Lived Experiences of Covid-19: Impacts on an Atoll Island Community, Papua New Guinea

This report details the findings from in-depth interviews with community members in an atoll island community in Manus Province, about their experiences during and after the PNG state of emergency. The interviews were conducted by mobile phone in late July 2020 and early August 2020. When the state of emergency began, leaders closed the weekly island markets to stop large gatherings of people. This closure quickly started to cause food shortages, and people stopped following the rules and returned to the markets. This disrupted food access so severely, that markets were quickly reopened. The community’s ability to access mainland markets was greatly disrupted by social distancing rules that halved the number of people able to travel by boat to the mainland. Customer numbers in markets and demand for fish declined dramatically. These changes impacted islander’s income and ability to access storebought goods and foods. Transport disruptions and social distancing rules likewise caused difficulties accessing financial services (e.g. ATMs) and purchasing petrol necessary for both transport and fishing livelihoods. On the island itself, weekly markets were closed at the beginning of the state of emergency. Due to a lack of cash circulating in the community, markets increasingly reverted to traditional barter systems. These findings suggest that unintended flow-on effects of social distancing rules and their implementation severely impacted livelihoods and food and nutrition security on the island. Based on these findings, we highlight key leverage points for supporting island communities through further and continuing disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic: recognise distinct challenges that islands face if they become isolated, ensure that support reaches islands in a timely manner, ensure clear communication about future rules, and acknowledge trade-offs between social distancing with livelihoods, food and nutrition security and wellbeing

COVID-19 impacts on food systems in fisheries-dependent island communities

Policies designed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted food systems worldwide. How impacts played out in local food systems, and how these affected the lived experiences of different people is only just coming to light. We conducted a structured analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 containment policies on the food systems of small-scale fishing communities in Kenya, Papua New Guinea, and Saint Lucia, based on interviews with men and women fishers, fish traders, and community leaders. Participants reported that containment policies lead indirectly to reduced volumes of food, lower dietary diversity, increased consumption of traditional foods, and reduced access to fish for food and income. Although the initiating policy and food and nutrition security outcomes often appeared similar, we found that the underlying pathways and feedbacks causing these impacts were different based on local context. Incorporating knowledge of how context-specific factors shape food system outcomes may be key to tailoring strategies to mitigate the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and designing timely, strategic interventions for future systemic shocks