Remote Island Communities Research Articles

‘Road of life’: changing navigation seasons and the adaptation of island communities in the Russian Arctic

ABSTRACT Adaptation of remote island communities in the Russian European Arctic to dramatic socioeconomic changes has been intensified by the impacts of climate changes in navigation seasons. Both the stability and duration of winter and summer navigation seasons and the start of the rasputitsa season, a shoulder period between the first two, are becoming more unpredictable and jeopardizing local mobility options. The ability to commute between neighboring settlements is an important aspect of island communities’ viability. Local mobility depends on well-functioning ice roads during wintertime, tugboats during the raputitsa season and on passenger vessels or smaller boats during summer navigation. To examine whether and how the island population of the Arkhangelsk region adapts to changing conditions and what factors shape adaptation options, we apply a community-based adaptation approach. The results from qualitative interviews with 32 residents and relevant stakeholders indicate that further development of the island communities will rely on sufficient mobility options. Incorporation of climate prognoses and local knowledge can improve the planning of mobility measures. Current and future community adaptation is challenged by out-migration, unpredictability in the rasputitsa season and lack of investment in island development.

A severe diarrhoeal outbreak in a remote Pacific island community, Anuta Island, Solomon Islands, April-June 2019

Solomon Islands is a small developing island state located in the south-western Pacific Ocean. A population of approximately 680 000 people live on more than one-third of the 992 islands that make up the country. Approximately 80% of the population reside in rural areas, many in remote, difficult to reach and poorly serviced island settings. In May 2019, the national surveillance system detected a rumour of a severe diarrhoea outbreak in a very remote and isolated community on Anuta Island, located halfway between the Solomon Islands archipelago and Tuvalu. This communication reports on the investigation and response to the outbreak, which affected 50 people (attack rate of 21.5%) and caused four deaths (case fatality rate of 8%). The authors highlight the system challenges faced in mounting the response and provide suggestions that may help overcome them. The outbreak highlighted the challenges in detecting and responding to outbreaks in remote and rural areas of the Pacific Islands, and the limitations of rumour surveillance as a relied-upon surveillance strategy. The outbreak emphasises the need to build local capacity to detect, report and respond to outbreaks and the need for policy frameworks that ensure remote communities receive adequate health protection services.

Ocean plastic crisis-Mental models of plastic pollution from remote Indonesian coastal communities.

The crisis facing the world’s oceans from plastics is well documented, yet there is little knowledge of the perspectives, experiences and options of the coastal communities facing overwhelming quantities of plastics on their beaches and in their fishing waters. In emerging economies such as those in the Coral Triangle, the communities affected are among the poorest of their countries. To understand the consequences of ocean plastic pollution in coastal regions, through the eyes of local people, this study examines the knowledge, use, disposal and local consequences of single use plastics in remote island communities in two archipelagos of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using mixed methods—a survey of plastic literacy and behaviour, household interviews about purchasing and disposal, and focus group discussions to generate shared mental models—we identify a complex set of factors contributing to extensive plastic leakage into the marine environment. The rising standard of living has allowed people in low resource, remote communities to buy more single-use plastic items than they could before. Meanwhile complex geography and minimal collection services make waste management a difficult issue, and leave the communities themselves to shoulder the impacts of the ocean plastic crisis. Although plastic literacy is low, there is little the coastal communities can do unless presented with better choice architecture both on the supply side and in disposal options. Our results suggest that for such coastal communities improved waste disposal is urgent. Responsible supply chains and non-plastic alternatives are needed. Producers and manufacturers can no longer focus only on low-cost packaged products, without taking responsibility for the outcomes. Without access to biodegradable, environmentally friendly products, and a circular plastic system, coastal communities and surrounding marine ecosystems will continue to be inundated in plastic waste.

The MOMENTUM study: Putting the ‘Three Delays’ to work to evaluate access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care in a remote island community in Western Kenya

ABSTRACT Despite worldwide improvements in maternal and infant mortality, mothers and babies in remote, low-resource communities remain disproportionately vulnerable to adverse health outcomes. In these settings, delays in accessing emergency care are a major driver of poor outcomes. The ‘Three Delays’ model is now widely utilised to conceptualise these delays. However, in out-of-hospital contexts, operational and methodological constraints present major obstacles in practically quantifying the ‘Three Delays’. Here, we describe a novel protocol for the MOMENTUM study (Monitoring of Maternal Emergency Navigation and Triage on Mfangano), a 12-month cohort design to assess delays during obstetric and neonatal emergencies within the remote villages of Mfangano Island Division, Lake Victoria, Kenya. This study also evaluates the preliminary impact of a community-based intervention called the ‘Mfangano Health Navigation’ programme. Utilising participatory case audits and contextually specific chronological reference strategies, this study combines quantitative tools with deeper-digging qualitative inquiry. This pragmatic design was developed to empower local research staff and study participants themselves as assets in unravelling the complex socio-economic, cultural, and logistical dynamics that contribute to delays, while providing real-time feedback for locally driven intervention. We present our methods as an adaptive framework for researchers grappling with similar challenges across fragmented, rural health landscapes.

