The cross-border labour migration scheme proposed by the Kiribati government is an example of a governmental response to climate-induced change, where the demographic focal point is at the individual or household level. Kiribati is made up of 32 atolls scattered across the southern Pacific Ocean. The 'migration with dignity' policy is part of Kiribati's long-term nation-wide relocation strategy. The first part of this policy is to create opportunities for those who wish to migrate abroad now and in the near future. This policy, however, only helps pave the way for those who are ready and willing to migrate but it does not reach everyone, especially those with very limited literacy skills or those with largely subsistence livelihoods. Adapted from the source document.
Small islands have received growing attention in the context of climate change. Rising sea-levels, intensifying storms, changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures force islanders to deal with and adapt to a changing climate. How do they respond to the challenge? What works, what doesn't – and why? The present volume addresses these questions by exploring adaptation experiences in small islands across the world's oceans from various perspectives and disciplines, including geography, anthropology, political science, psychology, and philosophy. The contributions to the volume focus on political and financial difficulties of climate change governance; highlight the importance of cultural values, local knowledge and perceptions in and for adaptation; and question to what extent mobility and migration constitute sustainable adaptation. Overall, the contributions highlight the diversity of island contexts, but also their specific challenges; they present valuable lessons for both adaptation success and failure, and emphasise island resilience and agency in the face of climate change. [Book Synopsis]
As human activities have destabilised life on Earth, a new geological era is upon us. While there is a myriad of challenges that have emerged because of such human-driven planetary changes, one area of investigation that requires ongoing scholarly attention and scientific debate is the emotions of the Anthropocene. The emotional, mental, and psychological burdens induced by rapid and unprecedented change must be understood to better reflect the experiences of people around the globe and to initiate conversations about how emotions may be used for transformative change and effective politics. This paper aims to provide insights into the types of emotions that are emerging in Oceania as the Anthropocene unfolds. To do this, we draw on several data sets: questionnaire results with visitors of Mt Barney Lodge in the World Heritage Gondwana area in Queensland, Australia; another questionnaire with Pacific Island "experts" engaged in climate change, development, and disaster risk management work; interviews with locals living in the Cook Islands; and various spoken, written, and visual art from the Pacific. Bringing these data sets together allows us to explore a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and emotional responses to the Anthropocene from participants across Oceania. We found that acute and slow-onset weather events, experiences of direct loss and change, a perceived lack of agency or control over futures, and a sense of injustice triggered emotions including fear, stress, anxiety, exhaustion, sadness, grief, anger, frustration, helplessness, worry, but also empowerment. These results are critical for the first step of acknowledging and naming the emotions that are emerging in Oceania, such that they can then be worked through, and may be used for transformative change, effective politics, and agency over futures.
AbstractAs climate change accelerates, effective adaptation is an urgent and unavoidable priority. Bottom-up approaches such as community-based adaptation have been portrayed as the panacea. Recent studies are, however, highlighting the ongoing and inherent issues with normative "community" conceptualizations that assume a geographically bound, temporally fixed, and harmonious unit. Despite documentation on the negative impact these problematic assumptions can have on adaptation outcomes, adaptation at the community scale remains the preferred option for project delivery in highly exposed places such as the Pacific Islands region. More creative entry points that are less charged with problematic assumptions are needed at the local scale. This paper draws from three examples in Vanuatu to offer compelling alternative entry points for adaptation: 1) a rural technical college embedded within an Anglican mission village, 2) a whole-of-island approach, and 3) the "collective of vendors" at marketplaces. We offer hope by identifying ways to expand on and complement existing, restricted notions of community and, through this, to improve adaptation outcomes.
