The Resilience of Islands: Borders and Boundaries of Risk Reduction

Food insecurity and access to ayuda, or government-initiated social protection programs, were essential concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. While the needs in urban city centers are fairly attended to by government instrumentalities, the question of how food and survival issues in small and remote island communities are addressed warrants equal attention. In this paper, the people’s narratives in remote and small island communities are investigated to assess how individuals survive and can be subjectively well during the pandemic. Through focus group discussions, three activities were conducted: community map making, Lamesa activity, and ayuda/basket activity participated by representatives from the seven barangays in remote island communities in Northern Iloilo in May 2023. As a result of the FGDs, this paper concluded the following insights: (1) Rice is a key resource as it indicates a household’s food security and subjective well-being at the time of the pandemic, (2) Cash or money in the Ayuda program of the local government is important as it allows households to access food and improve its stock of food supplies, (3) Having alternative financial resources is important as the island communities are mainly dependent on fishing as its core economic activity, and (4) Volunteer work for the community forms part of the people’s subjective well-being despite the limitations experienced with regards to food and financial resources.

Being geographically isolated, physically exposed, under resource constraints, and lacking sovereignty makes small island communities more vulnerable to climate change and disasters than mainland regions. Regrettably, there is a lack of research on what could be the responsive model or framework to assess risk and resilience in small island and coastal communities (SICC). Using a scoping review strategy, this article examined thirty-five peer-reviewed articles published during 2000–2024 to identify gaps in the existing frameworks for assessing resilience. Established practice indicates that, First, most assessment frameworks are continentally biased as they are developed to identify risk inland on the mainland. Second, coastal vulnerability assessment tools are often tweaked and used by SICC specialists to examine small islands' risk and resilience. Third, various dimensions, variables, and indicators can be used to analyse the small island community's resilience, which can be adjusted to the physical, socio-economic, institutions and governance as well as environmental characteristics of each island. The overall findings suggest that the development of community resilience assessment tools is useful for understanding and reducing risk, vulnerability, and ensuring sustainable development for coastal and small island communities. Moreover, SICC resilience assessment research requires consideration of non-traditional variables, including new type of climate risks, community's agency, social capital, island sovereignty, and stakeholders' participation to ensure continuity and consistency in building small islands' resilience. Further enhancements are required to account for spatial and temporal dynamics when constructing the resilience of small island communities.

SUMMARYTime discounting – the degree to which individuals value current more than future resources – is an important component of natural resource conservation. As a response to climate change impacts in island communities, such as sea level rise, discounting the future can be a rational response due to increased stress on natural resources and uncertainty about whether future generations will have the same access to the same resources. By incorporating systematic responses of discount rates into models of resource conservation, realistic expectations of future human responses to climate change and associated resource stress may be developed. This paper illustrates the importance of time discounting through a theoretical agent-based model of resource use in island communities. A discount rate change can dramatically change projections about future migration and community-based conservation efforts. Our simulation results show that an increase in discount rates due to a credible information shock about future climate change impacts is likely to speed resource depletion. The negative impacts of climate change are therefore likely to be underestimated if changes in discount rates and emerging migration patterns are not taken into account.

This paper examines a successful residential peak electricity demand reduction project which employed a multi-disciplinary approach. The purpose of this study was to examine the critical success factors necessary for reducing peak demand and total energy consumption in a small Australian island community. This case study research is based on qualitative data obtained from semi-structured, in-depth interviews with residents from 22 households. It is proposed that the results of the examined project are transferable to other communities if the utility is able to develop the necessary trust, access, influence, and partnership with residential consumers required to create the environment for electricity demand reduction success. Findings from this research highlight the potential approach for future policymaking aimed at reducing peak electricity demand and total energy consumption in multiple communities, thus helping achieve government low carbon targets while reducing infrastructure spending.