Administrative Data as a Novel Source of Information on Postal Drug Delivery in Scotland: A Spatial Analysis of Illegal Consignment Seizure Data

Since the development of cryptomarkets, researchers have been interested in the effects of these platforms on the 'cyber geography' of the drugs market. To understand these effects researchers have often focused on national or continent-level drugs flows inferred from data scraped from cryptomarket vendor listings. In this paper we demonstrate the value of administrative data as a complementary data source to understand the intra-national aspect of the supply of drugs through cryptomarkets. We use data from a UK law-enforcement agency to analyse the geographical distribution of drugs packages that were identified being delivered into Scotland in the post. We linked these data to information on neighbourhood deprivation to understand the characteristics of places to which packages were addressed and found that packages were, on average, more likely to be delivered both to deprived, urban areas and remote island localities. We contend that these results provide evidence that cryptomarkets have affected drug markets in remote island communities in the same way as legal e-commerce sites affected the markets for consumer goods. This further suggests that the spatial transformation of local drug dealing patterns by global cryptomarkets is in fact experienced differently in different places and geographies.

Rethinking our Rigor Mortis: Creating space for more adaptive and inclusive truth-seeking in community-based global health research in Kenya

ABSTRACT As global health researchers, we have long embraced the conviction that the answers to complex problems of poverty and disease will reveal themselves if only we apply enough scientific rigor. Yet, at the community level, our group of American and Kenyan investigators has begun to question whether our veneration of rigor is itself contributing to the intractability of certain types of global health problems. Here, we illustrate examples from our experience among the remote island communities of Lake Victoria, Kenya, and join a chorus of emerging voices, to examine how our culture of control as global health scientists may marginalise truth-seekers and change-makers within communities we seek to serve. More broadly, we seek to acknowledge the limitations of control over truth that rigorous academic research affords. We suggest that by relinquishing this pervasive illusion of control, we can more fully appreciate complementary modes of answering important questions that rely upon the intrinsic resourcefulness and creativity of community-based enterprises taking place across sub-Saharan Africa. While such inquiries may never solve all problems facing the diverse populations of the continent, we advocate for a deeper appreciation of the inherent capacity of adaptive, locally contextualised investigations to identify meaningful and enduring solutions.

Empowering remote island communities with renewable energy : a preliminary study of Talaud Island

This paper describes a preliminary study of the empowering remote island communities with renewable energy. This research is a case study for Talaud island which is located in the border island between Indonesia and Philipines. It is located in Kiama village Talaud Island regency of North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Method of implementation of this program consists of several stages, namely: (1) Implementation of small-scale solar home system and a wind turbine; (2) Through technology transfer in the capacity building activities to the selected community, in order to provide the skill and knowledge to island community in Kiama Village, Talaud Islands of Indonesia. It is expected that technology implementation will be maintained in the future and sustainable. The life cycle cost analysis is done by comparing two system of pilot projects, namely solar home system and solar home system with a wind turbine. The cost of generating electrical energy with renewable energy is relatively high then it is necessary to provide strategies for the development of power infrastructure for the sake of the energy security of island communities in Indonesia. Further both monitoring and evaluation of the renewable energy system implementation should be conducted for the detail report and analysis.

Raising awareness of sensory impairment among community nurses: a brief intervention in a remote island setting.

