Relocation of reef and atoll island communities as an adaptation to climate change: learning from experience in Solomon Islands

Birk, Thomas

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139235815.008

Cited by 15 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This study reveals some of the 'secondary' effects (Birk, 2012) that can arise years after resettlement. Though occurring decades apart, the failure of the Phoenix Islands Resettlement Scheme and the tsunami-related struggles of the Gilbertese in Ghizo were both rooted in the gaps in knowledge and lack of experience with a new environment at the time of settlement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The legacy of migration in response to climate stress: learning from theGilbertese resettlement in theSolomonIslands

Donner

2015

Natural Resources Forum

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The long-term threat of sea-level rise to coral atoll and reef island communities in Kiribati, Tuvalu and other nations has raised the possibility of international migration. Historical resettlements in the Pacific may provide valuable insight into the long-term effect of future climate change-related migration on communities. This study evaluates the challenges faced by Gilbertese people resettled from modern-day Kiribati to Ghizo in the Solomon Islands by the British colonial administration in the mid-1900s. Drawing upon field interviews (n = 45) conducted in 2011 and the available historical literature, the study examines the circumstances of the initial failed resettlement in the equatorial Phoenix Islands, the subsequent relocation to Ghizo, and the recent concerns of the Gilbertese in Ghizo. Focus is placed on the struggle to recover from the 2007 tsunami that devastated the unprepared community. The analysis reveals that uncertainty about land tenure (raised by 61% of respondents) persists 60 years after resettlement, and is linked to the ability to recover from the tsunami, tensions with the Melanesian population, concerns over political representation, cultural decline, and education and employment opportunities. The Gilbertese experience can serve as a cautionary tale for policymakers considering mechanisms for facilitating climate change-related migration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The legacy of migration in response to climate stress: learning from theGilbertese resettlement in theSolomonIslands

Donner

2015

Natural Resources Forum

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“…Planning for such an eventuality has to start early and should involve at least four considerations: Encouragement and funding for island habitability research along the lines of the socioeconomic and land resources surveys carried out in Kiribati and Tuvalu in the 1970s and 1980s Consider lessons learned from recent experiences of moving island people to new locations within their own country that has created new vulnerabilities for the communities in the Solomon Islands and in the Maldives where the Safe and Safer Islands program failed due to the fear of losing traditional village culture Review of present land codes to recognise: (a) contemporary and future shoreline changes and trends; and (b) potential adaptation strategies that include problematic land tenure issues that are rarely raised in‐country such as those relating to ‘neglected lands’ and ‘absentee ownership.’ Address resettlement issues in the national legal framework to identify areas where legal or policy changes are required .…”

Section: The Challenge Ahead: Changing Adaptation Priorities For Atolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Destruction or persistence of coral atoll islands in the face of 20th and 21st century sea‐level rise?

McLean

Kench

2015

WIREs Climate Change

138

104

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The future of low-lying reef islands has been the subject of international concern, scientific debate, and media interest in the last decade. As a result of sea-level rise, atoll islands are expected to become increasingly unstable and to be susceptible to potential depopulation by the end of the 21st century. Some have suggested that sea-level rise has already resulted in widespread erosion and inundation of atoll islands. Here, we analyze the physical changes in over 200 islands on 12 atolls in the central and western Pacific in the past few decades when sea level in the region increased at rates three to four times the global average. Results show little evidence of heightened erosion or reduction in island size. Instead island shores have adjusted their position and morphology in response to human impacts such as seawall construction and to variations in climate-ocean processes. These changes are reviewed and the role of sea-level rise is evaluated. The implications of this analysis are addressed in two parts. First, we consider the proposition that future sea-level rise will destabilize atoll islands to such an extent that their inhabitants will be forced to migrate offshore. And second, we identify a series of new challenges relating to risk reduction and adaptation policy for atoll island governments, international agencies, and island communities. These require a substantial shift away from the present adaptation paradigm of external migration and focus on the persistence of atoll islands and in-country solutions.

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“…Similar explanations account for parallel changes in Vanikoro (Solomon Islands) (Traufetter 2012), and probably elsewhere in Solomon Islands, both earlier in the Reef Islands-where there had been subsidence "during the last thirty years" on all four of the northern outer islands (Davenport 1975, 68;Birk 2012)-and more recently in the Bougainville islands and atolls, including the Carteret Islands (Duguman 2009), Takuu (Mortlock Islands), the Buka islands, and the Duke of York Islands, all close to the plate boundary. All these islands regularly experience strong earthquakes, which can significantly change sea levels.…”

Section: Tectonic Instabilitymentioning

confidence: 86%

“…On Wotje (Marshall Islands), over a sixty-sevenyear period until 2010, accretion was more prevalent than erosion, but there was a post-2004 shift toward erosion (Ford 2013). Similarly, three out of four Reef Islands (Solomon Islands) were smaller in 1960 than in 2010 (Birk 2012). On Raine Island, a vegetated coral cay in the northern Great Barrier Reef, 34 percent of the coastline experienced net retreat and 44 percent experienced net progradation between 1967 and 2007.…”

Section: Island Shapes and Sizesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Islanders there "have never been and are not now self-sufficient," so around the early 1960s they began to use land on much larger Ndende Island, some forty kilometers away, because of intense pressure on land, to the extent that "every square foot of ground suitable for cultivation has long been planted" (Davenport 1969, 173, 174). Reef Islanders were also gradually settling on the neighboring high volcanic island of Tinakula because of land being lost in the 1940s and 1950s (Davenport 1975;Birk 2012). In the 1970s, "due to geological changes over the past two decades the food situation has become more critical.…”

Section: Beyond Coral Atollsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vulnerable Islands: Climate Change, Tectonic Change, and Changing Livelihoods in the Western Pacific

Connell¹

2015

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Small Pacific islands, especially atolls, have been widely argued to be in the forefront of climate change. Recent degradation of island environments has primarily been attributed to the impact of sea-level rise. However, physical changes to several small islands can be linked to a range of physical influences and to human modification. La Niña events, cyclones, and wind waves have caused localized flooding and storm damage. Most atoll islands have not significantly changed in size, as deposition balances erosion. Many islands have experienced broadly similar environmental problems in earlier times, at different scales, and over different time periods, now accentuated by human pressures on scarce land areas and resources. Local human factors (including construction and mining), tectonic subsidence, and La Niña events have created some iconic sites that have become symbols of sea-level rise, sometimes erroneously attributed solely to global warming. Limited economic prospects in most small islands, rising expectations, and growing populations have contributed to a culture of migration, marked by international migration and urbanization, that has diversified impoverished livelihoods, extended island geographies, and resulted in accentuated population concentrations. Contemporary climate change exacerbates present environmental changes, stimulates further migration, and points to diasporic futures.

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Relocation of reef and atoll island communities as an adaptation to climate change: learning from experience in Solomon Islands

Cited by 15 publications

References 45 publications

The legacy of migration in response to climate stress: learning from theGilbertese resettlement in theSolomonIslands

The legacy of migration in response to climate stress: learning from theGilbertese resettlement in theSolomonIslands

Destruction or persistence of coral atoll islands in the face of 20th and 21st century sea‐level rise?

Vulnerable Islands: Climate Change, Tectonic Change, and Changing Livelihoods in the Western Pacific

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