Vunidogoloa pleads for help after $600k relocation

More than a decade after becoming one of Fiji’s first community relocated because of climate change, Vunidogoloa villagers are calling on Government for help.

They say they have spent nearly $600,000 on the move but still lack basic infrastructure and access to traditional fishing grounds that once sustained their livelihoods.

Vunidogoloa Village is in the district of Koroalau in Cakaudrove. The village was relocated about two kilometres inland in 2014 after years of coastal erosion and rising sea levels threatened the village's original coastal site.

Former Vunidogoloa headman Sailosi Ramatu raised the concerns during the Pre-COP31 Climate Change Town Hall Forum at Nukubalavu Village in Savusavu last night.

He said the community needed a church, playground, access roads and facilities for people with disabilities and the elderly.

Mr Ramatau said residents had also lost access to traditional sea resources after moving inland.

Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica said climate-related relocations must go beyond simply moving houses, with livelihoods, cultural needs and communities’ connections to their traditional way of life also considered.

“What we have realised when you relocate, apart from the vanua element and the spiritual element, it is not just a physical lift,” he said.

Mr Kamikamica said some previous relocations had been carried out on a case-by-case basis, prompting Government to improve the process.

Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Mosese Bulitavu said Government was now using a Standard Operating Procedure to guide community relocations.

Mr Bulitavu said existing rural development programmes could assist with some concerns, including footpaths and evacuation facilities.

The community’s concerns are expected to be referred to relevant Government programmes for further assistance.