[Photo: SUPPLIED]

The sea has always defined life in Navua’s Togoru Village, but it is now eroding a site of deep cultural memory.

Along the shoreline, a small cemetery once safely inland is being claimed by the rising tide. For 74-year-old Lavenia McGoon, these changes have unfolded steadily over her decades in the village.

For villagers, the disappearing burial ground is a reminder that the effects of climate change are not just environmental; they are deeply personal.

McGoon recalls the time when the burial ground was surrounded by trees and thick bushes and families could walk around the graves with ease.

“They used to have horse racing on the beachfront, and then the water came gradually. That was the beach right there; there were bushes and things. And then gradually, it started washing away, and that’s it, till now.”

Today, high tides submerge parts of the burial ground, which holds more than 30 villagers spanning generations.

Originally from Levuka, McGoon moved to Togoru after marriage and has spent 58 years in the coastal community raising her five children.

“It is, because when my husband’s auntie was buried there in 1964. And they dug up the grave in 1964 and 1970, and they moved the grave to the inland, inland.”

Another villager, David Wise, says residents have been watching the shoreline retreat for years.

“When there’s a spring tide, every two to three months, we’ll get this spring tide that comes up, and it comes almost to the road area at times. But we’ve had that; it’s more defined in the front. You’ll see a lot of the erosion is in the front, or the beach portion of it.”

Minister for iTaukei Affairs, Culture, Heritage and Arts, Ifereimi Vasu, acknowledged that climate change is already affecting communities living in low-lying areas.

However, he states that relocation may ultimately be the most practical option.

“As for now, our advice is for them to get it out. All the preservation that needs to be done so that they can be preserved or they can be relocated to higher ground. And for them, for now, it’s to move to relocation.”

The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Rural Development are currently working on relocation efforts for communities affected by rising seas.

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