Sinking Islands, Drowned Logic; Climate Change and Community-Based Adaptation Discourses in Solomon Islands (original) (raw)

There Once Was an Island: Bringing Southern Pacific Perspectives to the Climate Change Conversation

This is the third article in a three-part special issue titled "Pacific Islands, Extreme Environments" edited by Andrea E. Murray. Murray's review of a documentary film about the present-day consequences of climate change in Papua New Guinea provides an ethnographic complement to the other two articles in the series: Ilan Kelman's piece on the challenges of multiscalar governance in Small Island Developing States, and Tarique Niazi's inquiry into the fate of so-called "climate refugees" in the Asia-Pacific. In this review, Murray argues for the power and urgency of multimedia research and reporting in places most immediately affected by rising sea levels. The author also questions the pervasive belief that certain dwindling human populations and cultural practices can be "saved" by relocation to a more densely populated mainland.

A community builds a “bridge”: an example of community-led adaptation to sea-level rise in East Kwaio, Solomon Islands

Climate and Development, 2017

Sea-level rise is negatively impacting many Pacific Islands Countries and Territories. In Solomon Islands, sea-level rise is particularly acute due to current movements, the geography of low-lying islands, and the physical structure and locations of villages on the islands. In East Kwaio, Solomon Islands a community-based response to rising sea-levels has meant that men and women from two villages have worked together to independently fund and build a raised walkway, and build seawalls in areas that are regularly inundated. This article describes community-based action, including the processes involved in building the walkway ("bridge") and seawalls, and reports a community discussion with women about the impact of sea-level rise. Changes resulting from the bridge and seawalls, along with recommendations for future action, are reported. Local responses to local concerns underpin this community-based adaptation to sea-level rise in Solomon Islands.

Climate Change in the Islands and the Highlands: Melanesian Manifestations, Experiences and Actions

2020

Under embargo until: 2020-09-28Pacific Islanders have often been portrayed as ‘helpless victims’ in the popular media because they suffer the consequences of climate changes mainly caused by other, larger nations. In terms of media attention and sheer urgency, however, it is predominantly Oceania’s low-lying atolls that find themselves on the ‘climate change frontline’. Climate change is both a set of environmental phenomena, experienced local reality, and a global political discourse. Anthropologists who work in Melanesia, whether in highlands or islands, find themselves in a situation where direct local experiences of the effects of global climate change are integral to the fieldwork. An account of environmental observations and perceptions of climate change in the Marovo Lagoon of the western Solomon Islands follows, based on several years of fieldwork from 1986. The political background for the rise of Melanesian ambition and influence on the global climate-change scene is firml...

Considering socio-political framings when analyzing coastal climate change effects can prevent maldevelopment on small islands

Nature Communications

Adapting to climate change and sea level rise is challenging on small islands. False adaptation can lead to adverse impacts on natural and societal dynamics. Therefore, an interdisciplinary perspective on the interaction of natural dynamics, societal demands, and political decisions is crucial. In this sense, this study scrutinizes coastal processes and socio-political dimensions of erosion on the reef island Fuvahmulah, the Maldives. The national government and Fuvahmulah’s population have an opposed perception and attribution of the drivers and processes behind Fuvahmulah’s most pressing coastal issue – coastal erosion. To review these perceptions, natural dynamics are recreated with process-based methods and discussed regarding present and projected marine pressures. Population surveys and interviews with actors in coastal development complement the physical insights into erosion on Fuvahmulah and describe the socio-political dimension of climate change adaptation on small island...

Assessing the potential role of education as a tool for adaptation to climate change in two rural communities in Solomon Islands

2017

More than 85% of the Solomon Islands population lives in villages and communities within 1.5 km from the coast. Therefore, these communities are exposed to extreme ocean-based events, whose intensity and variation are expected to increase due to climate change. The government realizes the expected devastating impacts on the population, and has partnered with aid-donors to invest millions of dollars in climate change related programs, especially mitigation, adaptation and transformation strategies in rural communities. This paper describes people´s perceptions of the role of education as an adaptation and transformation tool to cope with negative impacts from climate change. We describe the situation of two study sites in rural communities in Solomon Islands. One study site covered Oibola Village, Langa Langa Lagoon, Malaita Province in 2013. The second study site covered communities of Keigold and Mondo, Ranogha Islands, Western province in 2015. In both locations, we identified tha...

