018-2030, led by Conservation International, aims for integrated natural resource management across 335 895 km2. This area includes Cicia Island, which deserves particular attention since, years before the design of the Lau Seascape Strategy, its population developed its own informal ridge-to-reef scheme, involving a combination of certified organic agriculture and locally managed marine closures. Based on 1 month of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents this scheme and highlights local perception and conceptualization of its positive effects on both the land and the sea. These reflect the iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) concept of vanua, which intrinsically connects the health of the land, the sea, and their (human and non-human) dwellers, while stressing the importance of addressing land-sea processes and management efforts beyond an ecological perspective, i.e. through an engagement with the iTaukei relational ontology.

Keywords: Environmental anthropology; Fiji; Integrated land-sea management; Marine protected areas; Organic agriculture; South Pacific.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of Fiji highlighting Cicia Island in the Lau Province. Source: CartoGIS Services, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/mapsonline/base-maps/fiji-main-islands, modified by the authors
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Aerial view of Tarukua village, Cicia Island, Fiji. Source: The authors, October 2019
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Board located at the entrance of Tarukua village, Cicia Island, Fiji. Source: The authors, October 2019
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A local store/canteen. Source: The authors, October 2019
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
One of the two waste dumps in Tarukua village. Source: The authors, October 2019
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Inseparability between the land and the sea on Cicia Island, Fiji. Source: Drawing made by a 12-year old boy on Cicia in September 2019
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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