127 Environmental management and Fiji tourism Environmental management and the Fiji tourism industry Sean Weaver University of Canterbury and Brian King Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne Introduction THE PROCESS of reshaping a nation’s economy towards ecological sustainability will, in many cases, require substantial changes in the way natural resources are valued nationally. However, such changes are unlikely to come about overnight, and interim measures will need to be implemented to delay the total loss of many valuable ecosystems: in this context there are already many opportunities within the existing economic planning framework to allow such interim protection of valuable resources. Reversing tropical deforestation in countries that are subordinated in the global economy, including most Pacific Island nations, will require the immediate implementation of expedient strategies designed to reduce the rate of forest loss in the short term. Such strategies do not challenge the current economic context of resource valuation, but do provide an immediate means of protecting diminishing forest ecosystems. Tourism is the single largest industry in Fiji, accounting for more than 74% of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. This amounted to $281 million in gross earnings in 1989 compared with $215 million from sugar in the same year (Watling and Chape 1992). Fiji is looked on as a significant player within this part of the Pacific, having, for instance, attracted 40% (270,000 tourists) out of a total of 660,000 to the fourteen member countries of the Tourism Council of the South Pacific (King and Weaver 1993). The success of tourism in countries like Fiji relies on the marketing of a clean, friendly, relaxing environment, together with a