Keywords Small islands Vulnerability Risk Adaptation ResilienceAbbreviationsENSO El Nin˜o-Southern OscillationIPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeLOICZ Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal ZoneSIDS Small island developing statesYICZR Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone ResearchIntroductionClimate variability and change, associated changes in sealevel, ocean acidification and surface warming, extremeevents such as tropical cyclones and tsunamis, and thequality and quantity of freshwater resources are among themajor environmental issues related to the sustainabledevelopment of small islands, including small islanddeveloping states (SIDS). In addition to natural change andhazards, principal sources of stress on small islands includechanging social, demographic, economic, cultural, andgovernance conditions and maladaptive local developmentinitiatives. As global pressures increase, including thoserelated to climate change, the ability to cope with theadverse consequences of complex change may be com-promised increasingly by limits to adaptive capacity,unsustainable development practices, institutional barriers,and other governance challenges. Island communities aresocial-ecological systems and their resilience in the face ofuncertain futures (environmental, economic, and others)and surprises (extreme events) is a key element of sus-tainability (Kates et al. 2000; Adger 2006; Adger et al.2005).Small island developing states and small islands withinlarger states are physical, ecological, and social entitieswith distinctive attributes related to their insularity,remoteness, size, geographic setting, climate, culture,governance, and economy (e.g. Pelling and Uitto 2001;Mimura et al. 2007; Hay 2013; Forbes et al. 2013). Yetdespite the sense of separation that attends the experienceof small islands, global change in a variety of formsimpinges directly or indirectly on the environment andsustainability of these island communities. As a group, theypose some of the most striking challenges to sustainabilityscience. Low-lying island states, such as the Maldives andTuvalu, face pressing concerns about the limits to habit-ability under accelerated sea-level rise, the result of awarming global climate. Ocean warming and acidificationpose threats to the conservation of reef corals and thestability and resilience of coral reefs under rising sea level(IPCC 2007). Together with concerns about freshwaterresources, these environmental threats exacerbate chal-lenges related to small size and remoteness, demographicpressures, small markets and limited economic opportuni-ties, high per-capita infrastructure costs, reliance onexternal finance, limited technical capacity (includingcapacity for disaster response, recovery, and risk reduc-tion), and cultural transformation through processes such as

Most adaptation studies suggest that sea-level rise will lead to relocation as flooding worsens. Here we identified and evaluated potential adaptation strategies for adapting to sea-level rise, based on the experiences of four low-lying island communities in central Philippines that have experienced flooding during normal high tides since a 2013 earthquake that induced land subsidence. Coastal surveys, interviews and household questionnaires showed that island residents generally prefer in situ adaptation strategies rather than relocation to the mainland. These results are unexpected, particularly because a relocation programme has been developed by authorities on the mainland. Direct measurements during a flooding event indicate stilted housing as the most effective type of adaptation strategy. Many households have also raised their floors using coral stones, although this might inadvertently increase their vulnerability to typhoons and storm surges in the long-term. It is often assumed that increased flooding due to sea-level rise will lead to mass migration. However, this study shows that residents of island communities in the Philippines prefer to implement local adaptation measures in response to frequent severe flooding rather than relocate.

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the effectiveness of the city disaster prevention, mitigation, response, recovery, and rehabilitation practices of the local governments in Metro Manila, Philippines.Design/methodology/approachBased on purposive sampling technique, descriptive-evaluative and comparative research designs were adopted to assess the effectiveness of local governments in implementing the four thematic areas: (1) disaster preparedness, (2) disaster prevention and mitigation, (3) disaster response, and (4) disaster recovery and rehabilitation.FindingsThe findings showed that disaster preparedness had the highest grand mean of 3.47, interpreted as effective, in the effectiveness of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management in Metro Manila. This was followed by disaster response, and disaster recovery and rehabilitation, both with a grand mean of 3.42. Disaster prevention and mitigation received the lowest grand mean of 3.40. The overall grand mean across the four thematic areas was 3.42, also interpreted as effective.Originality/valueThe paper will be valuable to policymakers, legislators, and scholars in effectively implementing their policies and guidelines in disaster management, risk reduction, rehabilitation, and recovery.

