FOREST Genetic Resources of the country and their preservation have been an important focus of Fiji's Forestry Department.
A first for the country, a detailed national report on the forest genetics of endemic forest species is being compiled by the department.
Permanent Secretary for Fisheries and Forests Inoke Wainiqolo said this was one of the ways the department had been trying to conserve Fiji's forest species.
"When we talk about forest genetics, these are trees we have and they have genes like human beings," he said.
"We are losing out on some of our species because of climate change, the repercussions of the work that human beings are doing on our forests. As for the genes, we want to retain the genes of the species that we have.
"We want to retain all the genes of the species that we have in Fiji like our indigenous species, some are very endemic, some we have almost lost."
Mr Wainiqolo said when genetic variation was lost through the destruction of habitat or intensive breeding, successive generations would be less adaptive to adverse environmental conditions.