The prevalence of sensory impairment that includes sight and/or hearing impairment is projected to rise worldwide given the strong correlation between sensory impairment, older age and the demographic structure of the global population. Sensory impairment and associated disability is thus a significant global health concern. The prevalence rates for sensory impairment in Scotland are significant: as more people live into older age and as the age distribution in rural areas is markedly different with a higher proportion of older people, the extent of sensory impairment in the rural population will increase proportionally. In rural areas community nurses have a key role in recognising sensory impairment and directing people to sensory services to reduce the debilitating impact of sensory impairment. However, there is limited evidence about the utility of educational interventions to enhance healthcare professionals' knowledge, skills and attitudes about sensory impairment and subsequent impact on referral practices. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a brief educational intervention with community nurses. The educational intervention was a training workshop that included simulation practice, information on assessment and referral pathways. The study was conducted in a remote island community health setting in the Western Isles of Scotland. The study evaluated nurses' perceptions of the training on their knowledge, attitudes and practice. Mixed method, longitudinal design was implemented in three phases. Phase 1 was a pre- and post-workshop questionnaire, phase 2 a postal questionnaire 3 months post-workshop and phase 3 a qualitative focus group interview 6 months post-workshop. Kirkpatrick's model of training evaluation provided a framework for data evaluation. A total of 41 community based healthcare professionals who were mostly nurses participated in the study. Participants described increased awareness of the potential for their patients to have a sensory impairment, greater understanding and empathy with patients who experience sensory impairment, more robust patient assessment to identify impairment, and increased likelihood to inform of, and refer to, sensory services. Community nurses are often well placed to identity disabilities and patients at risk of injury because of sensory impairment. Participation in simulation training can help to develop greater awareness of the impact of that sensory impairment. Knowledge of specialist services will increase the opportunities for referral to services and impact positively on the lives of older people living in rural settings. Provision of accessible education on sensory impairment for health and social care professionals can enhance care delivery to older people.

Dog and Cat Interactions in a Remote Aboriginal Community.

Simple SummaryAustralian remote Aboriginal communities commonly have large, free-roaming dog populations and relatively small cat populations. However, cats are becoming increasingly popular pets in these communities and it is essential to determine their potential impacts on wildlife to inform animal management practices. In a small island community, this study provided baseline population demographics and investigated dog and cat roaming behaviours and interspecific interactions. The dog population, estimated at 343 dogs, showed active periods at dawn and dusk. The cat population had doubled in 6 months to approximately 83 cats. Cats were observed roaming mainly from dawn until dusk, possibly avoiding periods when dogs were most active. The majority of cats were observed nonroaming. Three cats, however, were captured roaming during the night when all flightless wildlife were observed on our camera traps, suggesting potential impact on local wildlife through their hunting activities. These baseline data provide evidence on which to base management programs that include cats and their impacts on native wildlife. Further research using the multiple methods piloted in this study are warranted to monitor dog and cat populations and their interactions in this island community.This study examined dog and cat demographics, roaming behaviours, and interspecific interactions in a remote Aboriginal island community using multiple methods. Our results revealed temporal differences between the roaming behaviours of dogs, cats, and wildlife. Dogs showed crepuscular behaviour, being active around dawn (5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.) and dusk (6:00 p.m. and 11:35 p.m.). The majority of cats were active between dawn (6:30 a.m.) and dusk (7:30 p.m.) and travelled shorter distances than dogs. However, some cats were also observed roaming between dusk and dawn, and were likely to be hunting since flightless wildlife were also recorded on our remote-sensing cameras during this time. These baseline data provide evidence to suggest that new management programs are needed to reduce the number of roaming cats and therefore their potential impacts on native wildlife. Collaborations between Aboriginal owners and other stakeholders is necessary to design innovative and effective animal management and policy on the island.

52 degrees south: mental health services in the Falkland Islands

This article discusses the factors that have shaped the development of the new mental health legislation within the Falkland Islands. The process of implementing new legislation within this remote island community is discussed, including the aspirations underlying the new legislation, the management of psychiatric emergencies and the needs of the clinical team.

A South Pacific Cyclone-caused GPS Positioning Error and Its Impact on Remote Oceanic Island Communities

Satellite navigation gains importance in sustainable development of modern civilisation. With the increasing number of GNSS-based technology and socio-economic systems and services, satellite navigation has become an essential component of national infrastructure. This calls for novel requirements on GNSS positioning perfomance, and increasing need for resilient GNSS development. Here we examined the impact of rapidly developing tropical cyclone on GPS positioning performance degradation, and the resulting impact on oceanic non-navigation and navigation GPS applications. We presented the methodology for indirect simulation-based GPS positioning performance evaluation through utilisation of experimental GPS observations, GNSS Software- Defined Radio (SDR) receiver, and a statistical analysis and framework we developed in the R environment for scientific computing. We identified alteration of GPS positioning error components time series statistical properties, and discuss the potential impact on GPS-based services essential for remote oceanic island communities. Manuscript concludes with the summary of findings, proposal for recommendations on improved GNSS resilience, and an outline for future research.

