Page 6 - IB April 2021

Guest Opinion

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND

GOVERNMENT’S FAILURES

Nanuya Levu Photo: Supplied

By Timoci Tuiqali cousins swimming and frolicking in the sun. That set his fuse
off, and before they knew it he was bolting towards them,
This month the Suva Magistrates Court found the developers stick in hand, fuming. As dad would recall; “You ran for your
of a resort site on Fiji’s Malolo Islands guilty of undertaking life and hid until he calmed down. Being a fast runner was
development without an approved Environmental Impact As- very important. The aim was not to be the last one,” he
sessment Report. That development included destroying part said. It was pretty similar to the 200m finals at Fiji’s famous
of the reef and dumping waste in order to build a resort and Coca Cola Games. Only this time the red rubber tracks of the
casino. Sentencing is scheduled for May 25. But the case has National Stadium was replaced with the white 500-metre-long
reminded Timoci Tuiqali of his experiences on Nanuya Sewa. blue lagoon beach. This was home. This was where they grew
Nanuya Island Resort sits on the northern tip of Nanuya up.
Sewa, an island, located in the centre of the Yasawa group Nanuya Sewa knows she’s beautiful. She’s seen the faces of
of islands in Fiji. A guest on the beach cabana looking north, visitors light up at her beauty, she feels their adrenaline rush
would see my home island of Nacula, a 15-minute boat ride as they stand mesmerised, seeing for the first time the upper
away. To the west, the same distance away as Nacula, Iie the echelon of nature’s magnificence. She’s seen it all in the last
islands of Tavewa and Matacawalevu. Below Nanuya Sewa is 60 years, ever since tourist yachts and cruise ships have laid
Nanuya Levu (Turtle Island) linked by a sand spit you can walk anchor in her infamous bay. She is happy and gentle, con-
across at low tide, reminiscent of an umbilical cord that was tented in her good fortunes. And you feel that from her as you
never severed at birth. These four islands protect the western walk her shores.
beach of Nanuya Sewa from the might of the Pacific Ocean, Once a month, the parish priest from Vuaki comes to say
creating the Blue Lagoon which is now famous the world over. Mass at Nanuya Sewa. It was at one of these services, that Fr.
I was appointed resort manager at Nanuya Island Resort in Etuweni introduced Pope Francis’s encyclical, the Laudato Si.
July 2017. When I started, the resort had been operating for Published in 2015, this pontifical document calls for the care
14 years, with some of the staff having been there from its of Mother Earth. In it, he warns of advancing consumerism,
inception. In my induction speech, I told the employees that exploitation, and the destruction of the environment in the
although I may be the newest addition to the staff, my his- pursuit of profits. He calls for an end to political short sight-
tory and my connection to the Island goes further than any of edness, and our collective effort to save the planet. To get
them, resort and owners included. this papal message across to the villagers in Enedala, Father
My family’s link to this strip of sand stretches back more Etuweni said in his homily, “O keda na tamata eda i tini ni
than 80 years. Tai Saimone, the head of my Qelema clan had nona veibuli na Kalou” -In the story of creation, God created
a copra business on the island. Part of my dad and his siblings’ man last. “Na qele, na waitui, na kau vuata, na ka kece e dela
childhood was spent growing up on the island. Tai Saimone ni vuravura oqo era qase vei keda. Sa yaga vei keda na i tini
was as strong as he was methodical. He had his way of doing ni nona veibuli, meda maroroya, ka da rokovi ira na qase mai
things, and the consequences of not adhering to them were vei keda” -God created the earth, the waters, the trees and
severe. Dad remembers a time when Tai Saimone asked the the environment first. It is our duty, as the youngest of God’s
boys to prep his copra schooner the “Adi Betty” for sailing,
and upon checking on them later, found all 12 brothers and Continued on page 15

6 Islands Business, April 2021