Tevita leads the charge

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Lokia Youth Club president Tevita Dakuiboca. Picture: JOVESA NAISUA

Determined to promote change and contribute towards mitigating the effects of climate change in Fiji, Tevita Dakuiboca participated in Fiji’s first National Youth Climate Action summit in Suva last month.

The Lokia Youth Club president said he believed starting awareness at grassroots level could lead to big changes in the near future.

“I look after the youth club in my village where we try to do work which will help protect our village and our country from the impacts of climate change,” he said.

“As Lokia Village is located near the Rewa River, whenever it is high tide the village gets flooded and this affects us all.”

Mr Dakuiboca said rising sea level caused by climate change affected the livelihood of the many Fijians who were dependent on agricultural production for their survival.

“Most of us in the village are farmers or do backyard gardening so when there is high tide our crops and vegetables which we worked hard to grow, is destroyed.”

The 30-year-old said getting youths interested in the work of the club was “very challenging”. “Some of the youths show their full support and interest while some don’t like attending meetings or taking part in the club activities.

“So this makes it hard for us to make plans and put them into action. “Sometimes there are only five or seven of us attending meetings in the village and this makes it difficult.

“Secondly, lack of finance also hinders us from bringing into action whatever plans we have worked so hard to put together.

“So we are forced to organise fundraising in the village and this does not always have positive results.” He said by participating in the summit, he aimed to be the voice of his village on a national platform.

“Most of us in the interior of the Rewa Delta are left out. “It’s like living in a neglected or underdeveloped area so through this training I hope we can change a lot in our village and neighbouring communities.

“One of the biggest developments that we are currently planning to do is preparing land in the village for farming.

“The Agriculture Ministry has helped us and we have already done the land preparation. “The ministry has been following up and monitoring our progress, so now we are waiting for them to approve us to move to step two where we are planning to establish a fish pond and a prawn pond in the village.

“These are the main projects for our youth club, which we hope to complete in three years’ time.” Mr Dakuiboca said there was a need for more awareness on climate change in the village.

“Many of the villagers do not really understand what climate change is, so through this summit we have learnt a lot and we will share our knowledge about climate change and what we need to do to mitigate its effects.”

Mr Dakuiboca is a student at the Fiji National University and does farming on the side to help his family.

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