Tilapia group members after their clean-up at the Colo-i-Suva Forest Park.

A group of six individuals with their family and friends carried out a clean-up campaign at the Colo-i-Suva Forest Park yesterday.

This is part of their advocacy challenge to assist forest rangers with environmental conservation.

Tilapia group representative, Vimlesh Deo says they did this to give back to the community and raise awareness on the work done by the forest rangers.

“Initially, we thought it’s not that much but when we kept moving 2 kilometers covering the area – we collected a truck full of rubbish and that was very alarming for us and alarming for the community at the same time.”

Forestry Officer for Parks and Reserves, Apisai Moce welcomed the team’s decision to clean up the park and witness firsthand the amount of household rubbish discarded in the reserve.

“So, in collaboration, we are picking rubbish here in Colo-i-Suva Forest Park and Forest Reserve which is one of the biggest challenges that we face as forest rangers here in the reserve – people are dumping their rubbish irresponsibly and it’s a perennial issue faced for the number of years for the past years.”

Moce is advising people to be considerate of the flora and fauna in the park and dispose their rubbish responsibly.

The Tilapia group is one of the five groups in Leadership Fiji’s 2022 cohort.