Providing electricity in off-grid island communities is a big challenge, exacerbated by the high cost of transporting fossil fuels and the non-viability of extending grid connections. Installing renewable energy systems in these areas is deemed a practical solution, especially supporting just energy transitions in these communities. However, the lack of information about resource availability and the most suitable locations hinders effective planning. This paper aims to determine the sufficiency of available renewable energy sources to meet the electricity demand of off-grid island communities. It is achieved through a three-phased approach: (1) an assessment stage; (2) geospatial analysis; and (3) technical potential estimation. The approach is applied in three island communities in Palawan, namely Araceli, Balabac, and Cuyo, where a diesel power plant currently provides electricity to its households and commercial/institutional establishments. The results indicate that the three islands can be powered by 3, 1.5, and 11 MW solar photovoltaic farms, respectively, which is sufficient to meet the projected demand until 2030. The approach can be helpful, especially for off-grid island communities, as they plan to provide universal electricity access using renewable energy sources.

The small and remote island community, the Faroe Islands, has experienced a vast increase in immigration recently. In the space of a decade, immigration has risen from 1.5% of the population to 5.5%. The island community, previously ethnically and culturally homogenous, is now facing growing diversity. The Faroese context is characterised by its small size and a micro‐administration that is ill‐equipped for the complexities of immigration. Previous research has found that underlying the Faroese language and identity is a pervasive ideology of who is considered to “authentically belong.” Furthermore, the small population is strongly connected through multiple relations, and navigating formal and informal life depends on social/family networks. In this small island community context, this article examines immigrant citizenship experiences, drawing on qualitative data collated between 2016 and 2023. Citizenship is here understood as everyday relational and spatial experiences at various levels of society. From the analysis, two central values of citizenship emerged as key to entangled citizenship experiences: (non)participation and (mis)recognition. The analysis finds that Faroese society, both formally and informally, is highly inaccessible to immigrants, rendering them voiceless and marginalised. Furthermore, immigrants experience misrecognition for the resources they bring and find themselves on the margins of the labour market and society in general.

<p>The last years have demonstrated the complex interplay and impacts that hazards can have on people’s lives, livelihoods and health, especially when multiple adverse events occur at the same time. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 provides a solid foundation for disaster risk management (DRM) by specifically calling for multi-hazard and solution-driven research to address gaps, obstacles and interdependencies of disaster risks. However, most of the practices in DRM still adopt a single-hazard approach, which may not be sufficient for addressing the social, economic, educational, and environmental challenges of multi-hazard risk scenarios. Besides, questions remain about whether disaster risk is actually treated in a science-policy context, as demanded in the Sendai Framework, thus operating in the overlapping space of scientific research, political decision-making and public action. The large number of actors involved in, and affected by, multi-risk disasters make it harder to transfer knowledge into risk management decisions and set a two-way process for communicating such decisions and for collecting feedback from stakeholders. To face these challenges, the project ROADMAP (European observatory on disaster risk and crisis management best practices) aims to establish a European “Doctrine on disaster risk and crisis management”, funded on the cooperation among the scientific community and the DRM authorities. The project is developed by diverse specialized institutions from Italy (The Consortium Italian Centre for Risk Reduction “CI3R” and the Italian Civil Protection Department “ICPD”), Portugal (Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics “ADAI”) and Norway (University of Stavanger). To achieve its goal, the project is identifying good practices in multi-hazard risk scenarios, by singling out the experiences in EU Member States and beyond the EU borders. Emphasis is given to the cumulative hazards that countries have had to face over the past two years, characterized by the spread of a global health emergency induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Good practices are selected accounting for their capacity to produce results in the diverse DRM phases, as they stand out in terms of effectiveness, reach, feasibility, sustainability, and transferability. Such practices are not intended as static instruments, but rather as a guidance to be adapted if the needs of the users change and/or conditions in the application field evolve. This contribution will present the preliminary results of the research project and discuss how to create an efficient multi-hazard disaster management, focusing on a solution explorer platform collecting the good practices. When analysed closely it becomes apparent that there is a need for reinforcing actions dealing with multi-hazard disasters and for documenting successful stories and lessons learned within a bottom-up approach. By and large, it is envisaged that ROADMAP will contribute to increase access to information on DRM and disaster risk reduction (DRR) by systematically collecting, reviewing and analysing past and ongoing experiences and making them readily available and usable to communities and practitioners. The provision of good-practice guidance about a broad range of structural and non-structural risk management measures enables sharing information on how to overcome the obstacles and increasing the understanding of DRM solutions.</p>

