Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Network
Fiji was the site of the first Fish for the Future workshop held to introduce the idea of forming the LMMA Network. Community-based marine conservation projects taking place in Fiji in the 1990s were so successful at integrating stakeholders into the management and monitoring of their resources that joining the Network helped catalyze the spread of the LMMA approach rapidly through the country. The Fiji LMMA (FLMMA) Network is the first country-level network to operate independently of the overall Network. FLMMA received the prestigious 2002 Equator Initiative Award from the United Nations Development Programme, out of more than 420 total nominations and 27 finalists.
Today, FLMMA has the most project sites in the overall Network (see map below). The LMMA approach has brought back to life fading traditional management practices and has been formally adopted by the state government, which is in the process of officially transferring ownership of coastal areas and resources back to traditional land-owning clans.