The Kiwa restoration and livelihood programmes have won strong backing from the Nanukuloa community in Ra Province, marking a notable shift in local attitudes towards environmental protection and economic resilience. In the latest development, community leaders and local women are urging donors and partners to maintain and deepen their support after five to six years of coordinated interventions that they say have helped restore natural resources and improve living standards.
Donor and technical partners involved in the work include the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the European Union, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Kiwa Secretariat. Local leaders have publicly thanked this mix of government, non‑government and international backers for sustained assistance that community members credit with tangible ecological and social benefits.
Women in Nanukuloa are central to the programmes’ recent gains, combining roles in environmental stewardship with new livelihood activities. The latest reporting from the area notes an expansion of women’s participation not only in protecting and managing natural resources but also in developing income‑generating enterprises that draw directly on those restored ecosystems. Community ownership of these initiatives is being emphasized as a key reason the changes are likely to last.
A striking behavioural change has also been recorded: households and fishers are moving away from harmful sea‑dumping practices, reflecting a broader rise in environmental awareness. Local initiatives now present the health of the surrounding marine and coastal environment as directly linked to household and village economic wellbeing, strengthening arguments for continued investment in restoration and sustainable livelihoods.
Leaders in Nanukuloa say the convergence of ecological restoration and market‑oriented livelihood work has helped shift perceptions of conservation from a cost to a community asset. That shift, they argue, underpins community resilience—making it easier for residents to see the long‑term value of protecting their environment while earning a living. The community’s appeal for ongoing partnerships stresses that intermittent support risks undermining hard‑won gains.
The call for continued assistance comes at a moment when donors and regional bodies are increasingly focused on integrated approaches that combine ecosystem rehabilitation with economic incentives. For Nanukuloa, maintaining the involvement of international and national partners, while expanding local leadership—particularly among women—appears to be the priority for converting recent progress into a durable model for other coastal communities across Fiji.