Environmental change, urbanisation, and socio-ecological resilience in the Pacific: Community narratives from Port Vila, Vanuatu
Introduction
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Alcamo, 2003) provided a seminal baseline for analysing and understanding the effects of environmental change on human well-being. This analytical framework is based on the concept of ecosystem services, the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems. However, socio-ecological relationships in towns and cities are complex and multi-layered, and need to be better understood to support urban resilience efforts (Elmqvist et al., 2015). As hubs of human activities, towns and cities act to concentrate the demand for ecosystem services, having direct and indirect impacts on local environmental quality. Urban settlements therefore exist within a network of ecosystem service dependencies, with feedbacks between services and human well-being operating across a number of different spatial and temporal scales (Scholes et al., 2013).
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are recognised as a discrete grouping of countries and territories with unique economic and geospatial circumstances. SIDS have limited natural resources and economic opportunities, extensive coastal zones, and high levels of exposure to climate-related and natural disasters (UNFCCC, 2007). These same factors also increase the dependencies on local ecosystem services by their inhabitants (Balzan et al., 2018). Cities in SIDS have, however, undergone little direct examination in relation to the ecosystem services upon which their citizens depend. There is limited consideration of the inter-relationships between urban environments and the ecosystems that exist within and around them (Balzan et al., 2018).
The majority of SIDS are undergoing urban population growth rates well above rural areas (Kiddle et al., 2017). Lack of planning has resulted in much of this urbanisation being informal, typified by large ‘squatter’ settlements with varying levels of tenure security and community coherence (Bedford and Hugo, 2011, McEvoy et al., 2019). Simultaneously, peri-urban villages, often established by the traditional inhabitants of the island on which the town or city has emerged, are subsumed as the cities expand (Jones, 2016, Trundle, 2017). It is within this mosaic of tenure arrangements, community subgroups, and migratory and historically-established customary systems, that urban ecosystem services in the Pacific are contextualised.
This study investigated ecosystem services in Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu; a rapidly urbanising country in the Melanesian sub-region (Fig. 1). A bottom-up assessment formed the basis of the research approach, with formal, informal, and traditional owner groups engaged both in household surveys and community-level workshops. The resilience of ecosystem services was also assessed in light of local and global environmental change. Research findings evidence a wide array of socio-ecological relationships within different types of urban settlements in the Greater Port Vila area.
Section snippets
Environmental and institutional context
Vanuatu is a volcanic archipelago located in a geologically active region in the South Pacific (Fig. 1). The capital Port Vila, on the island of Efate, is the administrative and commercial centre, and main port of Vanuatu. The Port Vila area is characterised by uplifted coral reef terraces induced by seismic activity (Howorth, 1983). Globally, Vanuatu is considered the most exposed country to natural disaster risk, with more than half of the population impacted by annually either
Research methods
The mapping and analysis of ecosystem services in Port Vila was one of six case studies carried out for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. This was part of the Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) project funded by the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit of the German Federal Government. PEBACC Project is aimed at building community resilience to the effects of climate change and
Results: ecosystem services in Port Vila settlements and villages
Ten ‘hotspot’ communities were identified to represent various tenure arrangements and “ridge to reef” landscapes, recognising the interconnectedness of terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems in small islands (Delevaux et al., 2018). The choice of these sites was confirmed by Civil Society Organisation (CSO) project partners through local intelligence and ‘ground-truthing’ of socio-cultural structures. The chosen communities were: 1) Blacksands, 2) Erakor Bridge, 3) Erakor Village, 4)
Discussion: current drivers of environmental change
The data from the household surveys and workshops from ten communities revealed four chief drivers of environmental change adversely affecting these communities: 1) urbanisation and land use change; 2) water pollution and access to clean water; 3) overharvesting and poor management of resources; and 4) natural hazards and climate-related impacts (summarised in Table 3). We briefly discuss these contemporary drivers of change in the subsequent subsections.
Outcomes: responses and community-based EbA options
Public policy should be developed taking into account views from the communities. As such, it is essential to involve communities at all stages, so as to cement relationships, foster buy-in, and facilitate implementation of policies and plans. There is need for effective dialogue processes and public fora with simpler messaging, as current fora are still too technical and inaccessible for the general public (e.g. Massing, 2019). Our participatory approach encouraged community discourse in
Conclusions
The community narratives presented in this paper represent an important evidence-base of key socio-ecological relationships. Both informal settlements and peri-urban villages in Port Vila rely heavily on the services provided by ecosystems for subsistence needs, income, shelter and protection, and social benefits. However, these services are now under increasing pressures from the rapid rate of urbanisation, pollution, and a changing climate. Residents in the informal settlements are more
Acknowledgements
This paper was based on research prepared for and funded by the Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) Programme of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) through funds made available by the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit of the German federal government. We thank David Loubser, Vanuatu SPREP Country Manager, for his support and feedback.
We acknowledge Annick Stevens Iatika, Pastor Shem Temar, and the Vatu Mauri Consortium
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