Home Mentees and Mentors Rufino Varea, University of the South Pacific

Rufino Varea, University of the South Pacific

Rufino Varea, PhD Candidate | Grant Recipient and Mentee, 2022

Rufino’s Manuscript Title – Qi no tu i baba ni qwali (living down by the river): impacts of flooding and mining on ecosystems and livelihoods

My research looked at a flood-prone district in the Province of Ba, Fiji Islands, and explored the indigenous people’s livelihoods that is under threat by a black sand mining operation around their customary coastal environment.  The iTaukei people of Vanua Votua have a cultural and spiritual attachment to their coastal ecosystem as indigenous custodians. However, they are limited in their ability to conserve and protect their traditional coastal environment due to an unfair legal duality of national coastal governance structures and processes between the state and indigenous custodians.

This research provides a timely case study using the Sustainable Livelihood Approach and the Vanua Research Framework, outlining the need for current and future legislation to be nuanced and sensitive to the realities of the local indigenous context.

This research publication was made possible through the DevNet Pacific Writing Grant and the incredible mentorship and guidance provided under the programme. The grant programme paves important avenues and creates a pacific network of researchers and writers that is necessary for the advancement of knowledge-sharing and amplifying Pasifika voices. I am grateful to the DevNet Committee for this opportunity, and I thank my fellow co-authors, colleagues and friends for their contributions.

Most importantly I acknowledge, thank and pay respects to the people of Vanua Votua who this story and knowledge of the research work it belongs to, and could not have been completed without their will and determination to be heard.

Rufino

Rufino’s Mentor

It was my absolute pleasure to mentor, and work with, Rufino as part of Devnet’s Mentorship Programme. The Mentorship Programme also provided the opportunity for me to work with the rest of Rufino’s research team and co-authors, Renata Varea (The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji), and Romitesh Kant (Australia National University, Canberra, Australia and La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia). A tangible outcome of the Mentorship Programme is an article which was accepted for publication in high-ranked open-access journal Frontiers in Marine Science Marine Affairs and Policy (IF 4.435) on the 1st of July. 

The article entitled ‘Qi no tu i baba ni qwali (living down by the river): Impacts of flooding and mining on ecosystems and livelihoods’ argues that the cultural contextualisation of Fiji’s policy and legislative frameworks would strengthen support for the sustainable livelihoods of coastal communities most vulnerable to coastal mining and climate change impacts. The Frontiers Reviewers noted the paper’s potential for ‘solving uneven legal duality of governance which affects people’s livelihoods in Fiji’ and that ‘the findings have profound policy implications.’ 

The authors wish to thank the Devnet Mentorship Programme, the community members of Vanua o Votua for their participation, engagement, and hospitality; Ms Paulini Tuwai for her assistance in translating the Talanoa sessions from the Ba dialect to the English language; and the University of the South Pacific, Massey University,  Australia National University and LaTrobe University for access to academic resources via their respective University Libraries.

Rufino led the writing project in an extremely professional manner.  I found him to be open to new ideas and approaches, well-organised, and an excellent communicator.  I look forward to meeting him in Suva next month to discuss future research and writing collaborations!

Trisia

Associate Professor Trisia Farrelly, Massey University

LinkedInPinPrint

Related Post