Environmental sustainability | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

National (top-down) policy in Pacific Island Countries often fails to be taken up at community level. This research found that national sustainability policy had had little impact on agricultural practice in the Southwest Bay region of Malakula Island in Vanuatu. Yet it was also found that traditional practices, which were widespread in the area, had goals that paralleled those of national policy.

This research described three such practices. The sengtau system ensures all clan members benefit from the use of clan lands, a system currently threatened by a shift from subsistence agriculture to cash cropping. A hybrid land-lease system involves leasing part of clan lands for commercial kava production, a situation concerning some who see it as a betrayal of customary practice. The use of taboo/closure (noho) of fishing grounds to allow regeneration of seafood capacity appears driven by dietary change and cash availability. We conclude that traditional practice should be foregrounded in the drive for sustainability in Pacific nations.

Authors: Jimmy Rantes, Professor Patrick Nunn, Dr Cherise Addinsall

Reference: Rantes, J., Nunn, P.D. and Addinsall, C. 2021. Sustainable development at the policy-practice nexus: insights from South West Bay, Malakula Island, Vanuatu. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. DOI:10.1080/21683565.2021.1979706.

The coasts of Pacific Island countries are littered with the remains of degraded, collapsed and irreparable seawalls, often built at great cost (relative to people’s cash incomes) and opened with great fanfare. Few seawalls last because they are inadequately designed or extensive, because they become undermined by wave scour and/or overtopped by waves during storms. Seawalls represent a short-term fix to a long-term environmental stressor and, although they may appear intuitive solutions, they waste money and resources.

Sea level in the central Pacific Islands is currently rising about 4 mm/year; in parts of Solomon Islands and Micronesia, rates as high as 10-12 mm/year have been recorded. The latest IPCC report (AR6) suggests sea level might be almost a metre higher by the end of this century. With this in mind, it is better for coastal communities wishing to implement short-term (stopgap) adaptation to invest in nature-based solutions (like mangrove replanting). Yet in the longer-term, upslope or even off-island relocation is unavoidable.

Authors: Professor Patrick Nunn, Dr Carola Klöck, Professor Virginie Duvat

Reference: Nunn, P.D., Klöck, C. and Duvat, V. 2021. Seawalls as maladaptations along island coasts. Ocean and Coastal Management, 205: 105554.

Many people in Pacific nations like Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu live today on islands that rise no more than two metres above average sea level. Being made largely from reef-derived sands and gravels, these atoll islands are often considered particularly vulnerable to climate-driven sea-level rise. In this study, we look at cumulative risk to atoll islands with reference to five Habitability Pillars (Land, Freshwater supply, Food supply, Settlements and infrastructure, and Economic activities). Risk is assessed using various future climate scenarios.

Risks will be highest in the Western Pacific which will experience increased island destabilization together with a high threat to freshwater, and decreased land-based and marine food supply from reef-dependent fish and tuna and tuna-like resources. Risk accumulation will occur at a lower rate in the Central Pacific (lower pressure on land, with more limited cascading effects on other Habitability Pillars. Risk levels will vary significantly between urban islands, depending on geomorphology and local shoreline disturbances. Rural islands will experience less contrasting risk levels, but higher risks than urban islands in the second half of the century.

Authors: Professor Virginie Duvat, Professor Patrick Nunn + 11 others

Reference: Duvat, V.K.E., Magnan, A.K., Perry, C.T., Spencer, T., Bell, J.D., Wabnitz, C., Webb, A.P., White, I., McInnes, K.L., Gattuso, J-P., Graham, N.A.J., Nunn, P.D. and Le Cozannet, G. 2021. Risks to future atoll habitability from climate-driven environmental changes. WIREs Climate Change, e700.

Today in the Pacific Islands, climate-change adaptation is commonly linked to the availability of cash. Where no money is forthcoming, adaptation cannot happen. But even half a century ago (and more), adaptation was undertaken by Pacific Island communities without cash, people contributing labour free and using freely-available local materials or others paid for through barter. Sustainable futures for people in these communities lie in a return to cashless adaptation.

For the past few decades, adaptation funds have poured into the Pacific Islands where environments have become increasingly stressed by climate change. These funds have come from donor partners, from international agencies, and have cemented the view that adaptation without cash is impossible. But over the next decade or two, as the costs of domestic adaptation for countries like Australia soar, so the amount of cash that can be spared for adaptation in Pacific Island countries will dwindle. Pacific nations will be left to adapt by themselves, in a context where far less cash is available. Better to map out a return to ‘cashless adaptation’ sooner rather than leave it to the last minute.

Author: Roselyn Kumar

Reference:

Nunn, P.D. and Kumar, R. 2019. Cashless adaptation to climate change in developing countries: unwelcome yet unavoidable? One Earth, 1, 31–34.

In many western Pacific Island groups, the rate of sea-level rise over the past few decades has been significantly faster than the global average (currently around 3.7 mm/year). In Fiji, the combined effect of rapid sea-level rise (about 4.3 mm/year at present) and tropical cyclones of increasing strength (like TC Winston, February 2016) means that more unconsolidated sand has been mobilised in shallow nearshore ocean areas than was common even a few decades ago.

The upshot of this is that sand islands, which have been occupied/utilised by people for hundreds of years, are disappearing. This disappearance not merely alters the geography of offshore areas but also affects the ecosystems that exist there. Recent surveys of sand islands off the north coast of Viti Levu Island (Fiji) show that these islands were created about 600 years ago, stabilised through mangrove and seagrass colonisation, but are now disappearing.

Authors: Prof Patrick Nunn, Dr Adrian McCallum and Peter Davies 

Reference:

Nunn, P.D., McKeown, M., McCallum, A., Davies, P., John, E.H., Chandra, R., Thomas, F.R. and Raj, S.N. 2019. Origin, development and prospects of sand islands off the north coast of Viti Levu Island, Fiji, Southwest Pacific. Journal of Coastal Conservation, 23(6), 1005-1018.

Planned climate change adaptation initiatives are being developed with both external and endogenous resources at an increasing rate, especially in developing countries. As climate change poses growing risks to the viability of vulnerable communities, there is a growing need to identify lessons learned in the process of planning and implementing climate change adaptation strategies.

This is even more pressing for communities in comparatively remote contexts where access to national/global resources and support services is limited. This project was aimed at identifying key insights across twenty years of experience of community-based resource management and development initiatives on a remote island in Fiji. The insights gained from this project are a key contribution towards acknowledging the relevance of locally-driven initiatives that have the potential to promote a grounded approach to localised climate adaptation and sustainable development.

Author: Daniela Medina Hidalgo

Daniela Medina Hidalgo is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Postgraduate Scholarship.

Reference: Article currently under review in the Journal Climate and Development