Mapping Social Values of the Sigatoka River Estuary, Nadroga-Navosa Province, Viti Levu, Fiji

Abstract

Biophysical impacts tend to dominate environmental impact assessments (EIA), yet social values of the environment have an important role to play in decision-making. To foster the inclusion of social values in EIA we developed and applied public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) methods to map Fijian social values of the Sigatoka River estuary in Nadroga-Navosa Province, Viti Levu, Fiji, and threats to these values. Mapping interviews with 31 participants reveal that the estuary is valued as a source of food, primarily for subsistence but also for income and is overlayed with intangible sociocultural and spiritual values that are connected to physical locations and/or are virtual in space. Current and potential threats to these values include episodic (e.g., mining) and chronic events (e.g., pollution). We conclude that PPGIS offers an approach to map social values of an environment that are predictive of land use conflict and can be used in EIA to understand the human impacts of a proposed development.