A rapid biodiversity assessment and archaeological survey was done on a Fiji REDD+ Pilot Site – the Emalu forest area on Viti Levu. This survey was the second phase to the assessment that was done in 2012. External links: http://fiji-reddplus.org/mataqali-emalu-redd-pilot-site http://www.tltb.com.fj/pilot-site-for-redd-in-draubuta/

The Global Environment Facility, through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, funded this project to assess the biological diversity and conduct the socio-economic and archaeological survey of the Delaikoro mountain ecosystem on Vanua Levu, a proposed protected area. External links: http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/news/detail-events/en/c/281205/ https://youtu.be/9sY8FUjVM5s

An international team of collaborators, led by Dr. Matt von Konrat of Chicago’s Field Museum, together with a team from the South Pacific Regional Herbarium, spent four weeks carrying out field work on Viti Levu and Kadavu, collecting bryophytes, lichens and ferns. The bryophytes and lichens, which are poorly known from Fiji and the tropical […]

Vegetation surveys, headed by herbarium curator Marika Tuiwawa and consultant Senilolia Tuiwawa, in Emalu, in the province of Nadroga-Navosa, revealed the presence of some botanically important plant species.  These important range extension discoveries were made for two endemic species on the IUCN Red List; Acmopyle sahniana and Degeneria vitiensis; as well as two other rare […]

Three new occurrence records were made for Fiji liverworts. MSc student, Mereia Katafono, discovered these new finds for Fiji during the process of identifying several hundred moss and liverwort samples collected during her fieldwork.  The three liverworts were all collected from Vago Forest Reserve in the province of Naitasiri.  One of them, not yet identified […]

During fieldwork in the Rewa delta as part of the IUCN MESCAL project, MSc student Lekima Copeland recorded a new addition to the brackish water fishes of Fiji; the sweetlip Plectorhinchus albovittatus. Previously this species was only known in Fiji from reef habitats. The finding of a juvenile specimen in the brackish delta waters expands […]

IAS also continued to develop expertise in community-based economic analysis, working with Landcare NZ in 2012 to assess the economic impact of invasive species and with Landcare NZ and PACE-SD (USP) to study cost-benefit analysis of various approaches to disaster risk reduction. IAS staff also continued studies on butterflies, cloud forest biodiversity and the impacts […]

Three potentially new species of aquatic gastropods in the genus Fluviopupa  (Family Taetidae) were collected during a biodiversity assessment of streams in Emalu, in the province of Nadroga-Navosa.  The collections were made by MSc student Bindiya Rashni.  Preliminary identification work suggests that these could be three species new to science and endemic to Fiji.  Bindiya […]

The IAS team was requested by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to manage the development of a regional profile and investment strategy for the Eastern Melanesian Islands, which includes Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.  CEPF is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Dévelopment, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government […]

This project was implemented by the IUCN Oceania to conduct preliminary assessments of biomass and carbon inventory in mangrove forests. External links: http://theredddesk.org/countries/initiatives/mangrove-ecosystem-conservation-and-livelihoods-mescal-project http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/mescal_brochure_030810_compressed.pdf https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/mangroves_biodiversity_assessment_report_fiji.pdf