Climate-change related impacts, notably coastal erosion, inundation and flooding from sea level rise and storms, will increase in the coming decades enhancing the risks for coastal populations. Further recourse to coastal armoring and other engineered defenses to address risk reduction will exacerbate threats to coastal ecosystems. Alternatively, protection services provided by healthy ecosystems is emerging as a key element in climate adaptation and disaster risk management. I examined two distinct approaches to coastal defense on the base of their ecological and ecosystem conservation values. First, I analyzed the role of coastal ecosystems in providing services for hazard risk reduction. The value in wave attenuation of coral reefs was quantitatively demonstrated using a meta-analysis approach. Results indicate that coral reefs can provide wave attenuation comparable to hard engineering artificial defenses and at lower costs. Conservation and restoration of existing coral reefs are cost-effective management options for disaster risk reduction. Second, I evaluated the possibility to enhance the ecological value of artificial coastal defense structures (CDS) as habitats for marine communities. I documented the suitability of CDS to support native, ecologically relevant, habitat-forming canopy algae exploring the feasibility of enhancing CDS ecological value by promoting the growth of desired species. Juveniles of Cystoseira barbata can be successfully transplanted at both natural and artificial habitats and not affected by lack of surrounding adult algal individuals nor by substratum orientation. Transplantation success was limited by biotic disturbance from macrograzers on CDS compared to natural habitats. Future work should explore the reasons behind the different ecological functioning of artificial and natural habitats unraveling the factors and mechanisms that cause it. The comprehension of the functioning of systems associated with artificial habitats is the key to allow environmental managers to identify proper mitigation options and to forecast the impact of alternative coastal development plans.

Long-term Recovery from Recent Disasters in Japan and the United States

Small islands offer a laboratory to analyse how communities react to drastic environmental change. In particular, the small islands of Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska present a unique case study to explore how island dwellers cope with and learn from both natural and man-made disasters. This article analyses the multiple disasters faced by the island community of Chenega in the twentieth century. From an earthquake and tsunami in 1964 to an oil spill in 1989, I study how the Alutiiq people of Chenega reacted to drastic change. In addition to analysing decisions on whether to rebuild or relocate, I also investigate how the disaster affected the Alutiiq’s livelihood: commercial fishing. As the twentieth century rolled into the twenty-first, the small island community once again drew upon its experiences with disaster to cope with significant environmental change. With rising sea levels threatening the rebuilt Chenega village and declining fish populations endangering Alutiiq livelihood, tribal leaders summoned the experiences of their elders and forbears to construct a plan for the coming decades. For at least the third time in less than fifty years, changing environmental conditions forced the Alutiiq to address pressing questions about relocation and rebuilding and the future of their tribal and island identity. Ultimately, I argue that the Alutiiq used their experiences with mid-century natural disasters to react cooperatively and creatively to late twentieth and early twenty-first century manmade disasters and hazards.

DR4 communication in the South African context: A conceptual paper

Part A: Setting the Context for Tourism Crisis and Disaster Management 1. Introduction to Tourism Crisis and Disaster Management 2. Classifying and Understanding Tourism Crises and Disasters 3. Strategic Crisis and Disaster Planning and ManagementPart B: Tourism Crisis and Disaster Prevention and Planning 4. Tourism Crisis Prevention and Disaster Mitigation 5. Tourism Disaster and Crisis Preparedness and PlanningPart C: Tourism Crisis and Disaster Response, Implementation and Management 6. Coordination, Control and Resource Allocation 7. Crisis and Disaster Communication and Recovery MarketingPart D: Tourism Crisis and Disaster Recovery, Resolution and Feedback 8. Long Term Recovery and Resolution 9. Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning 10. Conclusion and Reflections on Tourism Crisis and Disaster Management