Davila and her inspirational tale of how she came to work for environmental cause

Early Life and education

Davila, originally from Tailevu Province, grew up in Israel and Lebanon. Her unique experiences inspired Davila to think about how different communities around the world are protecting their environments. Since her early childhood, she understood the importance of environmental protection and wanted to take care of the environment.

Davila completed a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health with a minor in Public Health from the American University in Beirut. She remembers that a significant lesson at her university focused on the relation between the environment and people/society; a healthy and clean environment directly relates to the health and well-being of the people surrounding that environment. In 2018, Davila completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change at the University of the South Pacific. For her Master’s degree, Davila hopes to complete a Master in Climate Change in the near future.

Davila also worked at the Ministry of Health in Fiji where she volunteered for 8 months. Her favorite part of the job was providing quarantine services. Going out to sea to inspect incoming ships.

Davila is currently a remote intern for the World Meteorological Organization specifically associated with UN1FY, a platform that brings together youth organizations from around the world.

Volunteering presented Davila with opportunities

Davila currently volunteers at a local community collective called iTaukei Women in Conservation. In this group, Davila works as the Media and Communications Officer to raise awareness, on social media, about their projects and communicate their mission of implementing blue and green carbon initiatives with an emphasis on nature-based solutions and incorporating indigenous knowledge in conserving the natural environment in efforts of tackling climate change within local communities.

Davila’s plans for the future

With an important role to play in iTWC, Davila and her team have big plans for 2023. In the future, she hopes to facilitate a webinar to discuss conservation initiatives related to the ocean. She and her team want to continue planting mangroves(they act as carbon sinks by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere) and tree nurseries and contribute to Fiji’s Ministry of Forestry initiative of planting 30 million trees in 15 years. She hopes to work with the local governments around Fiji and NGOs to complete these projects.

Advice for women and girls

Davila advises young girls to focus on their studies, classes and lectures, to stick to a group of friends who are as dedicated to their program and are as motivated as you are. She believes that the people you surround yourself with are very important. She advises to get a mentor who is already working in the environmental sector and interact with community elders to learn more about traditional ecological knowledge.