DRAWA RAINFOREST CONSERVATION PROJECT - FIJI

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Eight Fijian Mataqali (clans) are the owners and custodians of the Drawa forests, and have committed to its management and protection. The project area protects 1,548 ha of impressive lowland and upland rainforest and cloud forest on Vanua Levu, Fiji. The project area was going to be logged – the logging coupes were already drawn up. However the Drawa people decided on conservation over logging, and as a result 18,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions are avoided every year. Benefits from the project support local families and community development projects. The forest also provides valuable protection from cyclones, floods and droughts for the Drawa people and those living downstream in the catchment. 
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The Drawa project was the recipient of the SPREP-SPC award for Excellence in Implementing Island Ecosystem Management Principles (2015), and recipient of the 2020 International Energy Globe Award for Fiji.  

BIODIVERSITY
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This special location encompasses rainforest that are home to a number of rare, endemic and threatened plants and animals and is therefor significant for conservation of Fiji’s unique biodiversity. The area falls within the Fiji Important Bird Area known as the Wailevu-Deketi Highlands where 22 of the 24 endemic or restricted range species found in Vanua Levu can be found. 385 plant species were recorded from the site, of which 47.3% are endemic (only found in Fiji). The area provides habitat for the globally endangered Barred Tree Skink Emoia trossula, Vanua Levu Slender Tree Skink Emoia mokosariniveikau and the remarkable Fiji Ground Frog Cornufer vitiana. 

THE PEOPLE
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The indigenous Fijian landowners from eight mataqali (clans) own the Drawa project The landowner population of approximately 450 people spread over five villages is represented by the Drawa Block Forest Community Cooperative - the legal entity established to hold the conservation lease on behalf of the landowners.

The landowners have given up rights to logging timber in exchange for the opportunity to sell rainforest carbon offsets as a way of generating revenue for local economic development. This project also provides governance and management support and capacity building for community enterprise at Drawa. This is to help the Drawa landowners manage the rainforest conservation project and develop spin-off community businesses - the first of which is a community business producing and selling rainforest honey.
The landowners have given up rights to logging timber in exchange for the opportunity to sell rainforest carbon offsets as a way of generating revenue for local economic development. This project also provides governance and management support and capacity building for community enterprise at Drawa. This is to help the Drawa landowners manage the rainforest conservation project and develop spin-off community businesses - the first of which is a community business producing and selling rainforest honey.

TECHNICAL STUFF
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The Drawa rainforest is protected under a conservation lease. This project generates 18,800 carbon credits annually. The first issuance was for 2012 – 2015 vintages. The second issuance for 2015 – 2019 vintages is due in 2020. 

The Drawa Rainforest Conservation Project underwent project development between 2012 and 2015 with funding from the European Union. This involved a lengthy process of landowner consultation and participation, methodology design and validation, and project design, development, implementation and monitoring. The project and its carbon offsets are certified to the Plan Vivo Standard - the world's leading community-based, fair-trade styled rainforest carbon standard. Scroll down to access technical documents.

​The Nakau Programme is a socially responsible approach to REDD+ and is the first of its kind to emerge from highly vulnerable Small Island Developing States. It takes an ethical, community-based approach and has a combined focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

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