Vilikesa Masibalavu gazes out over 900 hectares of virgin forest on Fiji's largest island Viti Levu and contemplates how one logging company's misfortune can be the good fortune of rare wildlife.
In a gamble that the company will stay down on its luck, the forest in the Sovi Basin area of central-eastern Viti Levu is to become the site of a multi-million dollar, internationally funded conservation project.
The area is home to the endemic long-legged warbler, long believed to be extinct until sighted last month for the first time since 1894. Simultaneously, there were discoveries of the rare blossom bats (bats with tails) and the globally endangered pink-billed parrot finch.
"We are at the last stages of preparations [for the conservation project]," Masibalavu said.
"If all goes well then we start in January, the landowners will benefit from a trust fund," he added, although details of the fund have not been made public.
Masibalavu, formerly with the Fijian ministry of agriculture, now works for the local branch of Birdlife International, and also happens to be the chiefs' traditional herald in Sovi Basin -- a powerful role giving him direct access to the chiefs.
He admits his traditional connections contributed to the rare consensus of the local landowners to allow the project and helped instil a need for the people to protect their heritage.
Legally, the area is leased to a timber company which has a 30-year logging concession.
But while the company owes landowners 500,000 Fiji dollars (US$288,000) for non-payment of the lease, there is no chance of any timber being moved and Masibalavu hopes it does not make good on its investment.
The landowners have been won over by his arguments for conservation and are unanimous that they do not want logging resumed.
The local belief that land is a sacred gift from God and must be protected for the next generation has also been a bonus for his conservation team.
Sovi Basin, with its near impenetrable forests, has become a sanctuary for wildlife as the surrounding forests are felled all-year round.
"Logging practices here are some of the worst. It is so very important for us to make this project a reality," Masibalavu says of what will be Fiji's biggest conservation project.
"The rate of extinction is dangerously high. We have many beautiful native birds, endemic and sometimes listed globally as nearing extinction."
The proposed conservation project in Sovi Basin -- a bowl-shaped hinterland surrounded by spectacular volcanic peaks looking down on a gently rolling basin floor -- will protect 32 bird species, including 19 of 21 endemic species. It will also cover several species of fish in the streams.
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