Climate change induced effects or maldevelopment: small islands and conflicting attribution of root causes

2020

Adapting to sea level rise, climate change, and associated effects is especially challenging in sensitive small-island environments where false adaptation can lead to adverse impacts on natural and societal dynamics. Framing and interest play a decisive role for the successful implementation of any adaptation measures. An interdisciplinary perspective on the interaction of natural dynamics, societal demands, and political decisions is crucial. This study scrutinizes the coastal processes and socio-political dimensions of erosion on the reef island Fuvahmulah, the Maldives. The national government and Fuvahmulah's population have opposed perception and attribution about the cause and effect of the retreating shoreline. To review these perceptions and determine the drivers and processes behind Fuvahmulah's most pressing coastal issue, natural dynamics are recreated with process-based numerical methods and discussed regarding the present and projected sea levels and wave climat...

Building social and ecological resilience to climate change in Roviana, Solomon Islands

Roviana and Vonavona Lagoons comprise a diverse social-ecological system that has supported human populations for 15,000 years. The area has a highly dynamic history socially, environmentally and geologically with influences including; epicentre of tribal warfare, religious diversity, major battleground for World War II, high rainfall, tectonic uplift/subsidence and tsunamis. This dynamic social-ecological history has built an inherent resilience into the communities and ecosystems present. We anticipate this resilience will, to some extent, buffer Roviana and Vonavona to future climate change pressures. However, the integrated assessment conducted indicated a number of factors that are reducing this resilience and making the Roviana socio-ecological system more vulnerable to climate change. Marine-Lack of adequate management of passages and offshore reefs, lack of connectivity between seagrass, mangrove and reef in some marine protected area, limited genetic connectivity between Roviana and elsewhere in some fish species, high loads of sediments and nutrients from unsustainable logging in Roviana catchment. Coastal-Significant human disturbance of mangroves, tectonic subsidence causing mangrove die-back, lack of awareness of importance of mangroves for coastal protection, some communities will have village area halved from 50cm sea level rise. Gardens-Traditional knowledge surrounding gardens and bushfoods not being passed on, increase in pests and diseases of food crops, lack of skills to improve soil fertility, increasing reliance on processed foods, fertile garden land being used for commercial agroforestry. Social-Erosion of traditional value systems, high levels of youth unemployment, erosion of customary governance. Whilst some of these factors are externally driven, many can be addressed at the local level through community based adaptation. Through a consultative participatory process with Roviana people we have identified several local actions that will re-enforce existing community resilience. Marine ecosystems can be strengthened by improving management of mangrove ecosystems, increasing connectivity between seagrass, mangroves and reef habitats, enforcing existing catchment management regulations. Coastal ecosystems can be protected through limiting removal of mangroves adjacent to villages and coconut plantations. Gardening practices could be improved through better land use planning to limit agroforestry encroachment onto garden lands, training in soil fertility improvement methods, distribution of species/cultivars more resistant to climate extremes. Valuable traditional knowledge of garden practices and bushfoods should be documented for future generations. Roviana people have a strong history of adapting in the face of dramatic social-ecological changes, with a blend of new ideas presented in this report and the existing rich body of traditional ecological knowledge we anticipate the Roviana communities will sustain and flourish under the influences of global climate change in the coming centuries.

Rudiak-Gould, P. 2013. Climate Change and Tradition in a Small Island State: The Rising Tide. New York: Routledge. 226 pp.

The citizens of the Marshall Islands have been told that sea level rise and other impacts of climate change will doom their low-lying country, and they have seen evidence in the land, air, and sea to confirm it. This book investigates how grassroots Marshallese society has interpreted and responded to this threat. Islanders triangulate between observations of ecological and cosmic change; media, government, and NGO translations of climate science; and informal exegesis of Genesis and Revelation passages that speak to climate change. With Biblical, historical, and psychological grounds to dismiss the threat, Marshall Islanders have instead largely embraced it. With reasons to forswear guilt and responsibility, they have instead adopted in-group blame and worked to reduce the country’s carbon footprint. Having been instructed that mass resettlement is inevitable, they have vowed instead to retain the homeland through adaptation measures. These predominant responses are understandable in light of a pre-existing Marshallese narrative of cultural decline and seduction by American modernity, inspired by a long history of contact with powerful foreigners and their colonial, economic, and military agendas. Climate change is understood to be both cause and consequence of ‘living by money,’ and its final act, the destruction of the archipelago, is considered the ultimate triumph of modernity. This case study illuminates islander agency at the intersection of the local and the global, and suggests a theory of risk perception based on ideological commitment to narratives of historical progress and decline.

Local Insights into Social Resilience and Climate Change in Solomon Islands

Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Pacific Series, 2023

Research Paper 1 | Local Insights into Social Resilience and Climate Change in Solomon Islands *Sample censored to only those households that indicated they looked to cope immediately following a shock. Households were asked to select up to three main coping behaviors from a detailed list. These behaviors have been grouped into their higher-level categories.