Fiji’s natural environment is under growing strain as economic development pushes into previously undisturbed areas, Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Dr Sivendra Michael warned at a National Resource Owners Committee workshop in Nadi. Dr Michael said the pressure is increasingly visible on rivers, forests and coastlines as infrastructure, agriculture, settlements and new commercial and tourism ventures expand across the country.
“Rivers are being opened for gravel and sand extraction,” Dr Michael told landowners and resource managers, adding that forests are being cleared without adequate planning and coastal areas are undergoing fresh forms of commercial activity and tourism development. While acknowledging that development can create jobs and opportunities, he stressed it must not come at the expense of long-term environmental health and community livelihoods.
Dr Michael outlined the cascading consequences of those activities: destabilised soils leading to erosion, siltation of riverbeds, and downstream impacts such as flooding, declining water quality and polluted waterways. He also highlighted the vulnerability of marine and coastal ecosystems, noting that when reefs and mangroves are damaged it is often fishing communities that first face loss of food security and income.
His comments come amid growing public and official concern about extraction from rivers and beaches. Mineral Resources Minister Filimoni Vosarogo has recently flagged the problem of illegal river sand and gravel mining, saying current penalties are too small to deter offenders and describing enforcement provisions as weak. Officials have signalled moves to tighten the mineral law to better regulate and deter illicit extraction, after reports showed minimal fines were failing to halt lucrative illegal operations.
The warnings from the Environment Ministry arrive against a backdrop of Fiji’s broader development push. Government plans to spur economic growth — reflected in recent budget forecasts and major investments in property and tourism infrastructure — are expanding demand for construction materials and coastal land. That has heightened the urgency for stronger land-use planning and regulatory oversight, Dr Michael said, because ad hoc clearing and unregulated extraction undermine the same natural capital that supports tourism, agriculture and fisheries.
Fiji has also pursued measures to bolster nature-based resilience. In October 2025 the government secured US$27 million from the Climate Investment Funds to support a mountain-to-ocean restoration and resilience programme aimed at protecting watersheds, coastal zones and marine environments. Dr Michael’s comments signal the need to ensure such projects are complemented by tighter controls on development activities that can reverse gains — from upstream riverworks to coastal reclamation and unplanned tourism projects.
As the debate over balancing development and conservation intensifies, resource owners and community leaders at the Nadi workshop were urged to press for stronger planning, enforcement and community involvement in decisions affecting rivers, forests and coasts. Dr Michael said the environmental impacts are not abstract: “These are not distant environmental issues; they are realities that many across Fiji are already facing,” he said, underscoring the immediate human and economic stakes of policy choices now under consideration.
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