http://www.sprep.org/biodiversity-ecosystems-management/fiji-president-calls-for-new-culture-of-conservation-by-wati-talebula-journalism-student-from-fiji-national-university

Fiji President calls for 'new culture' of conservation
Published on 02 December 2013

2 December 2013, Suva, Fiji - By Wati Talebula: - Fiji's President Ratu
Epeli Nailatikau believes the Pacific needs to bring ordinary people
into its conservation efforts to overcome "the culture of the throwaway
package"

Ratu Epeli told delegates gathered for the opening of the 9th Pacific
Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in Suva on
December 2, 2013 there was a need for a revolution in personal attitudes.

"For too long, Pacific peoples have embraced one of the worst facets of
western consumerism - the culture of the throwaway package," Ratu Epeli
said.

"Our villages, towns and cities are strewn with litter, our beaches with
plastic bottles and plastic bags, and other non-biodegradable containers
of every kind," Ratu Epeli said.

"We can blame the manufacturers for packaging their products in these
containers in the first place. But the responsibility for disposing of
them properly is solely our own – all of us.

"We need to inculcate a new culture in the Pacific, one of personal
commitment to conservation and sustainable development and the daily
observance of it in all our lives. Do not use our pristine environment
as a rubbish dump."