Peripherality as key to understanding opportunities and needs for effective and sustainable climate - change adaptation: a case study from Viti Levu Island, Fiji

A study of various defining aspects of 11 rural communities along the cross-island road on Viti Levu (Fiji) shows diversity attributable largely to their peripherality, proxied by distance along this 200-km long road. Strong relationships are found between peripherality and both community size and the dependency ratio (percent of young/old dependents), as well as traditional medicine usage (and percent traditional healers), and autonomous community coping after disasters. Two measures are calculated to capture community autonomy, both of which proxy peripherality. Results show the usefulness of peripherality as a way of measuring community diversity in developing-country contexts. Peripherality also correlates with community autonomy, more-peripheral communities having greater autonomous coping abilities/capacity than near-core (less-peripheral) communities. Results also show the unhelpfulness of the default ‘“one-size-fits-all’” approach to communities implicit in many external assistance programs. Yet while traditional coping in such communities may not be able to fully overcome future climate-change challenges, the conservation of the traditional knowledge underpinning this should be encouraged, mainly because of the likelihood that external funding for future adaptation in such communities will be inadequate. The best hope for effective and sustainable adaptation to future climate change, focused on sustaining livelihoods, lies in strengthening autonomous community coping

"Na Neitou Qele Ga Qo" ("This Is Our Only Land"): Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change in Rural Indigenous Fijians

It has long been recognized that the Pacific Small Island Developing States are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, emphasizing the urgency with which adaptation planning and efforts need to be realized. History supports the resiliency of Pacific peoples, though a number of challenges to adaptive capacity have been noted in the previous literature, which has largely focused on low-lying atoll nations. To provide a different perspective, we interviewed 71 Indigenous and other traditional Fijians living in rural villages across a range of geographical locations to collect information on observed environmental changes, and adaptation efforts and challenges. Following an inductive thematic analysis, results identified changing patterns of consumption and production related to unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, with impacts on both overall food security and the financial viability of these communities. A number of physical adaptations to the villages themselves had been effected, which were costly and met with equivocal success. Consideration of migration to different geographical locations was minimal and undesirable. We provide recommendations for the culturally responsive, co-production of knowledge, resilience building, and adaptation planning with Indigenous and other traditional communities that meaningfully integrates scientific knowledge and respect for the wishes of these communitie

Geology, climate, and landscape of the PABITRA Wet-Zone Transect, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

The PABITRA Gateway Transect in Fiji covers most of the eastern part of Viti Levu, the largest island in the archipelago. Viti Levu is located exclusively on the Fiji Plate, a microplate between the giant Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate that has been moved counterclockwise within the past 42 million yr as a result of their oblique convergence. There is no secure geologic evidence that Viti Levu was ever in contact with part of Gondwana, despite the presence of Gondwana flora. The oldest rock series in the area is the submarine Eocene Wainimala Group, intruded in places by the Colo Plutonics. These are succeeded by the Medrausucu Andesitic Group, the Ba Volcanics, and the Verata Sedimentary Group, a Plio-Pleistocene group of sediments representing deltaic and shallow-water deposition in the southeast of the area. The modern Rewa Delta and associated alluvial flats compose the youngest rocks in the area. The geology of the six study sites within the PABITRA Transect is explained in detail. Being on the windward side of the island, the area's climate is humid tropical, with the lowest temperatures and highest precipitation being associated with the highest elevations. A short account of the area's landscape is given

Coastal Evolution in the Asia-Pacific Region

As in most parts of the world, the proportion of coastal lands (relative to non-coastal lands) varies immensely throughout the Asia-Pacific region. For example, in some of the most distant parts of this vast region such as the tropical Indian Ocean or Pacific Islands, every piece of land is coastal in the sense that it is affected directly by coastal processes. Yet for the largest land areas in the region, coasts by any definition comprise only a small proportion of the total land area. Such statements may be misleading, however, because, in terms of their importance to humans as locations for settlement, economic activities, and food production, coasts are generally more valuable than most other land areas of comparable size in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, coasts are more vulnerable to change than other land types, whose degree of natural resilience is commonly greater. As elsewhere in the world, the positions and the characters of Asia Pacific coasts have changed through time. These changes have sometimes brought about profound alterations to the lifestyles of coastal-dwelling humans in the region, yet also presented new opportunities for their descendants. In the same way, it is clear that changes within the past 100 years--a time of unprecedented increases in human population pressure on most parts of the Asia-Pacific coastal zone--have been more rapid than at most earlier times, causing widespread disruption to human lifestyles and posing significant challenges for the next hundred years; challenges this book is trying to help solve. Coastal changes can occur at a variety of scales, but it is useful, when assessing coastal history, to separate local from regional changes

Coastal evolution in the Asia Pacific region

This book focuses on the potential impacts of global change on coastal environments in the Asia-Pacific region. The region is significant because phenomena such as the Asian Monsoon and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomena, affect the world climate; it has diverse marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including the world largest areas of coral reefs and mangroves; it has almost two-thirds of the world's total human population; and its economic growth rate is the highest of any region in the world. The book identifies important global change issues which will be relevant for the future management of coastal environments in the Asia-Pacific region. The most important of these is global warming and accelerated sea-level rise. The potential impacts from this are compounded by current issues such as unsustainable use of coastal resources; coastal impacts from poor catchment management; population increase and urbanisation pressure; coastal resource and development pressure on rural coasts. The book addresses methods for tackling these issues such as "integrated coastal management" and the need to recognize the diversity of coastal management practices in the Asia-Pacific region. The book is written by international coastal experts from the region who have identified key directions for future global change research that will be of relevance for coastal management in the Asia-Pacific region. [Book Synopsis

Alluvial charcoal in the Sigatoka Valley, Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Charcoal concentrations in alluvial sediments throughout the Sigatoka (and adjacent) catchments, western VitiLevu Island, Fiji were located, sampled and, where possible, dated. The earliest date (5579–5052 cal year BP) almost certainly predates human arrival and represents a natural fire, perhaps associated with drought conditions during an El Niño event. The next three dates are clustered around the time just after initial human arrival in Fiji 2900–2700 cal year BP and could mean that humans transited the area 40 km inland within this time. The next date (1520–1260 cal year BP) is not associated with any other. The final five dates are likewise clustered around the time of the AD 1300 Event, and are believed to mark the time when permanent inland (upland?) settlement was established in this part of VitiLevu