scholarly journals COVID 19, communal capital and the moral economy: Pacific Islands responses

2021 ◽  
pp. 092137402110143
Author(s):  
Steven Ratuva
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Subsistence Farming ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Moral Economies

One of the impacts of COVID-19 is that communities have looked for alternative means of survival as the market economy went into a major crisis and people lost their jobs. For many communities in the Pacific Islands, who have relied largely on the market economy over the years, this means falling back on their communal way of life which has provided resilience for centuries. The revival of various forms of communal capital such as kinship exchange, subsistence farming and strengthening of social solidarity have become features of this bourgeoning moral economy. In the post-COVID era, there needs to be a major rethinking of how community-based moral economies can be mainstreamed as assurance for resilience and as a responsive mechanism against future economic calamities.

scholarly journals An assessment of community-based adaptation initiatives in the Pacific Islands

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 628-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. McNamara ◽  
Rachel Clissold ◽  
Ross Westoby ◽  
Annah E. Piggott-McKellar ◽  
Roselyn Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Community Based Adaptation

scholarly journals Alternative Entry Points for Adaptation: Examples from Vanuatu

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Ross Westoby ◽  
Rachel Clissold ◽  
Karen E. McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Technical College ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Entry Points

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.

scholarly journals The Role of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge in Ecosystem-Based Adaptation: A Review of the Literature and Case Studies from the Pacific Islands

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Nalau ◽  
Susanne Becken ◽  
Johanna Schliephack ◽  
Meg Parsons ◽  
Cilla Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Spiritual Beliefs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Pacific

Abstract Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is increasingly being advocated as a climate adaptation approach that can deliver multiple benefits to communities. EbA scholarship argues that community-based projects can strengthen those ecosystems that deliver critical services to communities and in doing so enhance community resilience. In particular, the inclusion of indigenous and traditional knowledge (ITK) into community-based EbA projects is positioned as critical to successful climate adaptation. Yet, there is surprisingly little investigation into how ITK is being defined and incorporated into EbA initiatives. This paper critically reviews EbA literature and provides empirical examples from Vanuatu and Samoa to demonstrate the different ways ITK relates to EbA projects. We find that there is widespread recognition that ITK is important for indigenous and local communities and can be employed successfully in EbA. However, this recognition is more aspirational than practical and is not being necessarily translated into ITK-informed or ITK-driven EbA projects. ITK should not be conceptualized simply as a collection of local environmental information that is integrated with Western scientific knowledge. Instead, ITK is part of nested knowledge systems (information–practices–worldviews) of indigenous peoples. This knowledge includes local natural resource management, sociocultural governance structures, social norms, spiritual beliefs, and historical and contemporary experiences of colonial dispossession and marginalization. At present, most EbA projects focus on the provision of information to main decision-makers only; however, since ITK is held collectively, it is essential that entire communities are included in ITK EbA projects. There is a huge potential for researchers and ITK holders to coproduce knowledge that would be best placed to drive climate adaptation in a changing world.

Community-based action in Fiji’s Gau Island: a model for the Pacific?

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Remling ◽  
Joeli Veitayaki
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
The Pacific

Purpose Drawing on qualitative fieldwork on a remote outer island in Fiji, this paper aims to address a shortcoming in the literature on climate adaptation in the Pacific. Internationally community-based adaptation (CBA) is recognised as a promising approach to help vulnerable populations adjust to climate change. However, with pilot projects in their infancy documented experience for Pacific Islands remains scarce. This limits the ability of the region – faced with persisting development challenges and predicted significant climate impacts – to learn from and build on previous experiences and develop robust responses to climate change. Design/methodology/approach By using a community-based initiative in response to environmental challenges and unsustainable development as a proxy, the paper interrogates the potential usefulness of the CBA framework for the Pacific and identifies potential strengths and weaknesses. Sketching out the process and its outcomes, it shows how the initiative has resulted in a diversity of strategies, ranging from pollution control measures, to improved governance of resources and community participation in decision making, to livelihood and income diversification. Findings Findings indicate that CBA could have a lot of potential for building more resilient communities in the face of climate change and other pressures associated with modernising Pacific societies. However, to be effective, interventions should pay attention to people’s development aspirations; immediate economic, social and environmental benefits; dynamics of village governance, social rules and protocols; and traditional forms of knowledge that can inform sustainable solutions. Originality/value The conclusions provide a reflection on the CBA framework in general and make concrete suggestions for practitioners on how the framework could be usefully implemented in the Pacific context.

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