ABSTRACT. In the interests of improving engagement with Pacific Island communities to enable development of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change, we looked at how traditional oral narratives in rural/peripheral Fiji communities might be used to inform such strategies. Interviews were undertaken and observations made in 27 communities; because the custodians of traditional knowledge were targeted, most interviewees were 70-79 years old.The view that oral traditions, particularly those referring to environmental history and the observations/precursors of environmental change, were endangered was widespread and regretted. Interviewees' personal experiences of extreme events (natural disasters) were commonplace but no narratives of historical (unwitnessed by interviewees) events were found. In contrast, experiences of previous village relocations attributable (mainly) to environmental change were recorded in five communities while awareness of environmentally driven migration was more common. Questions about climate change elicited views dominated by religious/fatalist beliefs but included some more pragmatic ones; the confusion of climate change with climate variability, which is part of traditional knowledge, was widespread.The erosion of traditional environmental knowledge in the survey communities over recent decades has been severe and is likely to continue apace, which will reduce community self-sufficiency and resilience. Ways of conserving such knowledge and incorporating it into adaptation planning for Pacific Island communities in rural/peripheral locations should be explored.

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Contemporary observations of marine foraging in a variety of settings suggest that some mollusks tend to be over-represented in middens because of differential preservation relative to other mollusk species as well as other organisms. Ethnoarchaeologists have often relied on the 'typical' pattern of shell-midden disposal for interpreting variation in assemblage composition in the past. This stems from describing and explaining the material consequences of behavior rather than understanding behavior itself. Behavioral ecology with its concern for the variable costs and bene ts in decisions about culling activities and transport of prey types promises to improve the quality of behavioral inferences. This paper examines the relationship between two foraging models, prey choice and central-place, among intertidal/shallow subtidal mollusk gatherers in Western Kiribati, Micronesia, and a comparison is made with similar work previously carried out in the Torres Strait, Australia. Results show that decisions about mollusk culling and transport can be predicted by prey attributes within a cost/bene t framework. The research also highlights unanticipated variability and may contribute to the debate on indigenous conservation of resources.

Focusing on contemporary shellfish exploitation among several atoll communities in Kiribati, Micronesia, this paper examines the relationship between human foragers and their invertebrate prey via the prey choice or diet breadth model derived from optimal foraging theory. Shellfish, like many other reef organisms, are relatively sedentary and predictable, but these characteristics make them susceptible to over-harvesting. The research reveals that shellfish gatherers are foraging in a manner that matches the predictions of optimal foraging theory. The work adds to our understanding of optimal foraging decisions in atoll settings by critically evaluating the depiction of atoll dwellers as conservationists.

Aid and remittances have long defined the economies of Pacific Island 'micro states' as part of the MIRAB approach to development. However, these sources of support now face an uncertain future. While recognizing that atoll nations, such as Kiribati, are constrained in terms of their agricultural potential, particularly on urban South Tarawa, there is still room for improvement of both traditional and exotic crop production to help reverse the trend of increasing imported food dependency and the rising incidence of nutritionally related non-communicable diseases. By contrast, the inshore fisheries sector currently satisfies both subsistence and local commercial needs. This paper examines extant agricultural and nearshore fisheries activities on South Tarawa and analyzes the impact on health and nutrition and on the environment.