'First line of defence': mangroves - and mitigation - lost in Fiji's tourism development

Mangroves, vital in protecting villages from environmental disasters, have been destroyed to build luxury hotelsIn the crook of a river near the west coast of Fiji sits Yavusania village. One day soon, if nothing is done to help, residents fear it will disappear. The threat is most obvious along the water's edge, where successive flash floods have surged up a river once sheltered by mangrove forests, chewing away metres of soil and sand so trees left behind are held up by only a handful of roots.Epeli Turuva, a 48-year-old community leader in Yavusania, sits near the weathered concrete foundations of an old home, half of which appears to have collapsed into the water below. It is not the only house to have done so: four other buildings have also collapsed during floods over the last few years, the most recent of which hit in March. Continue reading...