Photo: Viniana Vuibau/The Guardian
In the bend of a river near the west coast of Fiji lies the village of Yavusania. If nothing is done to help soon, residents fear it will disappear. The threat is most visible along the waterfront, where successive flash floods have swept up a river once sheltered by mangrove forests, eating away meters of soil and sand so that remaining trees are held up by only a handful of roots.
Epeli Turuva, a 48-year-old community leader in Yavusania, sits near the weathered concrete foundations of an old house, half of which appears to have collapsed into the water below. It's not the only house to have done this: four other buildings have also collapsed during floods in recent years, the most recent of which was published in March.
Turuva fears his house will be next. "I don't want to move," he says. "Our country is rich and our community is very close. It's hard to imagine life without this village."
Yavusania is located on the outskirts of the Fijian town of Nadi. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), there have been at least 54 floods across Nadi in the past four decades, damaging homes and businesses and displacing thousands of people. At the same time, Fiji has allowed tourism developers to cut down nearby mangrove forests, which once limited flood damage - making Yavusania more vulnerable to environmental disasters.
People don't realize that if you destroy mangroves, you make the climate problem worse
Shipra Shah
The thick, curly roots of mangroves are not picturesque and hinder access to water, but play a crucial role in nature and for communities. Shipra Shah, assistant professor of forestry at Fiji National University, explains that mangroves are the "first line of defense" against flooding in Fiji, as they protect residents from storm surges and disperse flash floods as they flow through rivers.
"People don't realize that if you destroy mangroves, you make the climate problem worse," says Shah.
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Building a tourist paradise
In recent decades, Fiji has turned to tourism as an avenue for economic development. "The strategy is all about presenting Fiji as a paradise in the Pacific to attract more tourists into the country," said Andreas Neef, professor of development studies at the University of Auckland.
Related: Paradise Cost: The Pacific Islands are changing the future of tourism
According to a UNDRR report, as part of that strategy, Fiji began offering international hotel chains in the 1980s and 1990s an "attractive package of incentives, including tax-free status for 20 years" to encourage them to invest in the Denarau Island. a few kilometers west of Nadi.
As hotels signed up for sites within the resort, developers cleared hundreds of hectares of land. Despite being "a very effective natural buffer" against storms and floods, the UNDRR report found that many of the mangroves were destroyed "because these plants hindered tourists' access to the sea and did not fit into the new vision of a very manicured landscape. ."
Denarau Island was transformed into a tourism hub with a collection of five-star hotels from brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Wyndham, as well as an 18-hole golf course, shopping centers and a marina.
Neeraj Chadha, vice president of Marriott's Pacific Islands, says the hotel chain is "as good as anyone at sustainability." Chadha says Marriott, which also owns the Sheraton hotel brand, often participates in mangrove planting activities, noting: "We have done a lot for the community, ranging from employment to setting up a farm." He adds that Marriott has provided sheets, mattresses and financial assistance to affected residents after recent flooding.
Hilton, Wyndham and Sofitel did not respond to questions.
'Vital' for limiting climate change
Government data shows that tourists to Fiji spend almost half their time in Denarau, Nadi and the nearby Mamanuca Islands, making the region an economic powerhouse. Tourism now contributes almost 40% to Fiji's GDP.
A study found that between 2000 and 2018, 120 hectares of mangrove forests were destroyed by tourism development in Ba province, where Nadi is located: a third of all mangrove deforestation in the region.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Challenges, notes that mangroves "store disproportionate amounts of carbon... and protect coastal communities from the impacts of tropical cyclones." It adds: "They are therefore critical in mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change."
Meanwhile, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in 2019 that people in Nadi are "already affected by climate change" and noted that both extreme rainfall and flooding have become more common in recent decades.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that of the 84 floods that have hit Nadi since 1870, at least 54 have occurred in the past four decades. Two of the most damaging floods to hit Nadi occurred in 2012, killing at least eight people and forcing 15,000 to evacuate.
Interactive
The UNDRR report states that the area around Denarau has always been prone to flooding, but that "the number of serious floods has increased noticeably in recent years". The increasing frequency and impact of these floods "can be partly considered a consequence of climate change," the UNDRR report said, "but development in Denarau can also be considered a major aggravating factor."
The mangrove deforestation around Denarau "could be a factor" contributing to even more damaging flooding, agrees Nezbitt Hazelman, general manager of Denarau Corporation, which manages the island. "That's common sense." However, Hazelman says the development has been positive on balance, given the economic activity it has generated. Many villagers in Nadi support the development, which has brought significant numbers of jobs to the region.
Vulnerable to disasters
In 2016, the Fijian government proposed a flood control plan for Nadi, including widening nearby rivers, improving drainage and building several dikes. In 2022, Fiji began dredging some local rivers to address the problem, but Fiji's former economy minister told the country's parliament that year the pandemic had significantly delayed the broader lighting project, which is largely in the planning stages . Fiji's Minister of Tourism and Minister of Waterways did not respond to requests for comment.
In the meantime, little has been done to protect the villages. In 2019, the ADB found: "Despite the high frequency and resulting damage caused by flooding, only small-scale bank protection and small retention dams have been built [and] a systematic flood management plan for the Nadi River basin is yet to be implemented."
Without new protection, Nadi will remain very vulnerable. Much of the settlement is six meters below sea level. During the March floods, water inundated the central part of Nadi and entered buildings. The CEO of Nadi Municipality said at the time that floodwaters forced 80% of businesses to close.
Meanwhile, Meresiana Ubitu, another resident, watches the water threatening her home from the riverbank in Yavusania.
"In the past five years, four families have lost their homes to soil erosion, swept away by the flood," Ubitu said.
"We wonder why this is happening. We never had this problem before, so why now?" And she asks, "Who will help us?"
