Operations Plan Focuses on Sustainable Forestry Management

The Ministry of Forestry launched its 2019-2020 Operations Plan and Drone Services today.

Line minister Osea Naiqamu said the ministry is mandated to lead the management of the forest sector in a sustainable development way.

This includes the growing of more trees, increasing carbon intake, grow the economy and ensures the equitable distribution of wealth from the forest resources.

Naiqamu promises to strengthen partnerships with relevant stakeholders including business houses, educational institutions, and civil society organizations.

The ministry’s major project in sustainable forest management is the planting of a million trees per year which was started by President Jioji Konusi Konrote earlier this year.

The Ministry has increased its commitment to planting four million trees in four years after the Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama announced at the World Leaders for Nature event in New York earlier this year that Fiji will plant 30 million trees.

This statement was a response to the climate crisis and outlines that the said amount of trees would be planted over the next 15 years, funded by selling credits for the carbon that the trees would capture