The Archbishop of Suva, Peter Loy Chong, has expressed concern about the effect development projects are having on people and on the environment.
In his Easter message he connected the meaning of Easter and the “destruction of peoples, the environment and the planet.”
A locally-based company, Gold Rock Investment Ltd, has invested more than $16 million in a new stone crushing quarry.
“I am deeply concerned how the extraction of stones from the river will affect the environment in the nearby villages of Natadadrave and Delakado,” Loy Chong said.
“What impact will it have on the fishes, prawns and other creatures that depend on the river including human beings?”
“What will happen if there is heavy rain and flooding?”
Last year the quarry was said to provide employment for more than 35 people.
Gold Rock Investment Ltd managing director and owner Shun Hui it would employ more workers once fully operational.
He said they had 13 specialists from China, who have set up quarries and stone crushers in China.
Natadradave also happens to be the village that shot into prominence last year with claims about “miracle water” that flowed from a spring in the village.
Loy Chong also expressed concern about other already existing or planned development projects such as bauxite mining in Bua, the logging industry and the possibility of deep sea mining
“All these projects carried out in the name of development must be evaluated and questioned in regard to social and ecological justice,” he said.
“How do they develop and protect human beings, creatures and the environment?”
Loy Chong’s message, originally published in the Fiji Times, was reproduced in The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University.
The largest international multireligious project of its kind, the Forum recognises that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problems.
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