Fiji is a large archipelago with diverse landscapes and climate. More than 332 islands are scattered over 1.3 million square kilometres of the South Pacific Ocean. With around 60 percent of Fiji’s land area consisting of forest cover (amounting to approximately 1 million hectares [ha]), Fiji’s forests play an important role in providing valuable ecosystem services and the maintenance of forested landscapes can reduce some of the probable impacts of climate change. Fiji is already increasingly stricken by devastating climate events.

Deforestation and land degradation in forests and peripheries of forest frontiers are key environmental problems that Fiji faces. In this context, the rate of degradation in forest peripheries also refers to the loss of vegetation cover in agroecosystems (including rangelands), and the continued loss of productivity in agricultural lands, which impacts local livelihoods significantly. Poor agricultural practices have contributed to the degradation of agricultural lands and their productivity, and the vicious cycle of resource depletion and land degradation.

In order to tackle the issue of forest and landscape degradation, and climate change in the Pacific region, the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) developed “The Paris Agreement in Action” project supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry of the Environment (BMU) with Fiji among the six focus countries – Ethiopia, Lebanon, Morrocco, the Niger and the Philippines.