Page 13 - IB February 2025

Environment Environment

multiple unauthorised actions during
construction, and that much of
their activities on the island had
been done without the necessary
Environmental Impact Assessment
approvals. This included digging an
approximately 20-meter-wide channel
through the surrounding coral reef to
facilitate access to barges, causing
severe damage to the island and the
surrounding sea’s delicate ecosystems.
The order appeared to fall on deaf
ears as Freesoul reportedly continued
its construction, taking advantage of
the relatively remote nature of the
island.
Woody Jack, Navrin Fox, and Ratu
Jona Joseva, at this point had been
occasionally enjoying their own
neighbouring patch during family
vacations, as the plans for their eco-
friendly getaway solidified in their
minds. This was, until they allowed
some friends from Australia to make a
visit in their absence.
“Oh, you guys have finally started
work on your little hotel?” Woody
Jack’s friends asked him after they
visited. Confused, Jack and Fox
returned to Malolo Island to see what
their friends were talking about.
“In the short time it took for us to
get back here to see what was going
on, a channel was already forming.
And then within a week, they just
dug through. In that time, the island
was already different; it was like day
and night. There were already barges
coming in, bringing equipment,” Jack
told Islands Business.
“So there’s big steel beams. Like,
even some of the houses they started
to build, the barracks, they’ve got
steel footings into the mangrove, into
the saltwater. So, the steel is going to
rust into the saltwater,” Jack said of
his immediate concerns upon return.
“Everything they’ve done is just an
ecological nightmare, really.
“And soon enough, we recognised
we needed legal representation.”
In April of 2022, the Suva High
Court found Freesoul guilty of two
counts of undertaking unauthorised
development under the Environment
Management Act. The construction
was finally halted, and the company

Islands Business, February 2025 13