I am a semi-retired coral reef restoration scientist (BS, MS, PhD) living in Fiji (Dual US Fijian citizenship). I am well known as the "coral gardener" and I won the National Geographic Ashoka Changemakers Award for the environment in 2011.

One of the major threats to coral reefs is land based threats like deforestation and poor agricultural practices. After seeing so many healthy corals killed from muddy polluted runoff, I decided to focus on sustainable land management and permaculture.

We bought 35 acres of deforested land in the Sigatoka Valley 6 years ago. The "Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods Farm" now also operates a farm-stay business "Teitei homestay", allowing students and volunteers a comfortable place to stay while learning. We have combined traditional permaculture (breadfruit, cassava, taro, etc) with new methods and species that we have learned over the years. We have found a great storehouse of fruit trees in the formerly active agricultural stations around the country and have incorporated those into the plantations and food forests. Our most successful projects thus far are integrated tilapia/duck ponds, sandalwood/citrus intercropping, terracing steep hillsides using oxen and horses, a happy chicken project, and commercial production of endemic crops found only in this area, such as "duruka or pitpit" (sugarcane family but you eat the unopened flower, spinich hibiscus "bele or slippery cabbage", and etc. We are now ready to share our South Pacific knowledge with the world, and to learn from others.

Happy Chicken Project

Chickens compliment permaculture by utilizing resources that plants and other animals cannot, eating weeds and insects and worms, converting them into high protein food, while producing rich manure for organic gardening and nurseries.

Happy Chicken Proposal now on Global Giving

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/

Terracing Steep Land Using Horses and Bullocks.

In Fiji I learned from an old Indofijian farmer how to terrace the Land- with a wonderful outcome! And without any machines.

Using Papaya (pawpaw) to Greatly Accelerate Compost Formation

Try this! Papaya accelerates the decomposition process and compost formation- AMAZING I found this out myself by accident!