Do minds switch bodies? Dualist interpretations across ages and societies

ABSTRACTResearchers explain cultural phenomena ranging from cognitive biases to widespread religious beliefs by assuming intuitive dualism: humans imagine minds and bodies as distinct and separable. We examine dualist intuition development across two societies that differ in normative focus on thinking about minds. We use a new method that measures people’s tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli using mind-body dualist thinking. We recruited 180 Canadian children (2–10 yrs) along with 42 Indigenous iTaukei Fijian children (5–13 yrs) and 38 Indigenous iTaukei Fijian adults (27–79 yrs) from a remote island community. Participants tracked a named character within ambiguous animations that could be interpreted as a mind-body switch. Animations vary “agency cues” that participants might rely on for dualistic interpretations. Results indicate early emerging dualistic inclinations across populations and reliance on “agency cues” of body proximity and appearance of eyes. “Agency cues” increase dualist interpretations from 10% to 70%, though eyes mattered more for Westernized participants. Overall, statistical models positing that dualist interpretations “emerge early and everywhere” fit our data better than models positing that dualism “develops gradually with exposure to Western cultural traditions.” Fijian participants, who normatively avoid focus on minds, offered even more dualistic interpretations when they had less Western cultural exposure (via formal education).

Transformation of mortality in a remote Australian Aboriginal community: a retrospective observational study

ObjectivesTo describe trends in ages and causes of death in a remote-living Australian Aboriginal group over a recent 50-year period.DesignA retrospective observational study, from 1960 to 2010, of deaths and...

The role of fish and fisheries in recovering from natural hazards: Lessons learned from Vanuatu

Coastal fisheries provide staple food and sources of livelihood in Pacific Island countries, and securing a sustainable supply is recognised as a critical priority for nutrition security. This study sought to better understand the role of fish for Pacific Island communities during disasters and in disaster recovery. To evaluate community impacts and responses after natural disasters, focus group discussions were held with men and women groups at ten sites across Shefa, Tafea, Malampa and Sanma provinces in Vanuatu. The combined impacts of category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam (TC-Pam) in March 2015 and prolonged El-Niño induced drought have had a profound impact across much of Vanuatu. Terrestrial systems had been disproportionately impacted with substantial shortages in drinking water, garden crops, cash crops and damage to infrastructure. Localized impacts were noted on marine environments from TC-Pam and the drought, along with an earthquake that uplifted reef and destroyed fishing grounds in Malampa province. Communities in Malampa and Shefa provinces also noted a crown-of-thorns outbreak that caused coral mortality. The significant reduction in terrestrial-based food and income generation capacity generally led to increased reliance on marine resources to cope and a shift in diets from local garden food to rice. However, limited market access, lack of fishing skills and technology in many sectors of the community reduced the capacity for marine resources to support recovery. A flexible management approach allowed protected areas and species to be utilized as reservoirs of food and income when temporarily opened to assist recovery. These findings illustrate that fish and fisheries management is at the center of disaster preparedness and relief strategies in remote Pacific Island communities. High physical capital (e.g. infrastructure, water tanks and strong dwellings) is key for disaster preparedness, but supporting community social capital for the purpose of natural resource management and human capital for diverse adaptation skills can also improve community resilience. Recognizing the humanitarian value that well managed fisheries resources and skilled fishers can play to disaster relief adds another dimension to the imperative of improving management of coastal fisheries and aligning policies across sectors.

Whole-genome sequencing to investigate a non-clonal melioidosis cluster on a remote Australian island.

Melioidosis is a tropical disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. Outbreaks are uncommon and can generally be attributed to a single point source and strain. We used whole-genome sequencing to analyse B. pseudomallei isolates collected from an historical 2-year long case cluster that occurred in a remote northern Australian indigenous island community, where infections were previously linked to a contaminated communal water supply. We analysed the genome-wide relatedness of the two most common multilocus sequence types (STs) involved in the outbreak, STs 125 and 126. This analysis showed that although these STs were closely related on a whole-genome level, they demonstrated evidence of multiple recombination events that were unlikely to have occurred over the timeframe of the outbreak. Based on epidemiological and genetic data, we also identified two additional patients not previously associated with this outbreak. Our results confirm the previous hypothesis that a single unchlorinated water source harbouring multiple B. pseudomallei strains was linked to the outbreak, and that increased melioidosis risk in this community was associated with Piper methysticum root (kava) consumption.

