Media Release -Dialogue on Land Use 2010 and beyond
Postdate: 11/ 11/ 2010
The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) will be conducting a workshop on ‘Dialogue on Land Use 2010 and Beyond’ at the Waterfront Hotel, Lautoka from 11-12 November 2010.
The media is invited to attend and cover the event from 2-5pm on Friday, 12 November 2010.
The Workshop will cover the following three areas:-
- a Retrospective look on various government policies on land and the various perspectives and issues that have emerged on land use.
- a Current view on the Land Reform and the Land Use Decree 2010, its implementation, new entities, processes, lease arrangements and the frameworks to sustain the new land use reforms.
- a Future perspective to look at the positive and negative impacts, as well as the challenges, roles and responsibilities of the landowners and the tenants.
“The land issue is fraught with serious stumbling blocks which we must overcome in order to reach a solution for future generations,” CCF Chief Executive Officer Rev Akuila Yabaki said. “We need to recognise that land is a divisive issue not only between communities but also among the iTaukei, because the distribution of productive land among the iTaukei is uneven and changing circumstances have placed significant pressure on those families and mataqali that lack sufficient land to sustain a livelihood.”
CCF has in the past, convened: a National Land Workshop under the theme “What are Good Land Policies for Fiji for the 21st Century?” on 2 July 2002; a Land Workshop in Sigatoka on 31 January 2004; a Land Workshop in Ra on 19 November, 2004; and a Land Workshop in Labasa on 18 August 2006.
Participants at this dialogue workshop on land include representatives from the Ministry of Land, landowner and tenant bodies, and members of civil society organisations.
………………………………
Rev Akuila Yabaki
Chief Executive Officer