National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Fiji 2020-2025.

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is a national policy with a cross-sectoral approach. The timeframe of the policy is 5 years between 2020 and 2025. The purposes of this policy are (I) conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity, and (II) the maintenance of the ecological processes and functioning of the ecological systems. The six priority focus areas to be addressed under the policy are a) capacity building, b) development of protected areas, c) management and protection of species, d) prevention of the introduction of invasive species, e) enabling environment for biodiversity conservation, and f) sustainable use and development.
This NBSAP lays down strategies for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem preservation, and protection of animal and plant species and their habitats. Threatened plant and animal species will be protected and their conservation status, particularly of those most in decline, will be improved and sustained. To this end, species resource inventories and databases will be developed. The local port/border control enforcement and monitoring will be strengthened to prevent illegal trade of endangered and threatened species. The national legislation, policies and strategies will be developed to support effective prevention and management of invasive alien species. In addition, monitoring and surveillance of invasive alien species will be improved in accordance with the international standards of national quarantine and biosecurity surveillance programme. Awareness on the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services will be raised and increased biodiversity knowledge will be applied in different sectors such as education, health, agriculture, forestry and industries to overcome biodiversity loss. Moreover, traditional knowledge and practices will be integrated with the latest scientific knowledge into sustainable biodiversity conservation practices. The communication amongst stakeholders, including communities, on threatened and endangered species will be improved by establishing practical systems and processes for information sharing on threatened and endangered species. Protected area management will be strengthened by expanding the protected area network at the national, provincial, district and community level through identification of areas of high biological importance in terrestrial, coastal and marine areas. A national monitoring and evaluation framework will be developed for Fiji‘s protected areas to assess the management effectiveness of protected areas and promote adaptive management. Furthermore, sustainable financing mechanisms will be developed to support protected area establishment, management and long-term effectiveness.
Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies and actions will be integrated into biodiversity conservation. Vulnerability assessments and climate change impact projections will be included into resource management planning, such as integrated coastal zone, watershed, land-use, forest and marine management plans. Moreover, research will be conducted to identify effective adaptation measures to support biodiversity and natural resource sectors, such as fisheries, forest and land-use adaptation and disaster risk reduction responses.
The Department of Environment under the Biodiversity Steering Committee shall be responsible for monitoring of the implementation of the NBSAP.