My thoughts - People at the forefront of nature conservation

 A personal perspective by Eroni Tuinaceva a journalism student at Fiji National University.

2 December 2013, Suva, Fiji - "Today marked the launch of a week-long effort to continue the uphill battle against global warming and its associated problems.

The speeches were a particular highlight as they reflected the message that people need to be at the forefront of nature conservation if they want to ensure sustainable natural resources for future generations.

On a more personal note, today also marked the first time for me to be involved in an inter-tertiary, inter-organisational media team covering a major event.

It's been quite enriching working with other budding journalists from USP as well as working journalists who have all been incredibly helpful and inspiring at the same time.

I personally look forward to working with everyone over the next few days, growing in my profession and establishing a lifelong network of colleagues and hopefully also friends.

Lastly, the conference has presented an array of opportunities to broaden one's knowledge of all things environment and will certainly build my capacity to cover environmentally related stories with more understanding and clarity, particularly when dealing with those tricky acronyms and environment jargon."

Eroni Tuinaceva is a first year student at Fiji National University and a member of the Media Team providing coverage of the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas from 2 to 6 December in Suva, Fiji. This is a partnership between the Fiji National University (FNU), University of the South Pacific (USP), SPREP and Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) whereby a team of 10 journalism students are mentored by senior reporters as they cover the conference. This activity is funded by the Pacific Assistance Media Scheme (PACMAS).