Ecosystems

Inhabitants of the reef

Many peoples' lives depend on the reef as a source of food and income. The economy of the small coral islands is even more dependent on the reef. Usually these are poor people, who live in developing countries and can only count on natural resources for their survival.
The Maldivians
The Maldives have a population of approximately 200 thousand, over one fourth of them living in the capital city, Male. It is a mixed race with Indian, Arabic and African traits because of the many successive settlements of people of different origins. Each island has its own chieftain who is in charge of the laws and social organisation, and who reports to the head of the atoll, who in his turn reports to the Governor of Male. It is a rather closed society, based on family and task-sharing; Maldivians have rare contacts with the inhabitants of other islands and there is no mixing with tourists, whose beaches are different from those of the locals. The Islamic religion is strongly felt about and the most important social unit is the family. The Maldivians' main occupation is fishing (for which they use the dhoni, the traditional Maldivian boat), even if tourism is a very important industry as well: the existing resorts are a source of employment for many inhabitants, even if they also use non-local people. Farming is instead of little importance, due to the lack of cultivable lands.
The Fijians
The Fiji Islands are the best-known archipelago in Melanesia, the "black islands". Seclusion has preserved these islands in their purity, in their luxuriant beauty and has allowed the locals to maintain their ancient traditions almost untouched.
There are two main ethnic groups: the Fijians, of Melanesian origin, and the Indians, who arrived with the first bouts of colonisation and mainly used to grow sugarcanes. The meeting and clash of such different cultures caused coups d'état and endless internal struggles.
The Indians control trade and business, they are managers, doctors and lawyers and farm the land; the Fijians own instead 83% of the land and live by renting the land to the Indians who farm it. After the 1987 coup d'état, many Indian professionals left the country, making the economy go haywire and forcing the Government to try to redress the balance.
The economy of the Fiji Islands is based on farming, which employs approximately 37% of the population. The most important crop is sugarcane, which is picked and sent to sugar refineries to be processed and then almost entirely exported; important crops are also coconut palms, ginger and rice, maize, cassavas and sweet potatoes, the latter for domestic consumption only. Important are the industries related to the processing of farming products (sugar refineries, oil mills, creameries), to the processing of tobacco, timber and the production of concrete.
Tourism has remarkably boosted the local economy and is now the second most important source of income in the Fiji Islands.