Rapid vulnerability and adaptation assessment of communities in Taveuni & Yanuca, Cakaudrove Province, Fiji

A rapid vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) assessment was carried by a team of four staff and two Masters Students in Health from the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development(PACE-SD), the University of the South Pacific (USP), from the 23rd to the 31st of October 2011. Three priority villages consisting of six sites were identified by the Roko Tui of Cakaudrove Province and visits were made to Naselesele and Qeleni villages in Taveuni, and Yanuca Island located about one an hour boat trip from Taveuni. The main objectives were to (i) assess the level of vulnerability of the sites identified, (ii) assess the level of community perception on climate change, (iii) assess the coast, water supply, health and sanitation, and (iv) gain traditional knowledge on techniques for food preservation and security. All of the sites were assessed as moderately vulnerable, with the main issues being coastal erosion (6 sites), flooding (1 site) and water availability and supply (3 sites). Naisogo Point and Vunitarawau sites on Taveuni had the most severe cases of erosion, while Qeleni Village was prone to frequent flooding and had the most problem with clean water availability. The quality of water was best at Naselesele village (spring and tap water on par with the mineral water control), while the water catchment and spring at Yanuca Island was found to be unfit for consumption with high sediment loads. However poor watershed management practices, including farming and animal husbandry uphill from water catchments were major issues leading to poor water quality. Qeleni village had the highest population, with 425 persons in 75 households, followed by Naselesele with 370 people in 58 households, while Yanuca Island had only a population of 115 persons distributed in 19 households. Sanitation practices varied among the three villages with poor management of liquid wastes in all villages, as well as indiscriminate dumping of rubbish in the sea. Management of human waste and personal hygiene was influenced by the availability of sufficient water supply, and fared the worst at Qeleni village. The highest incidences of childhood diseases were trachoma and sores, followed by ringworm infections. Only one incidence of scabies was noted. There was a direct inverse correlation between water availability and the incidence of hygiene-related diseases in children. Three species of mangroves were seen on Taveuni (Rhizophora samoensis, Rhizophora stylosa and Bruguiera gymnorhiza) and none on Yanuca. Very severe erosion at Vunitarawau near Qeleni displaced Rhizophora populations and brought Bruguiera populations to the forefront on the mudflats. Accretion of sand some distance from eroding sites was seen to affect seagrass beds which were smothered by sediments. Four species of seagrass were found in Taveuni and Yanuca (Halophila ovalis,Halodule uninervis, Halodule pinifolia and Syringodium isoetifolium). Seagrass beds in Naselesele had a rich biodiversity of invertebrates, with a notable absence of holothurians which were overfished for commercial purposes. A total of 35 species of marine algae were found at the Taveuni sites and 11 in Yanuca Island. Naselesele had the highest number of species, attributed to the still relatively healthy seagrass bed communities. Vunitarawai had the least number of species, associated with a state of severe coastal erosion. Red and Green algae were more abundant than brown algae, with a high incidence of green indicator algae species (Boodlea composita, Ulva spp.) at polluted sites. The three villages visited in this study had a good appreciation and wish to learn about the impacts of climate change, and were willing to take adaptive measures to protect their communities and livelihoods

Food security: best practices for the Pacific

This report presents selected good practices and techniques that may contribute to improving food security and building community resilience to the impacts of climate change and other factors on agriculture, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, and natural resources in the Pacific region. The objective of this report is to provide a summary of best practices that can improve people’s livelihoods for policy-makers, teachers, researchers, and communities. It is non-prescriptive as food security is complex and multi-dimensional. All countries in the Pacific experience different levels of food security issues so solutions to their challenges are not the same. The intent is to cover a wide range of food security issues, best practices, techniques, and methods so that each country may choose relevant interventions which suit their needs. The report highlights the importance of the traditional knowledge held by early Pacific settlers. It considers the importance of links between food, water and energy, and defines food security as ‘having the social, economic and physical access to nutritious and safe food at all times leading to healthy life’. The report highlights that there is more involved with food security than the problem of hunger. There are diseases such as non-communicable diseases (NCD) and HIV/AIDS, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies (VMD) and malnutrition issues that affect food security. The challenges highlighted include growing populations, changing diets, price increases, and local foods being affected by environmental and climatic factors. The links between global, regional and national instruments and frameworks are all part of providing an enabling environment for food security. At the global level, FAO summarises the important global themes as: the right to food; nutrition; poverty; resilience; social protection; climate change; biodiversity; energy; fisheries; forestry; land and soil; sustainable agriculture; tenure rights; and water. In the Pacific, the regional framework highlights seven important themes: 1. building national and regional partnerships to address challenges of food security; 2. developing effective legal instruments that ensure food control systems are in place; 3. having access, availability, stability and uses of locally produced food; 4. the consideration of infants and vulnerable groups by all actors; 5. provision of good information for making informed decisions; 6. provision of good food indicators for effective monitoring and evaluation; and 7. addressing several cross-cutting areas in appropriate and practical ways. At the national level, most countries have legal frameworks in place that have links to food security but few countries have developed food security policies. The need to incorporate DRR in policy-making is highlighted. The report provides background on the use of different tools and methods relating to food security for assessment and monitoring purposes. These tools or methods are options that policy-makers may choose to adopt or modify as relevant to their needs. These include vulnerability guidelines (CFSVG); emergency food security analysis; indicators of food security; crop models; participatory models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Case studies are presented on project and programme interventions that build adaptive capacity and community resilience in terms of food security that have positive effects on health and livelihoods. These include the Safe Food Awareness Campaign; tracking progress in maternal and child survival; improving child nutrition; the ‘Towards A Food Secured Pacific Strategy’; a mixed gardening project in Kiribati; restoring sustainable livelihoods and seaweed farming in Fiji; traditional crops and sponge culture in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM); revival of ‘sup sup’ gardens and aquaculture in the Solomon Islands; community-based fisheries management in Tonga; and pearl oyster farming in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Case studies on food security adaptation and mitigation interventions are given including: the use of traditional knowledge; improving drainage and farming of climate resilient crops; ‘ridge to reef management’, and seed banks in Fiji; adaptation to drought; best performing crops - sweet potato and taro in FSM; developing a nursery of drought-tolerant crop seeds in PNG; testing taro for salt tolerance and piloting aquaculture for mangrove crabs in Palau; introducing drought resilient varieties of cassava and sweet potato and fish pond farming in Vanuatu; agroforestry in Vanuatu, Tonga and Solomon Islands; and ‘keyhole’ gardening in Timor-Leste. Examples of mitigation measures include: REDD+ in Fiji; agroforestry in the Pacific; trees for protection and shelter in Kiribati; sustainable fishing schemes; climate proofing fisheries assets; demersal fish management, pond aquaculture, and post-harvest processing; protecting fish stocks, habitats and breeding grounds; promoting ecosystem based management; and improving soil health and minimising polluted runoff