Impact of COVID-19 on Rural Villages in the Fijian Islands

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Global Friday Presents
Lui Manuel
Conservation Officer
Nadroga-Navosa Provincial Council, Viti Levu, Fiji

ABSTRACT:  Fiji has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 related border lockdowns, restricted movements, and curfews resulted in reduced household incomes, purchasing power, and access to markets. Tourism was of critical economic importance in Fiji until border closures cut off international ties. Many people returned to home islands, putting pressure on local land resources. Diverse local markets, exchange and bartering increased. COVID-19 has impacted household income, food systems, education, health, water security, and culture. At the same time, Fiji has experienced Tropical Cyclones and the ongoing impacts of climate change—sea level rise, extreme weather events, warmer ocean temperatures and impacts on sea life, etc. In this presentation, Lui Manuel will share about how COVID-19 is being experienced and responded to by rural villages in Nadroga-Navosa Province, Fiji in the context of other ongoing social and ecological stressors. He will talk about what he has seen and heard from villages, and discuss some of the efforts the Provincial Council is making to support villages during the pandemic.

SPEAKER'S BIO:  Lui Manuel is the Conservation Officer for the province of Nadroga-Navosa on the island of Viti Levu, in Fiji. Lui’s role on the Nadroga-Navosa Provincial Council assumes responsibility for the environmental conservation of the 122 iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) villages in the province. He works with villages on a range of sustainability projects including, replanting coral and native trees, assisting villages adapt to climate change, and empowering them to engage in resource planning decisions making that could affect their lives and livelihoods. Lui has worked with Dr. Tristan Pearce on several collaborative research projects including a current project that documents the impacts of COVID-19 on rural villages.

Online via Zoom Webinar:  https://unbc.zoom.us/j/65480352608?pwd=b0l4dkpRZk11cjc5VUJkYnpiZ05zZz09 
Webinar ID: 654 8035 2608 Passcode: 949825

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