THE marine ecological survey of surrounding reefs and community-endorsed taboo areas on Naviti Island is an opportunity for LajeRotuma (LRI) to share in the knowledge of environmental conservation efforts on a tourism-based platform.
The community-based organisation had partnered with the Tikina Naviti Conservation Initiative (TNCI) to facilitate various activities on the island's marine environment this week.
LRI co-ordinator Monifa Fiu said the vision, goals and objectives of LRI were based on the community's aspirations of Rotuma into mobilising its people to manage well.
"That's for cultural value and biodiversity, contributing to a much wider crisis of loss of biodiversity thus people's knowledge, skill and livelihood will be affected in such a changing environment," she said yesterday.
"We thought it would be interesting to have LajeRotuma partner off with a growing initiative that had a different spectrum of activities, mainly from a tourism-focused venture.
"For LajeRotuma, this is a learning experience for our volunteers and the organisation.
"The activities with TNCI is a reflection of how much progress has come about and the right condition for partnerships.
"We don't do partnerships with operators because we don't have operators to deal with so that is our learning experience."
District representative of Naviti Island Isikeli Mulase expressed appreciation to the organisation for sharing knowledge of its eco-camp models on Rotuma and skill training in diving and marine ecological surveys.
The marine ecological activities were funded by the Global Environment Facility's small grants program and organised by the TNCI.