Assessing the effectiveness of planned adaptation in rural Pacific Island communities: case studies from Fiji and Kiribati

Abstract

Rural coastal communities in Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are amongst the world’s most vulnerable to climate change. This is due to a combination of both high physical exposure (from sea-level rise, increasingly intensified storm surges, tidal inundation, and coastal erosion) as well as a range of underlying social, cultural, historical, economic, and physical factors that generate and drive vulnerability. As such, a plethora of adaptation projects intended to assist such communities in reducing their vulnerability to experienced and future climate change impacts have emerged, with the Pacific Region receiving the highest per capita climate aid globally. Owing to the inadequacies of traditional top-down approaches in achieving successful outcomes for communities, projects implemented at the community level, known commonly as community-based adaptation (CBA) and seen as a bottom-up approach, have been increasingly implemented. Yet, if such projects have been effective in reducing the vulnerability of targeted groups remains equivocal owing in part to the limited (yet growing) empirical case study material.This thesis aims to better understand if community adaptation projects implemented in rural coastal communities in PICs have been successful in providing sustained outcomes and benefits, and further provide insights into how adaptation can be improved in the future. This is achieved through a review of CBA projects published in the grey literature (Chapter 2.0), and three in-depth qualitative case studies across the tripartite of adaptation responses: retreat, protect, and accommodate from communities in both Fiji and Kiribati (Chapter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0). In total, 16 focus groups (FGs) and 41 interviews were undertaken with a total of 205 participants.First, a review of CBA grey literature is undertaken to gain a snapshot of CBA initiatives globally and explore the main barriers to adaptation success. The grey literature reviewed included reports undertaken by donors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and international NGOs (INGOs). These reports hold a wealth of information on, and lessons about, CBA as these are the organisations often responsible for implementing and reporting on projects. In undertaking this review it was found that the most common barriers to adaptation success were cognitive and behavioural. These barriers reveal limited interest by community members in CBA projects, as well as projects not being in line with the social and cultural views of target communities. This raises questions about the usefulness and role of CBA in reducing people’s vulnerability to climate change impacts in future adaptation efforts. Further, this review detailed the need for evaluation of adaptation from the perspective of those adaptation has been implemented to assist – that of the community.Next, this thesis contributes to the dearth of in-depth case studies, especially those evaluating adaptation from community perspectives. This is achieved through providing an in-depth case study across each of the tripartite of adaptation responses: retreat, protection, and accommodation. This includes a case study of planned relocation (retreat) in two communities – Vunidogoloa and Denimanu – on (and off the coast of) Vanua Levu Island, Fiji; a case study of seawalls (protection) implemented in two communities – Karoko and Korotasere – on Vanua Levu Island Fiji; and a food security project (accommodation) implemented in two communities – Tuarabu and Tabontebike – on Abaiang Island, Kiribati.The three projects were evaluated in terms of their success across the following criteria: appropriateness, efficacy, equity, impact, and sustainability. Overall, despite projects having broad scale appropriateness in terms of being targeted at objective climate related issues (such as flooding or food security), projects had minimal impact and were mostly unsustainable despite being implemented in the five years prior to undertaking field work. In addition, the equity of projects, in terms of access to processes and decision-making, was largely lacking. Key issues that arose within each case study are discussed accordingly and include the need for context specific adaptation driven by local needs and values, the potential of projects to lead to maladaptive outcomes, and the need to consider the wider context of what generates and drives vulnerability in communities. Relevant recommendations and suggestions for enhancing the sustainability of adaptation success are presented and discussed.Overall, this thesis shows that adaptation activities implemented in rural Pacific Island communities are largely failing in achieving their aims. This is owing to the fact that projects are driven by externally defined goals, view communities as homogeneous entities, and are too narrowly focussed on biophysical climate impacts rather than the wider factors that generate and drive vulnerability. A number of unintended, negative outcomes have also been identified including projects inadvertently increasing the vulnerability of target communities. The core conclusion of this thesis is a call for more long-term planning and assessment of site- specific adaptation measures that actively involve and are driven by local perspectives in the planning, implementation, and maintenance process, and account for the heterogeneity in local contexts, both climate and non-climate related.