Josefa Sigavolavola 
[File Photo]
No development should come at the cost of a community’s right to say no.
This was highlighted in a statement by the Fiji Council of Social Services in their submission to the Constitution Review Commission last Friday.
The Councils National President, Sepesa Rasili, made the submission on environmental rights, urging for the constitutional guarantee of Free, Prior and Informed Consent for any project that poses a risk for environmental damage.
In the statement, FCOSS is stressing that the FPIC should go further than it currently does, adding that the right to consent must not be limited solely to landowners or resource owners.
The Council says that it must be extended to include all community development implemented in the country, stressing that the impact of these projects is never felt by landowners alone.
FCOSS further stated that in the Pacific’s context, where climate change, resource extraction and environmental degradation continue to threaten the livelihoods and wellbeing of our communities, embedding the FPIC in the constituion is not just a legal necessity but a matter of justice.
FPIC that communities have the right to give or withhold consent to projects that may affect their land, resources, or way of life, protecting the rights of resource and landowners by giving communities a real voice in decision making that affects their environment, livelihoods and that communities are not harmed by development projects in the future.
The constitutional review is expected to last until August 31, next year.
