The district of Drawa in Vanua Levu, was one of the first Pacific communities to apply the Nakau methodology to protect their forest through ‘payment for ecosystem services’ (PES).
Eight landowning units from the five villages in the district formed the Drawa Block Forest Community Cooperative and started a carbon trading project in partnership with Nakau and Live & Learn Fiji.
Today, ten years later, forest carbon credits are now a significant income source for this community, which includes the villages of Narailagi, Batiri, Lutukina, Vatuvonu, and Drawa.
Before the villagers decided to protect their forest and strengthen their community through carbon trading, logging coupes had been mapped and villagers were starting to clear their forest for timber. But just as they were faced with losing their old-growth forest forever, Drawa’s eight mataqali were offered an opportunity to save it.
Today, their forest is still standing and the community has established a rainforest honey business as an alternative enterprise to grow community development in a nature-positive way. The forest area protected is 3945 hectares but the eligible area for carbon trade is 1,548 ha.
“The Drawa Conservation Project, also known as REDD+, is the first-ever carbon trading business in Fiji,” said senior REDD+ project officer with Live & Learn Fiji, Beato Dulunaqio.
“Its success has not only given Live & Learn Fiji the opportunity to replicate the model with our Ecosystems Adaptation Based Project, but it has also informed a National REDD+ Unit within the Ministry of Forestry with the aspirations to educate eligible communities to conserve their forest and natural resources and, as an incentive, sell their carbon,” said Mr Dulunaqio.
The success of this project shows how Fijian communities can be leaders in forest conservation that also provides economic, social and climate resilience benefits.
Mr Dulunaqio said after winning the Energy Globe Award in 2020, Drawa has not only been recognised in Fiji and the Pacific, but globally as well.
“They have taken the first step towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 in taking action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Nakau’s CEO0 Robbie Henderson said the Drawa experience showed “it’s possible to find alternatives for community development that do not jeopardise nature, plants and animals and ultimately the community’s relationship and dependence on the natural environment.”
She said income from carbon credits was reinvested by the community in new enterprises that benefited all.
As outlined in the Nakau methodology, women’s savings groups were established in each of the mataqali so women received equal income from the carbon project and had ownership in how to reinvest it.
Right now, their choice is investing in the honey business, which they harvest and sell at local markets.
Waita Curuvale, the business manager of the Drawa project, shared how income from credit sales was properly shared.
“Many things are done by women, they really appreciate the benefits coming from the project,” she said.
“Looking at our forest within the Drawa block, learning how to preserve and safe keep it — with our people also benefiting from it monetarily — has enabled us to think differently about the importance of conserving our forest.”
In Lutukina Village, women recently gathered to talk about how the honey business and forest carbon worked together to their benefit.
They said that “both the honey business and the carbon benefits have changed the mind-set in the village.”
“One of the opportunities that we women look at is to upgrade our toilet facilities,” one of the ladies shared.
“Some of the families did not have sanitation, but with the carbon sales, we women are slowly building flush toilets in the community. “We can say this really helps our families.”
Mr Dulunaqio said there had been other benefits for women and families too; access to a bank account, scholarships to help with fees at school and equipment to help children have a better learning experience.
He said the building of helpful network pathways enabled women to have a greater voice and agency with local government representatives and other NGOs working in the area.
Meanwhile, the villagers have also found that healthy intact rainforests were a resource and protector in cyclones and other extreme weather events.
When Cyclone Yasa hit Drawa in December 2020, like much of Fiji, the villages, infrastructure and food sources around Drawa were heavily impacted.
However, the healthy intact rainforest was able to support the community.
“When the cyclone came, it really affected the villages, it really hit the Drawa block hard,” said Peni Maisiri, chairman of the Drawa Block Forest Communities Cooperative.
“The community depended on fishing grounds that were intact because their fishing grounds were in the forest.
That’s what provided them with nutrition after the cyclone. When you leave your forest in-tact it brings a lot of things to the community, even our fresh air in the village.”
Mr Dulunaqio also remembers how, after TC Yasa, the Drawa community relied on the surrounding forest, which withstood much of the damage and recovered quickly.
“Towns and supermarkets were inaccessible. The community had the ability to gather food from the forest and they had access to water,” Mr Dulunaqio said, saying the forest also prevented flooding that could have really affected the community.
Jerry Lotawa, a lead ranger with the cooperative, said he and his team monitored the rainforest around Drawa.
“The forest, it provides for the village in terms of food; prawns, eels, fish, seeds, fruit, and also clean water for drinking,” he said.
“If there was no [forest carbon] project for Drawa, the attitude between the people of Drawa towards our forest would be different.”
“The project brought a new idea to the people of Drawa in how they manage their forests to minimise the cutting down and burning of trees. It’s a change in attitude towards the environment.
Mr Dulunaqio said the experience and knowledge from Drawa could be an inspiration for many other communities, whether they be in Fiji or the region or even further afield, facing similar challenges.
He said Drawa had shown how carbon projects could deliver much-needed economic support to people without destruction of their forests.
“COP 27 and COP 15 have highlighted the need for urgent nature-based solutions to address our climate and nature crises are more important than ever,” he said.
“These international forums elevate the need for solutions that protect environments, biodiversity and communities,” Mr Dulunaqio said.
“Intact primary forest that can support carbon projects are one of the key mechanisms for which companies striving towards net zero can achieve their ambitions through offsets.”
