The Fijian Teachers Association has lodged a fresh and urgent challenge to the 2013 Constitution, arguing that a legal “twist” limits indigenous landownership to the surface and shortchanges customary owners of underground resources. In a recent submission to the Constitution Review Commission, FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga said traditional ownership currently extends only to the soil and three feet below the surface, and must be expanded to protect landowners’ rights to minerals beneath their land.
The FTA is targeting Chapter 2 of the Constitution — specifically Sections 28, 29 and 30, which set out the protection and ownership of iTaukei, Rotuman and Banaban lands and the distribution of benefits from resource extraction. Manumanunitoga told the commission that the provision confining ownership to the soil level and three feet down effectively excludes landowners from claiming entitlement to minerals and other subterranean wealth. “The ownership of the land extends only to the soil level and three feet below,” he said in the submission, urging an amendment that would extend that depth to six feet and explicitly include minerals.
Section 30, which the FTA says governs rights to a fair share of royalties from mineral extraction, is a central focus of the union’s proposal. The association is calling for this section to be strengthened so landowning communities have “absolute control” over mineral royalties — a change the FTA says is necessary to prevent landowners being sidelined when commercial extraction occurs on customary land.
The push comes amid a broader national conversation about land tenure, resource governance and community benefit. Fiji has repeatedly highlighted secure land rights as central to climate and development strategies — most recently at international gatherings — and the government has moved on land administration reforms such as digital lodgement systems intended to speed up land surveys and approvals. At the same time, Cabinet decisions to surrender or reallocate land for public infrastructure projects have underscored the competing pressures on customary land.
Legal interpretations that limit subterranean ownership to a shallow depth are not unique to Fiji, but the FTA argues the current wording of the Constitution means customary owners risk losing access to potential revenue streams from minerals and other resources. By proposing a six-foot threshold that explicitly includes minerals, the teachers’ union frames the change as a protection of customary rights and a mechanism to ensure communities receive direct benefit from any extraction.
The Constitution Review Commission will consider the FTA’s submission alongside other public inputs as part of its wider review process. The association is calling for an “urgent” amendment, saying the current gap in ownership rights needs swift closure to prevent further instances where landowners may be excluded from negotiations, royalties or decision-making around resource projects on their land.
No formal response from government or the commission has been reported yet. If adopted, the FTA’s proposals could prompt revisions to how mineral rights are administered and how royalties are negotiated and paid — with potential implications for mining agreements, state revenue structures and customary land governance.