Six Fiji communities relocated, two more facing climate move

Six communities have already been relocated because of climate impacts, while two more are currently being moved as Fiji warns that climate change is forcing communities to make difficult choices about where they can live.

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change permanent secretary Sivendra Michael said Fiji had already relocated six communities and was currently relocating two more.

The communities relocated include Cogea in Bua, Vanua Levu; Narikoso in Ono, Kadavu; Vunidogoloa in Cakaudrove, Vanua Levu; and Tukuraki in Ba.

Nabavatu Village in Dreketi, Macuata, Vanua Levu, is one of the two communities currently undergoing relocation.

Mr Michael said climate mobility was no longer a future scenario for Pacific nations but a reality already affecting communities.

He pointed to communities facing the loss of land and the need to move to safer ground, including Vunidogoloa and Narikoso, where families had moved their homes uphill rather than wait for the next extreme tide.

“It is a preview of what more of our communities will have to navigate in the years ahead, and that is why the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change must continue working closely across sectors and with partners to mobilise the very necessary resources that are required to protect the most vulnerable communities from climate impacts,” he said.

“This continues against the backdrop of current global challenges that are testing the resilience of many smaller and developing states.”

Fiji has been among the first countries to develop a planned relocation pipeline and establish a trust fund to support government-related relocations.

“I think it’s important that climate mobility is a reality that we must confront together as a region. It is a challenge that more of our communities are having to navigate,” Mr Michael said.

He said relocation had to be carefully managed because moving communities involved more than simply finding new land.

Fiji’s relocation efforts have been supported by New Zealand, including the establishment of what was described as the world’s first standard operating procedures on relocation through the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the operationalisation of the Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund.

New Zealand has also committed $23.06 million (NZ$17.9 million) over four years to the next phase of the Pacific Climate Mobility Programme.

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