WASTE management concerns at Vuda have again drawn attention to the broader challenges of environmental protection, community safety and the role of legal advocacy in Fiji.
Minister for Information, Environment and Climate change Lynda Tabuya raised the issue while encouraging greater engagement from the legal profession and advocacy groups at the Environmental Law workshop held at Yatulau conference hall, in Suva, yesterday.
“These are issues that will continue to come up. We try to deal with the waste management issue,” she said.
“We are trying to solve it, but it’s still a big issue around the protection of the community as well. So government needs to check at that. Maybe you, as legal practitioners, come in to deal with it.”
She questioned whether advocacy groups and lawyers were doing enough to respond to emerging environmental and community challenges.
“What are your thoughts around it? Shall we have its own opinion on it or issue a statement on it? I would encourage you to do so as a lawyer speaking here.”
The minister said it was important that discussions around waste management and environmental risks included voices from affected communities.
“It is important that we hear all voices on this. Our traditional community, sorry, our coastal communities around there as well.”
“What is the representation and advocacy as well? Right now it’s the residents across Vuda that are raising their voices. What about other voices as well?”
She also reflected on the limited involvement of lawyers in community advocacy work in Fiji.
“We have very few lawyers in Fiji that actually undertake community legal work. Maybe I’m engaged in the profession, and I think it’s a choice.”
