Sasalu Tawamudu Fiji - Sustainable Reef Resources

• 

• Adopt-A-Mangrove|
• Adopt-A-Reef|
• Adopt-A-Coral|
• Villages|
• Live Rock|
• About|
• Contact

The Fijian Locally-Managed Marine Area Trust

When you make donations towards Adopt-a-Coral, Adopt-a-Mangrove, or Adopt-a-Reef, the bulk of the money goes directly to Fiji and Fijians through the internationally recognized Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area (FLMMA). In 2002, FLMMA won the Equator Initiative Award during the World Summit on Sustainable Development Conference in Johannnesberg, South Africa, and the money was invested into a non-profit trust fund. FLMMA network members have also been awarded the NOAA Walter B. Jones Award for Diversity in Coastal Management and the World Wildlife Fund Award for leadership in establishing community based protected areas.

The FLMMA philosophy is that successful development needs the full participation of the local communities and stakeholders in developing, implementing, and assessing environmental intervention.

FLMMA will use resources for targeted projects that enhance the ecosystems of the coastal communities.

• 1. Plant mangroves to protect the shoreline and restore important ecosystems - Adopt-A-Mangrove
• 2. Provide seed money for the conversion of harvested live rock off the reef to cultured live rock - Live Rock
• 3. Provide resources for creative solutions to sewage and piggery waste.
• 4. Provide seed money for culturally sensitive and sustainable tourism activities.
• 5. Provide resources for restorative environmental projects, such as reintroduction of the giant clam to the villages’ Marine Protected Areas. Adopt-A-Reef in Fiji

Sasalu Tawamudu (Sustainable Fijian Reef Resources) was founded by Dr. Bill Aalbersberg, a former Peace Corp volunteer to Fiji and the Director of the Institute of Applied Sciences at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and Dr. Kirk Bowman, of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. No board member or officer receives any material benefit of any kind from the not-for-profit corporation.

We believe that sustainable and culturally sensitive development only occurs if the local communities have real power in the design, implementation, and assessment of development projects. Imposing visions of development or particular projects from outside the community is a strategy that may show short term successes, but likely long term failures. Local communities are best situated to know that long term needs for their community and the best strategies for long-term success.