As with many Small Island Developing States, Fiji faces the starkest impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, natural disasters and biodiversity loss.

But even with these issues at hand, local communities throughout the archipelago are leading approaches to address environmental challenges. At the heart of this grassroots movement are organisational partners such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), which has been instrumental in equipping these communities with the skills, tools, and funding needed to safeguard Fiji’s environment.

Fiji's past (2023) and recent (September 2024) National Symposium for Community-led Initiatives on Environmental Sustainability provided a platform for various stakeholders, to discuss solutions that work — as well as enhancing the potential roles that grassroots level initiatives can play in addressing Fiji and Pacific environmental issues.

In partnership with WWF Pacific, Change Pacific and Fiji’s Ministry of Itaukei Affairs, the outcome statement, “Na Itakitaki” Communique identified three pillars that underpin Fiji's sustainable future, namely: 1) Food Security 2) Clean Energy and 3) Sustainable Urban Solutions. These themes represent not only the urgent needs of Fijian communities but also the local successes which are already happening in these sectors.

The communique represented the voice of Fiji’s civil society group at the COP29 in Azerbaijan, and earlier in the biodiversity-centred COP16 held in Colombia, last month.

As reflected by WWF’s Asia Pacific Policy Advocacy Lead, Alfredo Ralifo:

“The collective voices of Fiji’s National Symposium on Community Led Initiatives of Environment Sustainability captured in the 2023 “Kauwai” Communique and 2024 “Na iTakitaki” Communique were advocated by some of the representatives and participants in these two forums at the national, regional and global level.

These key messages and outcomes are shaping narratives at the global stage, joining other indigenous and local community voices around the world in calling for equitable recognition of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) role in addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis. Such platforms are also empowering our grassroots communities to speak up and influence places and spaces they had not been to before.”

Grant-makers Bureau: Making Global Connections Through the GEF Small Grants Programme

After completing its 30th year, the GEF SGP began in 1992 to provide small-scale financing for community-based actions that contribute to sustainable development, as part of the Global Environment Facility’s greater goal of addressing global environmental challenges using a multi-sectoral approach.

In Fiji, the SGP has played a key role in providing support to community-based responses for pressing environmental concerns. The SGP has enabled local communities to take an active role in the fight against climate change, with support needed to conserve marine biodiversity, promote sustainable agricultural practices and develop renewable energy solutions.

The GEF SGP is unique in its bottom-up approach that guarantees projects are well within the environmental sink and cultural window of the people they aim to support.

Communities in Fiji, most of whom are highly reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods, are best placed to devise and develop context-specific sustainable solutions. Local solutions supported by the GEF SGP help build resilience, address food security, promote clean energy and sustainable cities — the central challenges discussed at the symposium.

Food Security: Enhancing the Food Systems on the Spot

Food security is one of the most important themes Fijian communities are facing today, and this was one of the prominent topics for discussion during the 2024 National Symposium. As a result of rising climate pressures such as floods, droughts and changing rainfall patterns food security now is an immediate challenge. Conversational spaces were initiated around our traditional custodianship and the abundance, wealth of traditional knowledge and practices, local knowledge social interaction.

Fiji must have laws and policies in place that protect our traditional knowledge and value systems, support decision-making through scientific information, and finally come to immediate endorsement and adoption of the Fiji Organic Policy from Parliament which promotes organic farming across Fiji, ensure food security, protecting our ecosystem and having sustainable regenerative agricultural system that benefits all Fijians.

The symposium itself also discussed the role of local food systems in decreasing carbon footprints. Through the GEF SGP and its partners, communities have planted provisions of organic farms not just to ensure food is produced sustainably but also to lessen reliance on imported goods that can translate into much-needed revenue for local economies.

The Concept of Clean Energy Center: Resources to Commit Concepts

Clean Energy was the second theme that was discussed in the symposium, which centres around an important issue for numerous island nations that rely on imported fossil fuels to meet almost all their energy needs. Fiji communities are now relying on renewable energy solutions such as solar, wind and hydro to power up their homes, schools and small businesses.

Affordable and reliable energy access is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development; however, an increasing number of the rural and remote communities in Fiji remain energy-poor on account of limited accessibility to key services such as healthcare, education and employment.

However, clean energy solutions driven at the community level such as solar home systems, biogas digesters and rocket stoves have demonstrated positive results and contribute towards Fiji’s sustainability objectives, but these communities lack reliable access to affordable energy.

The outcome statement calls on the Fijian Government to respond accordingly and invest more in incentivised provision of scalable clean energy technology for rural and island communities. This involves the possibility of encouraging solar firms to offer affordable maintenance services, facilitating the safe disposal and recycling of solar equipment to mitigate environmental degradation because of irresponsible dumping, as well as making ensure that technical capacity exists to enable proper implementation of clean energy technologies across Fiji’s more remote regions.

Developing Sustainable Urban Solutions That Adapt, Rebound & Thrive

Economic growth driven by urbanisation has exerted pressure on natural resources, infrastructure, and ecosystems. This can be said particularly for the capital city Suva which has problems in waste management, water security and urban heat islands.

Fiji's population crosses the 50 percent urban threshold and with an increasing trend towards urban migration sustainable solutions in urban settings are crucial for meeting Fiji's commitments to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

To take this agenda forward, the Symposium outcome statement calls on government to raise awareness about land-use policies that exist, which should be developed and managed within traditional rules of local land tenure systems that communities will have an active role in developing – also protecting traditional-owned valuable land to pass it on for the next generations.

Increasingly in urban, rural and maritime diasporas, disposal challenges are only exacerbated by a lack of reinforcement for waste management laws and infrastructure investment.

At the same time, we also need to put some responsibility back on the private sector to ensure plastics are safely recycled and grow community-based initiatives around composting and gardening that will help to build civic pride in sustainability.

Linking Local Actions to International Climate Targets

Fiji has been a proponent in ensuring the voice of Small Island Developing States are heard on climate change, and the projects supported by GEF SGP are examples of local efforts contributing to national, regional and global climate objectives.

Fiji is utilising the opportunity such as initiatives at COP29 to show that local solutions are keys to fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement — especially on climate resilience and mitigation.

Community led initiatives such as those showcased at the symposium provide valuable lessons for other nations, in particular SIDS of how to combine traditional knowledge with new technologies to progress sustainable development.

With investment into solutions at the grass-root levels, Fiji is not only taking the course of sustainable development but is also helping to build a future where communities all over the world live in harmony with their environments.

The impact of local action is vital to overall global sustainability goals and the fulfilment of GEF SGP is a constant reminder of that fact, as seen through Fiji’s historically successful community-led initiatives as we continue together on this journey.

For more information please contact:

Akisi Bolabola, SGP National Coordinator Fiji, akisi.bolabola@undp.org or Risiate Biudole, Communications Analyst, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, risiate.biudole@undp.org