GOVERNMENT and the International Timber Organisation (ITTO) have been working with communities in the Rewa delta to restore and sustainably manage vulnerable forests.

In one of the six communities engaged in the project, Waicoka Village, Tailevu, the indiscriminate chopping down of mangroves has led to the vulnerability of the mangrove ecosystem.

Explaining one of the factors which drove this practice, village headman Sireli Naivalu said: “Mangroves as we all know make excellent firewood. So we used to cut a lot for our own use and sell some for extra income.”

Expressing his regret over the unsustainable deforestation they had caused, Mr Naivalu said they now knew the importance of the mangrove ecosystem.

Forestry permanent secretary Pene Baleinabuli said the Rewa delta had the largest strand of mangrove ecosystem complex in Fiji. However, it had been under constant threat thus making it vulnerable.

He said the project launched in 2015, which focused on vulnerable areas in need of reforestation, had grown in leaps and bounds.

Project co-ordinator, Aporosa Livani said while one focus area of the project was on reforestation of mangrove forest in the Rewa delta, another focused on the introduction of alternative species as firewood for daily use.

He said the community had been briefed on the importance of valuing their mangrove forest.

Kaminieli Rakai, a youth leader from the village, said they had learnt a great deal about the critical importance of mangrove.

“The clean air we breathe, the prosperity of our fishing grounds and the clean ocean we have is all because of our mangroves,” he said.

“Once we understood how useful it is in our lives, it changed the way we appreciate and treat our mangrove forest.”

Mr Baleinabuli said the ITTO rehabilitation program had added value to the Fijian government’s goal of planting 30 million trees in 15 years.