TAVUA, Fiji – 13 July 2025 – At dawn on 12 July, the Fiji Red Cross Society (FRCS) Tavua Branch joined forces with HWPL Global 11, the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) and the One Nation Our People (ONOP) Youth Club to mount a climate- and health-action drive along Ralulu Street. A pilot team of just 21 youth volunteers planted 300 mangrove seedlings in three hours, creating a 120-metre “living seawall,” and removed 180 kg of rubbish from drains and the foreshore to eliminate dengue-mosquito breeding sites.
Fiji faces one of the world’s fastest sea-level rises, averaging 7.95 mm a year at the Suva tide-gauge—nearly twice the global rate. Since 2000, tourism development and storm damage have already stripped 120 hectares of protective mangroves from Ba Province, accelerating coastal erosion and fish-stock decline. In response, the 2021 Fiji Climate Change Act designates mangrove restoration a national priority.
“Humanitarian work is the practical act of safeguarding lives before disaster strikes,” said Maria Ratu, Coordinator of FRCS Tavua Branch. “Every seedling we put in the ground today becomes a storm barrier for tomorrow.” Marine ecologist Dr Alipate Sivo of the University of the South Pacific, who advised the group on spacing and sediment requirements, noted that mangroves store up to four times more carbon than upland forests and can reduce wave energy by 66 percent within a decade.
ONOP Youth Club Secretary John Rangan, who attended despite recovering from a leg injury, stressed that impact is not measured by head-count alone. “Twenty-one voices may look small, but they echo,” he said. “On 10 August we’ll return with 200 students from ten schools across Ba Province.”
Organisers estimate the 300 seedlings will lock away roughly two tonnes of carbon dioxide over 20 years and could slow shoreline retreat by up to 35 centimetres a year. Collecting 180 kilograms of waste ahead of the rainy season also lowers the immediate risk of dengue infection. A one-hour workshop on first aid, vector control and coastal mapping equipped the youth to lead monthly “Peace Plogging” events through December.
The initiative forms part of HOPE in Fiji, an HWPL programme that blends peace education, humanitarian service and climate action to build resilience in low-lying communities. FRCS supplies public-health and disaster-preparedness expertise to ensure local residents can act before sea-level rise turns into crisis.
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