Page 15 - IB_November2020

Fiji Fiji

Members of the Duavata Collective meet on Leleuvia (L) and locals take the camakau for a sail (R). Photos: Duavata Collective

before a cyclone strikes, and working with Fiji Olympian and when we arrived is a real testament to the spirit of the show.”
sailor Tony Philp on research and resources. The Duavata Collective is now working to reinforce these
Pridgeon is confident once borders reopen, the dive market, values of environmental and cultural stewardship in a new
another important adventure segment, will recover quickly. generation.
“Traditionally the dive market and the youth market have The distinctive yellow sails of the camakau used in the race
been more resilient in the times when there’s been a global are now seen in many of the villages that were involved in the
outbreak.” event.
“Fiji’s number one drawcard are our people, and this “They allowed us to keep the canoes so those have ended
doesn’t change for the adventure market,” Pridgeon says. up within the Uto ni Yalo trust and we are working with com-
“We have some fantastic products where you can come in and munities to train and pass those on,” Philp says. “ We made a
have a fully immersible experience.” commitment that we didn’t just gift the canoes to different
Profiling Fijians was an important element of Eco-Challenge communities, we actually took the time to do the training and
Fiji, Executive Producer Lisa Hennessy told Variety. we’re just about to start a two week session in Beqa, with
“The Fijian people are the kindest people on the planet,” nine communities on Beqa and one in Yanuca. The first week
she said. is learning to sail, safety and all of that, the history of canoes
“We really wanted to have that interaction with the Fijian and just reconnecting them with that, and the second week is
people, because we had done so much work there and so actually building a canoe, setting up a workshop to build one
much scouting, and they’re just such an important fabric of canoe per village.”
the route.” The Duavata Collective is also looking at how it can get
sponsorship to give young people the chance to connect to
Putting the eco in Eco-Challenge Fiji nature. Philp says this is critical, “if we want our next genera-
Colin Philp says his involvement in the program gave him tion to protect what we have, rather than building a genera-
the opportunity to “keep them honest and ensure it actu- tion of phone users, that’s all they’re connected to.”
ally was an eco-race as well. They were really, really open “Cook Islands and Samoa have some environmental studies
to someone locally [saying] that if you’re going to have this in their curriculum. Samoa has introduced voyaging history
in this village, or you’re going to do this in this part of Fiji, into their curriculum. We’ve been trying for ages with the Uto
then let’s make sure you do it right. So they actually wrote an ni Yalo Trust there is that whole identity, and our history and
environmental policy for the production industry and that was where we came from.”
one of their gifts to the Fiji government task force.” Local Eco-Challenge competitor Eroni Takape has also been
Philp says those guidelines can now be used for the whole working to give teenagers the opportunity to share some of
movie and film industry in Fiji, “basically setting a basis for the experiences and skills the race highlighted in Namosi.
how productions are run in terms of the environment.” Meanwhile, his teammate Petero Manoa is now working to
But others Islands Business talked to have suggested an get bicycles—what he calls ‘sustainable transportation’—into
opportunity was missed to give local production crews and villages.
professionals invaluable on-the-job experience. “It’s our culture” says Tabu Soro competitor Anna Cowley.
Eco-Challenge Fiji Producer and host, Bear Grylls told GQ, “Sailing like that [using camakau] is a skill that is being lost
“This whole adventure world is ever-growing and I think what right across the Pacific so focusing on that and bringing some
we really want to be is a shining light to say that you can do of those things back I think is one of the real bonus assets to
these huge-scale races in a really ecologically positive way. Eco-Challenge.”
“So important is the protection of the diversity here in Fiji
and the fact that we’re not leaving any litter, the fact we’re See page 24 for more from Fiji’s Eco-Challenge competi-
not using single-use plastic. To do a race on this scale with a tors.
crew of 970 and to leave the country in a better state than

Islands Business, November 2020 15