Forest Certification in Solomon Islands

A systematic assessment of the role and effects of forest certification in Solomon Islands was carried out from January to May 2004. It was conducted through review of literature and interviews with various stakeholders involved both directly and indirectly in forest certification. Only a few NGOs supported through external funding are promoting forest certification among landowners at a time when unsustainable commercial logging of forest resources of Solomon Islands is the major economic activity. Although certification is market driven, NGOs see it as an additional tool for implementing sustainable forest harvesting by landowners. NGOs’ pro-certification programs target landowners and village communities because they own 90% of the total forestland area in the country through customary tenure. NGOs have invested time and resources in training and building the capacity of selected landowner operations for certification. However, adoption of and compliance with certification standards by landowners has been slow. There is limited awareness or knowledge of forest certification among responsible authorities and decision makers. Consequently, policy change towards forest certification at the national level and government support for its implementation at the community level will take a long time. Certification has had very little effect at the provincial and national government level, or on the forestry industry at large. KFPL is currently the only FSC-certified commercial forest plantation in the country. Areas under commercial forest plantations are small. The major players in the forestry industry in Solomon Islands are the logging companies and SIG, and none of them are directly involved in certification. Domestic support for certification will require donor funding, international markets, and commitment from international and local NGOs and government agencies. Moreover, to raise interest in forest certification there must firm commitment from the government to promote sustainable forest harvestin

Climate Change Implications for Crop Production in Pacific Islands Region

The purpose of this chapter is to bring to the fore implications of climate change on the status of crop production in the Pacific Islands region. The Pacific Island people derive their livelihood or secure their food security from natural resources sectors including agriculture,forestry, fisheries and aquaculture; that is, their livelihood is depended on the environment. Any threat or impact on their environment will have profound impact on people’s livelihoods. The PICTs limited land resources are under constant pressure from many factors including climate change. Agricultural crops contribute substantially to people’s food security status

Food production and climate change in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories

This paper is a review of climate change trends and projections for the Pacific region and discusses the implications of climate change for food production. Observed climatic data and climate trends and projections for the Pacific region are presented and their current impact on food production and implications for the future are discussed. The climate of the Pacific region is changing and people are now experiencing increase in intensity or severity of extreme events like cyclones, storm surges, floods and droughts. These extreme events are causing substantial damage to agriculture and fisheries and associated infrastructure with negative impact on food production. Although effects of increasing temperature, changing rainfall patterns, sea level rise, salt water intrusion, and acidification are less immediate, food production is also under stress from these climatic factors but it remains difficult to predict the likely outcomes with certainty because of limited empirical data for the Pacific regio

Trace metal content in sediment cores and seagrass biomass from a tropical southwest Pacific Island

A unique feature of seagrass among other ecosystem services is to have high phytoremediation potential that is a cost-effective plant-based approach and environmentally friendly solution for metal contamination in coastal areas. The goal of this study was to assess the phytoremediation prospective of seagrass for Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in Fiji Islands. Heavy metal content was measured in sediments and tissues of the seagrasses Halophila ovalis, Halodule pinifolia and Halodule uninervis to test for local-scale differences. The local study shows that metal concentration in sediment and seagrass tissue was significantly variable, regardless of species and sediment type. Sedimentary concentration of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn obtained in the present study seemed to be lower than that of previous studies. The results support that H. ovalis is a good bioindicator species since it accumulated up to 5-fold more of these metals compared to the Halodule species

Assessing the impacts of climate change on domestic crop production: Experience and perception of local farmers in North Malaita, Solomon Islands.

The aim of this research was to: 1) gather farmers' experiences and observations of climate change impacts on domestic crop yields during the last thirty years (1988-2018); 2) study climatic projections (2050) and their potential impacts on Sikwafata and Malu'u's crops; and 3) understand the knowledge engaged with, and adaptations taken, to avoid susceptibility to climate change. The data was collected using the snowball approach, in which the researcher contacts informants using information provided by previous informants. A thematic analysis was performed using NVIVO 10 software. For both sites, soil samples were taken to determine moisture content. Farmers reported changes in rainfall patterns (73.5%) and temperature (44.9%), while 26.5% indicated no change in rainfall or temperature (55.1%). About 83.7% of farmers anticipate increasing temperatures and rainfall to occur by 2050, with extreme impacts on crop productivity. The majority of the gardens (87.5%) were on hillsides, while 8.5% were on the lowland, with an average of three garden per farmer. The gardens (57.0%) were on rotational sites that had been abandoned for two to five years, while 43.0% had never been rotated. In comparison to Malu'u moisture content (47.4%), Sikwafata moisture content is 66.4% higher. Furthermore, farmers are aware of adaptation measures to reduce the risk of crop failure. However, the absence of scientific information on climate change and agricultural resilience has increased the vulnerability to extreme climate-related events harming food security and nutrition. Climate change will undoubtedly intensify, resulting in a global and local drop in crop production, thus compromising livelihoods in the future

Facing food security risks: The rise and rise of the sweet potato in the Pacific Islands

Pacific Island communities are highly exposed to a range of hazards including extreme weather events and outbreaks of pests and diseases. These hazards can cause severe losses to yields of traditional food crops and increase the risks of famine and food insecurity in Pacific Island communities. Historically, the cultivation of sweet potato enabled communities to adjust their farming systems and reduce food security risks before, during and after disasters. The food security features of sweet potato contributed to its adoption as a staple crop by communities at the "edge" of agro-ecological limits for their traditional crops. Sweet potato was also adopted as a supplementary crop, adding nutrition and stability to communities' food systems. In present times, sweet potato is being cultivated as part of food security and climate change adaptation projects in Pacific communities. This has been facilitated by regional mechanisms for sustainable use of plant genetic resources. But as climate change continues to intensify extreme events and cause sea levels to rise, the resilience of current sweet potato varieties is not guaranteed. Sweet potato, like other Pacific staple crops, is not 100% "disaster-proof". There is a need for multi-partner, proactive agro-ecological based research on sweet potato and other staple crops to reduce both short-term and long-term food security risks faced by Pacific Island communities.This paper was funded by The University of the South Pacific, Research Office, Graduate Assistant Scholarship and Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development Research Fund

Policy Brief 2: Building Community Resilience

Building resilience in Ocean Cities of the Pacific region is key to converting challenges and risks communities face into opportunities for systemic transformation toward sustainable development. Island settlements at the nexus of ocean health, climate change and urban development will need to build anticipatory, adaptive, absorptive and transformative capacity in the face of complex stressors. The interlinked challenges and resource constraints in rapidly growing Ocean Cities in the Pacific means that the ability to absorb shocks and bounce back relevant partners and stakeholders to promote equitable opportunities for all people in urban communities to access resources and use them sustainably, and to apply standardized methods contextualized for the Pacific to assess the relative vulnerability of communities in Ocean Cities. It also recognizes the importance of promoting stronger governance regimes within urban communities, aligning these with the policies of local government, and encouraging partnerships between urban and rural communities. This second policy brief in the Ocean Cities series offers guidance in this direction