Keep in Touch

Subscribe to stay up to date on Seacology’s events, trips, and projects.

  • Email Address
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

top-cap-white

Fiji

Qumusea District

top-cap-bluetop-cap-white

Conservation benefit: Planting and protection of a 4,000-acre forest area for 20 years

Community benefit: Construction of a kindergarten

Date Approved: 01.2012

Forest

This project protects forest, preventing the release of greenhouse gases and reducing erosion that damages coastal and ocean ecosystems.

The Great Sea Reef, the world’s third-largest barrier reef, lies offshore from the Qumusea District, on the north shore of Vanua Levu Island.  Families from four villages and four settlements in the district send their children to the district school. The area surrounding the school and communities is about 70 percent deforested because of yearly brush fires. These fires are taking a toll on the environment of both land and sea, as erosion and sedimentation harm the reef and surrounding waters.

Local leaders wish to educate the community about the damage caused by the fires, and actively involve residents in planting trees and becoming stewards of the forest for the benefit of future generations. Working with the Forestry Department and with funding from the Nukubati Island Resort, they will set up a nursery at the school. The nursery will grow sandalwood trees, among other indigenous species. (Vanua Levu was known as “Sandalwood Island” until logging almost wiped out the species there.) Community members will replant and protect 4,000 acres of forest, with a target of planting 50,000 trees over 20 years. They will be responsible for the trees, and will pledge to not burn or degrade the newly forested area.

In exchange for this reforestation and protection, Seacology is funding construction of a new kindergarten at the Qumusea School site.

Project Updates

September 2022

The community turned out to welcome representatives from Seacology in September, with music, dancing, and a wonderful lunch. The kindergarten building has been well maintained, and the school is thriving. The forest area is being well protected.

Read more

June 2014

With the completion of the ablution block, the kindergarten now fully complies with Rural Health Authority requirements. The school committee has dedicated a 5,000-liter tank for water storage and use by the kindergarten. The water comes from a nearby well,  and the nearby Nukubati Resort has supplied a water pump. Final reports have been submitted and approved, and the project is now complete.

Read more

February 2014

A Seacology expedition visited the project in June 2013. Additional grant funds were released for a restroom block. Construction of the restrooms should start soon, when the necessary permits are obtained. Thousands of tree seedlings have been planted throughout the forest area.

Read more
- +
top-cap-bluetop-cap-white