Where does climate fit? Vulnerability to climate change in the context of multiple stressors in Funafuti, Tuvalu

McCubbin, Sandra; Smit, Barry; Pearce, Tristan

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.10.007

Cited by 163 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Preoccupied with global climate and environmental change (e.g., O'Brien et al, 2004;Reid and Vogel, 2006;Birk, 2014;Bunce et al, 2010;Tschakert, 2007;McCubbin et al, 2015), SES scholarship has paid less attention to social drivers of change. Notable exceptions include recent work by Breslow (2015) and Hicks et al (2016), who demonstrate how social drivers play an ever-greater role in shaping social vulnerability in fishing communities and can be linked to local ecological changes, which push marine ecosystems towards regime shifts.…”

Section: Understanding Impacts and Responses To Change In Sesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Kaplan-Hallam¹,

Bennett²,

Satterfield³

2018

Preprint

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Research on vulnerability and adaptation in social-ecological systems (SES) has largely centered on climate change and associated biophysical stressors. Key implications of this are twofold. First, there has been limited engagement with the impacts of social drivers of change on communities and linked SES. Second, the focus on climate effects often assumes slower drivers of change and fails to differentiate the implications of change occurring at different timescales. This has resulted in a body of SES scholarship that is under-theorized in terms of how communities experience and respond to fast versus slow change. Yet, social and economic processes at global scales increasingly emerge as 'shocks' for local systems, driving rapid and often surprising forms of change distinct from and yet interacting with the impacts of slow, ongoing 'trends'. This research seeks to understand the nature and impacts of social shocks as opposed to or in concert with trends through the lens of a qualitative case study of a coastal community in Mexico, where demand from international seafood markets has spurred rapid development of a sea cucumber fishery. Specifically, we examined what different socialecological changes are being experienced by the community, how the impacts of the sea cucumber fishery are distinct from and interacting with slower ongoing trends and how these processes are affecting system vulnerability, adaptations and adaptive capacity. We begin by proposing a novel framework for conceptualizing impacts on social systems, as comprised of structures, functions, and feedbacks. Our results illustrate how the rapid-onset of this fishery has ecological changes are being experienced by the community, how the impacts of the sea cucumber fishery are distinct from and interacting with slower ongoing trends and in poaching and armed violence have emerged, exacerbating pressures from ongoing trends in immigration, overfishing and tourism development. We argue that there is a need to better understand and differentiate the social and ecological implications of shocks, which present novel challenges for the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of communities and the sustainability of marine ecosystems.

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Section: Understanding Impacts and Responses To Change In Sesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Kaplan-Hallam¹,

Bennett²,

Satterfield³

2018

Preprint

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“…Impacts of population pressure on food production have also been documented elsewhere in the Pacific (Umezaki et al 2000). The ecological health of the lagoon has declined in recent years, and many fishers now travel outside the lagoon to access fish (McCubbin et al 2015). Funafuti depends on rainfall for freshwater.…”

Section: Funafuti Tuvalumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been argued that islands in Melanesia, which are comparatively large and close together, are more food secure than those of Polynesia and Micronesia because traditional food production is easier to sustain on larger, higher islands than on smaller ones (Campbell 2015). Furthermore, rural and outer island settlements are generally more food secure than urban settlements, the difference explainable by the lower population pressure, better access to sufficient land, and nearshore resources to harvest/produce subsistence foods (Allen 2015, Connell 2015, McCubbin et al 2015, Vengiau et al 2014). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To do so, our objectives are to: (1) characterize the food system in Funafuti; (2) document experiences of food security (i.e., availability, access, quality), including food preferences and consumption, and; (3) identify and describe social and ecological system factors and processes affecting food security. The study builds upon previous research in Funafuti that examined vulnerability to climate change in the context of multiple stressors and identified food security as a priority concern (McCubbin et al 2015). The following sections define food systems and food security and provide a brief description of Funafuti and the methods employed in the study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social–ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

McCubbin¹,

Pearce²,

Ford³

et al. 2017

E&S

Self Cite

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ABSTRACT. This article examines food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu in the context of recent social-ecological changes. We consider both social and ecological processes in order to provide a holistic account of food security. An analysis of data collected through a fixed-question survey and freelists with 50 households and semistructured interviews with 25 key informants reveal that access to food of sufficient nutritional and cultural value is the primary driver affecting food security, more so than general food availability. Ten percent of the households surveyed experienced a shortage of food in the previous month, and 52% ate less desirable imported foods, which tended to be nutrient poor because they could not access preferred local foods. Factors and processes affecting access to local foods include: availability of and access to land; declining involvement in local food production; the convenience of imported foods; unreliable interisland shipping; and climate and environmental changes that have negatively affected food security and are expected to continue to do so.

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“…Unlike many Pacific islanders-for instance, Rudiak-Gould (2013) examines the Marshall Islands while Tuvalu is covered by, amongst many others, Paton and Fairbairn-Dunlop (2010), Shen andGemenne (2011), andMcCubbin, Smit, andPearce (2015)-the ambassadors accept that migration will be necessary due to climate change, but they still believe in retaining as much as possible of their country, culture, and identity. While land and place are a significant part of Pacific islander identity and culture (Trask 1991;Curry, Koczberskia, and Connell 2012), the ambassadors recognize the need to move yet nonetheless emphasize topophilia for resettlement.…”

Section: Topophilia and Tempophiliamentioning

confidence: 99%

Here and now: perceptions of Indian Ocean islanders on the climate change and migration nexus

Kelman

Upadhyay

Simonelli

et al. 2017

Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography

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Empirical studies exploring the links between climate change and migration are increasing.Often, perceptions are not fully explored from the people most affected by the climate change and migration nexus. This article contributes to filling this gap by eliciting and analyzing perceptions regarding climate change and migration from an understudied population labelled as being amongst those most immediately and directly affected by climate change: IndianOcean islanders. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted in two case study communities in Maldives (Kaafu Guraidhoo with 17 interviews and Raa Dhuvafaaru with 18 interviews) and two case study communities in Lakshadweep, India (Kavaratti with 35 interviews and Minicoy with 26 interviews). The results present the interviewees' perceptions of climatic variability and change that they experience; how they perceive the causes of these changes; and links to migration decisions. The interviews demonstrate that perceptions of climate change, of migration, and of the links or lack thereof between the two are centred on the interviewees' own experiences, their own locations, and the immediate timeframe.External information and direction has limited influence. Their perceptions are framed as being the 'here and now' through topophilia (here) and tempophilia (now). The islanders' views do not avoid, but rather encompass, long-term livelihoods and the future. Such a future might be in another location, but the anchor is expressing future hopes and aspirations through the here and now. It is not linked to the wide-scale, long-term issue of climate change.

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Where does climate fit? Vulnerability to climate change in the context of multiple stressors in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Cited by 163 publications

References 74 publications

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Social–ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Here and now: perceptions of Indian Ocean islanders on the climate change and migration nexus

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Where does climate fit? Vulnerability to climate change in the context of multiple stressors in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Cited by 163 publications

References 74 publications

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Social&#8211;ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Here and now: perceptions of Indian Ocean islanders on the climate change and migration nexus

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Product

Resources

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Social–ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu