Turquoise seas and pristine beaches dotted with coconut palm trees greet tourists arriving at one of Fiji's many island resorts.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
As the catamarans pull in, a group of grinning locals hand out shell necklaces and sing "bula", embracing foreigners with the warmest of welcomes.
But under the surface of this tropical paradise is a vulnerable archipelago living through the daily impacts of climate change.
Rising sea levels have caused saltwater intrusion, depriving some Fijian communities of their freshwater sources.
Cyclones, bushfires and other climate-related disasters have devastated crops, homes and livelihoods across its 330 islands.
Increasing wave heights have caused coastal erosion and warmer oceans and coral bleaching events have damaged its marine life.
To live with these changes, Fijians are turning to nature-based solutions including tree and coral planting.
And they want tourists to help.
"We have some vulnerable communities, so we're trying our best to adapt whatever we do to this current climate change," Ilisapeci Botevou told AAP, while planting mangroves with dozens of tourists on the island of Senautari.
Mangroves protect Fiji's Mamanuca Islands from rising sea levels, trap 10 times more carbon than other trees and are a source of food as a breeding ground for fish, mud crabs and oysters, Ms Botevou tells the group.
She hands out roots, from adult mangrove plants, which are then plunged into the shallow sea water and covered with stones to stop the seedlings from moving when waves and currents come in.
Ms Botevou is a project officer for the Mamanuca Environment Society (MES), which works with resorts to involve tourists in helping protect and conserve the area.
Your Paradise, a destination festival on the Malolo Lailai Island, has partnered with the environment group over the past three years to encourage patrons to plant trees in an effort to lower its carbon footprint.
Tall mangroves planted by the same festival last year tower over the group as they crouch down to plant the new seedlings.
"What Your Paradise is involved in on a yearly basis is very crucial, it plays an important role in terms of restoring the ecosystem, offsetting carbon footprint and it directly supports community livelihood," MES project manager Marica Vakacola said.
The festival attracts visitors from the US, UK and Australia for a week of boat parties, snorkelling, surfing and dancing to DJs on the sand at sunset.
Heidi, who flew from New Zealand to go to the festival, said she joined the tree planting to see how the local Fijians lived and give back.
"It was awesome, and hopefully I can come back in a couple of years and see the mangroves that we've planted today," she said.
The MES is finding nature-based solutions to help Fijians adapt to climate change, which includes a funding proposal to build a nursery of "super coral".
A recent survey found corals were being ripped apart by tourists trampling on it while snorkelling.
"We need to have a nursery of resilient corals so we can got out and bring pieces from that nursery to plant out in other areas," Ms Vakacola said.
"That's what we are planning, to set up a super coral nursery that can help other coral planting programs in the region, just like having a nursery for fruit trees."
Super corals are more resilient and are being used in island nations like the Maldives to protect fragile marine ecosystems.
A University of Technology Sydney study is looking risks of selective adaptation in extreme coral habitats.
The MES is submitting grants to different organisations, including the Wold Surf League, with the goal to create a coral planting program which will pay locals to train to become coral gardeners.
The society was formed in 2001 to spread awareness about what was happening to the surrounding area, after locals raised concerns.
But Ms Botevou and Ms Vakacola had to jump through cultural hurdles to be taken seriously by village elders and chiefs.
"Our biggest challenge was that we are women - women in Fijian culture, we don't speak in big meetings, it's only the man that attends meetings," Ms Vakacola said.
"We got that respect ... the chiefs saw we were very passionate about the work and they started supporting us.
"So when we walk into the village, we are no longer hiding, we are there facing the people."
This AAP article was made possible with the support of Your Paradise on Fiji's Mamanuca Islands.
Australian Associated Press
