We are the Duavata, a collective of like-minded small tourism operators in Fiji who share values to foster the conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage and the natural environment.
We know that having a connection to nature and the outdoors early in children’s lives makes them more likely to think deeply about their role in helping to protect their surrounding and ultimately our shared planet.Fijians have a deep-rooted connection to land and the environment as an extension of identity. The concept of vanua implies stewardship over land to protect it for the next generation of guardians.
However, with the influence of the modern world and urbanization, homecomings are increasingly rare and youngsters have become gradually disconnected. This has resulted in thousands of school age and young adults in Fiji having experienced little beyond urban centres.
Our team is composed of twelve Fiji based tourism operators and and supported by a non-governmental organisation. We are locally based and include beach resorts, eco-retreats, as well as trekking, rafting, and agri-tourism tour providers. We strive to integrate cultural and natural heritage of Fiji into our experiences as well as promote leadership and natural resources conservation. We aspire to enhance the human and natural resources and their interconnection through our everyday practices.
As a sustainable tourism collective, working closely with communities to conserve critical and under-threat habitats in Fiji, in collaboration with local NGOs defending natural and cultural heritage, we know that reigniting this concept of stewardship among urban Fijians is critical to sustaining our environment and the services it provides.
The tourism recovery will be long and protracted. We want to use this time to ensure that the experiences on offer to foreign visitors are also accessible to Fijians, particularly youngsters, and to grow the next generation of conservation leaders in Fiji.
This campaign will deepen a collaborative initiative between tourism (Duavata) and conservation (NatureFiji-MareqetiViti) experts to develop a ridge-to-reef series of educational experiences that anyone around the world can buy to support a Fijian youngster to (re)connect with their natural and cultural heritage. The series includes learning how to conserve ancestral forests, valuing resources through agroforestry and traditional thatching, learning about the importance of highland and wetland conservation through monitoring of biodiversity hotspots and traditional knowledge sharing, and learning about ocean conservation through coral planting and traditional sailing.
