It is unfortunate but true, for most students here in Fiji it is easier to obtain information on Australian or New Zealand’s endangered wildlife than Fiji’s own. NatureFiji-MareqetiViti’s first project aims to rectify this, and we here present “Endangered Species of Fiji”.

Funded by the British High Commission (Suva), this is the first collation of Fiji’s endangered Natural Heritage and is presented in a form available to schools and students with access to computers, and/or teachers with computer access. For more information about NatureFiji-MareqetiViti and our current projects, please visit www.naturefiji.org.

The aim of the ‘Endangered Species of Fiji’ project is to provide information to the public, particularly high school students, tertiary level students and their teachers on 50 of Fiji’s endangered species. This is done in the hope that their keen interest will lead them to support the conservation and much needed research on our very own diverse, and yet threatened flora and fauna. We particularly hope that some will become so enthused with our wonderful wildlife that they will pursue careers in research and conservation.

While we are surrounded by sea and ocean, and our marine biodiversity is very rich and diverse, we share nearly all our marine biodiversity with our neighbours indeed, in most cases, with tropical islands and coastal countries around the world. The number of endemic marine species is very low, less than 20 are currently documented. In contrast, our terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems are not only biodiversity rich but also contain a very large number of endemic species, over 946 are currently known.