Most legislation governing natural resources in Fiji is very old and outdated, and very little attention is given to environmental issues in these statutes. The absence of a legislative environmental policy results in an absence of statutes with an express or implied environmental mandate, while laws governing resource development fail to recognise the environmental basis of natural resources. As a result, legislation provides little in the way of capacity to protect the environment from the impacts of development activities.
The International Waters Project (IWP) aims to strengthen the management and conservation of marine, coastal and freshwater resources in the Pacific Islands region. It is financed through
the International Waters Programme of the Global Environment Facility, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, and executed by the Secretariat of the Pacific
Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in conjunction with the governments of the 14 participating independent Pacific Island countries.