Over the course of three days in early October, Project Halo participated in the Fiji National University Open Day at the Nasinu Campus, where thousands of students from across Viti Levu and nearby islands engaged with activities designed to promote science, engineering, and climate resilience literacy.

At the Project Halo booth, Dr. Laura Montano and Dr. Brad Henderson from UNSW led interactive demonstrations using two custom built models illustrating mangrove ecosystems services and tidal restoration practices. These models designed by Dr. Montano and Dr. Henderson and built by the UNSW Water Research Laboratory (WRL) workshop team, helped students visualize how mangroves contribute to climate adaptation and coastal protection.

Students particularly enjoyed identifying the mangrove service they felt most connected to, each one linked to a profession or activity to make learning more relatable. Unsurprising, the “coastal protection” service, symbolized by a rugby forward player, was a crowd favorite.

The tidal restoration model also drew significant interest, sparking discussions about how restoring mangroves on degraded land can mitigate the impacts of sea-level rise and climate change.