PEOPLE of Taveuni are in a dire need for a piece of land to dispose waste materials.
This is after some residents complained of lack of waste management on Fiji's third largest island.
This is after some residents complained of lack of waste management on Fiji's third largest island.
Taveuni Tourism Association president Allen Gortan said the improper waste disposal was present upon his start of business four years ago.
Mr Gortan is also the owner of Garden Island Resort in Taveuni.
There are 13 resorts on the island, the biggest with 30 accommodation rooms and the smallest with two accommodation rooms.
"The resort owners on the island have different waste disposal grounds but the people living here don't have any space of disposing the rubbish.
"The garbage bags are left on the road sides, scattered by dogs and the landscape of this island is such that rain washes all garbage into the sea which gets accumulated on the reef, endangering the lives of the reef-ecosystem," Mr Gortan said.
He said TTA had also sent letters to ministries requesting a dumping ground, but they have not received a response. Some people threw rubbish from open beaches but into bushes nearby.
However, the tourist numbers were unaffected by the prolonged pollution.
"The Garden Island of Taveuni is drowning in its own rubbish," said resident Natasha.
Places where rubbish was thrown included beautiful lookout points between Somosomo and Matei.
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Village by-laws will see the communal ownership of each village.
This was revealed by Deputy Permanent Secretary for Indigenous Affairs, Colonel Apakuki Kurusiga.
The new by-laws tie in with the building of a non-racial Fiji where all Fijians can live in a village and be part of its ownership.
This will encourage acceptance of the settlement of those not originally from that particular village.
In essence, it means landowners cannot chase a person once he is acce[pted as a villager.
Colonel Kurusiga said with many registered villagers, a clan in the village owned the land on which the village sat.
“This makes them think they own the village and can do as they please with other villagers who have come to live there.
“At the moment there are some people who own the land where the villages are, they are trying to chase people away, saying this is our land,” he said as an example.
Colonel Kurusiga said that was the kind of attitude the village by-laws “will try and get rid of”.
He said communal living would be encouraged by the village by-laws whereby people who decided to be part of a village were made welcome.
Currently people are registered in their villages and when someone moves into the village, even though, he may become registered there, he still belongs to a different clan or landowning unit, making him a foreigner.
“This is when differences arise,” Colonel Kurusiga said.
However, if the village is communally owned, it will be reserved for the villagers, so the landowning unit will not have a chance to chase anyone away.
“Many registered villagers see the landowners evict villagers, that is why, with the by-laws we want to do away with one clan owning the village, we want communal living.”
Consultations are being held with villages in the 14 provinces, with the views of villagers, districts and provincial councils sought on the proposed by-laws.
“After it is completed, then I am expecting all those from the 14 provinces on June 25,” Colonel Kurusiga said.
“From there we will give it out to the government agencies, non-government organisations to have a look at the proposal. Once that is done, we will look at it again, then give it to the Fijian Affairs Board,” he said.
He said once it was approved by the board, it would be sent to the State law office for the drawing up of the village by-laws.
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