Direct drive wave energy array with offshore energy storage supplying off‐grid residential load

Current developments in wave energy conversion have focused on locations where the wave energy resource is the highest; using large devices to generate hundreds of kilowatts of power. However, it is possible to generate power from low power waves using smaller wave energy devices. These lower rated wave energy converters can form arrays to supply power to remote coastal or island communities which are off-grid. This study introduces wave-to-wire modelling of wave energy arrays for off-grid systems using low power permanent-magnet linear generators (PMLGs). Offshore energy storage at the DC link is added to keep the voltage constant along with a current controller for the inverter in order to supply constant low harmonic power to the residential load connected off-grid. Simulation results produced in MATLAB/Simulink environment show that the wave energy array can generate power independently from the residential side by keeping the system stable using offshore storage. In addition, two different types of controllers for wave energy devices that use PMLGs are compared based on the power captured from the waves.

Asian interest in tidal grows

Here, Gail Rajgor reports on some of the latest tidal projects making waves in the global news headlines, noting that tidal energy technology is increasingly being seen as a viable solution to meet the power needs of remote island communities with autonomous grids who are currently forced to rely on expensive, polluting diesel power.

Food access in remote rural places: consumer accounts of food shopping

ABSTRACTFood access in remote rural places: consumer accounts of food shopping. Regional Studies. In remote rural and island communities access to food involves adaption of living style and travel outside the local area as a normal and integral part of food shopping. Despite the poor retail assortment, consumers have a strong allegiance to local food stores centred on a desire to maintain a local retail presence and to support the community. Deeper understanding of consumer access to food and adaptations to constrained access have implications for food policy for these remote areas and public policy on remote regions more generally. Results are reported for remote island communities in Scotland.

Childbearing in Geographically Isolated Communities: The Smith Island Experience

Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the childbearing beliefs and to describe the perspectives of pregnancy in women living on Smith Island, a geographically isolated community that lacks on-site obstetrical care services. Design: A qualitative exploratory, longitudinal focus group model consisting of two focus groups, conducted 6 years apart, that included 12 female participants was used. The focus group used open-ended questions regarding their childbirth experiences and the impact of geographic isolation and lack of healthcare access impacted them during the childbearing period. During the initial focus group, 60%multiparous and participated in a 70 minute interview. The second focus group contained only multiparous women and lasted 110 minutes. The timing interval represented the interval when another group of women had given birth. The study included 100% of women who were pregnant and subsequently gave birth who were living on the Island during the study period. Data collection and analysis were performed simultaneously and included: audio recordings with verbatim transcription, and subsequent coding using direct quotes from the participants. Findings: The majority of women identified acceptance of pregnancy as a safe, normal biological process and identified strong religious beliefs as the underlining factor for their perceptions. All women identified themselves as Methodist religion and “to be religious”. All of the women also identified anxiety, separation strain, and financial strain as normal components associated with pregnancy and childbearing in this remote island community. Of the women who had never given birth, all of them, and the majority of the multiparous women feared their family members, especially their husbands, would miss the actual birth due to geographic separation and feared being alone in labor and at the time of birth. Conclusions: The strong religious presence provided a foundation of acceptance of normalcy of childbearing. Women perceived their religious beliefs as a source of protection. They viewed childbirth as a rite of passage, but reported spending a great deal of time and financial resources on obtaining prenatal care. Separation strain occurred when the women were forced to be away from family and friends at the end of the pregnancy. Multiparous women with older children expressed a greater degree of stress in being separated from children and having to manage childcare and school issues. All of the women in the study had a fear that their husbands, working watermen, would missthe birth itself and that they would be alone at the time of birth.

Exploring resistance in rural and remote island communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss and use living stories to provide examples and some basic principles of cooperation as the alternative way of organising island community. Design/methodology/approach – This study draws upon autoethnography and storytelling to show co-operative practices. Storytelling is supported by deconstruction of living stories. Findings – Island communities create and maintain resistance through a culture of cooperation. Living stories (I-V) illustrate different instances of cooperative practices, for example, friends in need, gathering, search and moba, and where sympathy, gift, and humanity and care are essential elements. Research limitations/implications – It would be interesting to explore whether island communities elsewhere exhibit similar patterns. Practical implications – Deconstructed stories helped in reconstructing the bigger picture of how the people on the island offer collective resistance by developing different ways of cooperation. Social implications – Living stories (I-V) based on reciprocity of taking turns and giving back to the community, is a strategy for survival and of collective resistance within the rural island communities. Originality/value – Appreciation of the true value of collective resistance based on gift and reciprocity rather than financialisation and economisation aids to better understanding of the needs of traditional societies of island archipelagos, on the part of policy makers and other stakeholders who are involved in the process of planning for island development.