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The Fiji Islands are an oceanic island group consisting of about 320 islands, which began to form 48 to 40 million years ago, and are located between 600 and 200 S, and 1770 W and 1750 E (Masibalavu and Dutson, 2006; Watling, 2004; Mueller-Dombois and Forsberg, 1998). Most of the Fiji islands are geologically recent volcanic islands, there are only one or two true atolls, but there are several raised reef islands (makatea). The four main islands are Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni and Kadavu and are dominantly volcanic in origin. Fiji’s highest elevations are 1,324 m (Mt. Tomaniivi, also known as Mt. Victoria) on Viti Levu; 1241 m on Taveuni; 1032 m on Vanua Levu and 838 m on Kadavu. All together, the land area of the 320 islands is 18,333 km2, of which Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, the two largest islands, comprise 87%. Fiji has a marine Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) of 1,290,000 km2.
Fiji’s position is in the subequatorial tropics, and is strongly influenced by the South east trade winds. The South east trade winds, combined with the rugged, mountainous topography in the interior of Fiji’s main islands, provide orographic rainfall and a pronounced windward-leeward effect. The southeastern slopes of the main islands are generally wetter, annually receiving about 3000 mm of rainfall along the coast and 6000 mm on the mountainous sites. In contrast, the leeward, north western slopes are drier with an average annual rainfall of 2000 mm. The windward landscape (wet zone) is easily identified by the lush evergreen vegetation and forests, compared to the dominantly grassland areas of the leeward side (dry zone). Fiji’s distinct wet season (November to April) and dry season are strongly controlled by the north and south movements of the South Pacific Convergence Zone, which is the main rain producing system for the region http://www.met.gov.fj/documents/Climate_of_Fiji1185488355.htm The lower islands in Fiji do not have the distinct wet-dry slopes, and depending on their proximity to the higher volcanic islands may experience the same climate. Before the arrival of humans, Fiji was covered in closed-canopy forest whereby the coastal forests were fringed with extensive mangroves and sago palm swamps (e.g. the Rewa Delta and Navua Delta once had extensive sago fields) and beach or littoral forests that were adjacent to coast; the seasonal (almost deciduous) dry forests in the dry zone; transition forests midway between the leeward and windward sides; tropical moist forest within the wet zone and at higher altitudes. Now only about 50% of Fiji’s islands are forested (740, 000 ha). About 90% of this forested land is in the form of natural forest, and 10% are hardwood or softwood plantations. Fiji’s natural forest is still undergoing deforestation with agriculture and mahogany planting replacing the rainforest resulting in varying degrees of degradation and fragmentation. Much of the dry zone of Fiji has been cleared for agriculture while the remaining natural habitats are now dominated by introduced and mostly invasive plants. Many of the driest areas which have been repeatedly burned have depleted soil resources and now support the degraded talasiga grasslands. The dry forest formerly extensive over the dry zone is, today, all but gone. This dry forest is Fiji’s most endangered habitat and one of the most endangered habitats in the whole Polynesia-Micronesia region. The range of marine habitats in Fiji is extensive and diverse. These include estuaries, mangroves, wetlands, sea grass, macro algal assemblages, protected and exposed soft shores, lagoons, sand dunes and coral reefs. back to top
Fiji was one of 150 countries which signed the Convention on Biological Diversity at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June, 1992. By signing this convention, Fiji became a Contracting Party to the Convention, and therefore is obliged to fulfil the objectives of the CBD. Article 1 of the Convention states that the objectives of the Convention are to conserve biological biodiversity, to sustainably use its components and to have fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that arise out of the utilization of genetic resources including appropriate access to genetic resources and the appropriate transfer of relevant technologies and should take into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding.
Signatory governments, as stated in Article 6 of the Convention, have an obligation to:
The 2007 Fiji NBSAP states that Fiji’s terrestrial biodiversity consists of approximately 2600 known vascular plants, over 3500 insect species, more than 100 terrestrial molluscs and crustaceans, over 120 bird species, 18 mammals, 26 reptile species, 2 amphibians and 99 freshwater fish species. Fiji’s marine fish fauna consists of 1198 species of reef, pelagic and deepwater fish, 6 turtle species, 760 species of gastropods and bivalves, 4 species of sea snakes, 422 species of algal flora, and 33 mangrove and mangrove associated species. Recent published and unpublished research that were conducted after the research for the 2007 Fiji NBSAP (conducted back in 1999-2003) have shown that the Fiji NBSAP figures for each group of organisms is an underestimate (Boseto, 2006; Evenhuis, 2006; Masibalavu and Dutson, 2006; Jenkins, 2003), with new species still being discovered and/or described. To understand the uniqueness of the biodiversity of Fiji’s flora and fauna, several terms must be understood: endemic species, native species, indigenous species and introduced species, extinction, local extinction, global extinction, ecosystem, terrestrial ecosystem, and marine ecosystem. The definitions of all these terms can be found within the glossary section. The majority (98%) of Fiji’s endemic species occur in the terrestrial ecosystem (Table 1); the marine ecosystem in contrast has very low endemism (1.7%). It is therefore not surprising that the majority of Fiji’s extinct, endangered and threatened species was and is terrestrial organisms. Table 1 Brief We know very little about those species which have become extinct prior to the arrival of humans in Fiji. However we do know that Fiji used to have a remarkable “giant fauna” which became extinct soon after the arrival of humans. This included a flightless terrestrial pigeon the size of the Mauritian Dodo, several megapodes, a giant iguana, a giant frog, a terrestrial crocodile, a tortoise and several rails. All we know of these now is bones. The loss of these is a tragedy and provides us with an even greater responsibility to conserve what currently remains.
Some of Fiji’s threatened plants and animals are classed under various statuses within the global and local conservation status categories, which will be explained here. back to top Click to show Table 1 TABLE 1: Status of Fiji’s Biodiversity
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The Fiji Islands – An Overview Conservation Status Click on numbers to jump to that page:   By joining NatureFiji-MareqetiViti you will become a member of Fiji’s sole local and leading conservation organisation.   Much of the information gathered here is known to very few people in the scientific and conservation field. This is Fiji’s first comprehensive list of some of our endangered species to be publicised, and be made known to students and teachers.   NatureFiji-MareqetiViti is proud to showcase three of Fiji's finest wildlife and landscape photographers, Stuart Chape, Paddy Ryan and Jorg Kretschmar as well as Fiji's finest wildlife artist, the late George Bennett.   |
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