Abstract Climate-smart agriculture has emerged as a way of increasing food productivity, building resiliency to climate change and reducing carbon emissions. Despite rapid technical advances, research on climate-smart agriculture has arguably under-theorized the socio-political processes that continue to marginalize vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers. This review discusses the potential usefulness of political ecology perspectives for improving climate-smart agriculture. Political ecology theory elucidates how three interrelated socio-political processes that perpetuate smallholder farmer vulnerability significantly influence climate-smart responses: inequality, unequal power relations and social injustice. The article discusses these three inter-connected political ecology factors using a number of examples from the Green Revolution, smallholder farming communities, and indigenous farmers. In comparison to conventional technical approaches, our article argues that Climate-Smart Agriculture needs to consider political ecology perspectives at different levels to explore the vulnerability of smallholder farmers to current and future climate change impacts. Interventions to support climate-smart agriculture should examine local risks, specificities and priorities of smallholder farmers. The article concludes with a renewed call for concepts of inequality, unequal power relations and social injustice to be embedded into both the policy and practice of climate smart agriculture. Keywords: climate-smart agriculture, equality, political ecology, power, smallholder, social justice
Abstract Niue, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, is commonly referred to as the 'rock of Polynesia'. The oval-shaped island is one of the world's largest coral islands and supports a population of 1,460 residents. During focus group discussions with community members from three coastal villages in October 2012, it was evident that the country faces significant contemporary sociocultural changes that present numerous challenges for Niue's long-term future. The core challenges and concerns expressed by participants revolved around outmigration trends, a shift away from traditional subsistence living and increasing dependency on imported food, a decline in traditional practices, and the potential negative effects of a growing tourism industry. While these trends are largely well-known and well-documented for Niue, less attention has been given to how best to reconcile these concerns and the subsequent disjuncture between the 'problem' and 'solution'. This article therefore seeks to document these concerns, and importantly present a way forward for managing them in a way that will see a reversal or slowing of these currently perceived negative trends to ensure the long-term sustainability of Niue and its people.
The Green Climate Fund, donors, governments and non-governmental organisations, among others, are pouring vast amounts of financial and human capital into community-based adaptation across the developing world. The underlying premise is that the world's majority—who have the minority of financial capital—are living on the margins and are the most vulnerable and at risk from climate change. Such a reality, coupled with a deficit understanding of the majority world, is resulting in significant implications for how the 'adaptation industry' (those that fund, design and implement projects) go about their work. Drawing on research evaluating 15 community-based adaptation projects in Vanuatu we found that despite genuine attempts, projects invariably fell short of success, longevity and sustainability. We argue that the indifferent, albeit variable, success of most projects is attributable to the construction of the geographical scale of 'community-based' and the deficit view flowing down to the 'community' through hubris policy, funding guidelines and individual implementers. Our findings show that 'experts' are working in Pacific communities, conducting assessments that involve asking what 'community' needs are, going away to design projects, coming back and implementing projects, which communities are inevitably challenged to sustain once funding has ceased. We postulate that these limitations stem from such a formation of adaptation work that pejoratively fails to see Pacific Islanders in situ as the best litmus test of their own agendas, needs, aspirations and futures and in the best position to make decisions for themselves about what and how they might become more resilient. We claim from a growing body of evidence and new frontiers in research that, rather than adaptation being 'community-based', it needs to be 'locally led', not limited to 'communities', and should take place across different entry points and incorporate, as appropriate, elements of autonomous/Indigenous peoples ownership.
Circular labor mobility provides opportunities for Pacific Islanders to upskill whilst alleviating labor shortages in Australia and New Zealand. Past studies have sought to understand the value of the labor schemes, yet very few have focused on the experiences of i-Kiribati participants. Drawing on preliminary insights from eight semi-structured interviews, this research offers specific examples of the benefits of labor mobility in Australia and New Zealand for participants and their families. The findings provide key insights into the success stories and lessons learned from the experiences of i-Kiribati workers and their families of labor mobility, and how these schemes could be improved in the future.
[Extract] This report provides a synthesis of research on climate change and coastal science in the Torres Strait, and has been produced for the Australian Government's Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF). It identifies and summarises work to date on reef evolution, hydrodynamics and sedimentary environments throughout the Torres Strait. It describes the island dynamics at Boigu, Saibai, Masig, Poruma, Warraber and Iama Islands. Numerous studies relating to climatic change are reviewed and the most relevant regional predictions for climate change in the Torres Strait are presented. The potential physical and ecological impacts of these changes in the Torres Strait are also identified. Adaptation and mitigation measures are suggested and their outcomes and consequences are evaluated. The key principles from sustainable land use plans on the islands are summarised and knowledge gaps in the fields of both coastal and climatic science are identified to guide future research.
