Vanuatu, a collection of 83 islands separated by around 1,300 km deep in the South Pacific Ocean, is among a group of ocean states widely regarded as uniquely exposed to climate change.

The World Risk Index, created by German academics and NGOs, has consistently ranked Vanuatu as the world’s most vulnerable country to climate risks and natural disasters.

Geography plays a large role in this because of Vanuatu’s proximity to the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an area of strong volcanic activity and earthquakes – and its position close to the centre of a cyclone belt. Cyclonic storms have become more frequent and powerful in recent years due to global warming.

Category 5 tropical cyclones – the most severe – are particularly occurring more often. In 2015, Cyclone Pam damaged an estimated 90% of all buildings in Vanuatu and impacted half the population. This was followed by Cyclone Harold in 2020 when winds of up to 125 miles per hour caused an estimated US$768 million in damages across the Pacific.

Another reason for Vanuatu’s vulnerability is its scattered population around coasts that are exposed to rising sea levels. A total of 325,000 people live across 65 islands, characterised by rugged terrain and limited infrastructure.

Giving nature breathing room builds climate resilience

Despite these limitations, the country is finding new and innovative ways to protect its population against climate threats and regain its economic competitiveness. 

An ongoing project on the country’s largest island, Espiritu Santo, is trialling techniques to support communities adapt. The project grant – funded by the Adaptation Fund and managed by UNDP through the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) – focuses on a number of areas that can benefit these isolated communities. Key components include ecosystem restoration, disaster preparedness, improving food security and strengthening institutions.

Disaster committees

The Paris Agreement set a clear goal of limiting global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius with the aim of keeping to a safer ceiling of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Under current scenarios, where average temperatures increase by more than 2C, island nations such as Vanuatu are predicted to lose 20% of their GDP each year due to climate disasters. This is despite data which shows Vanuatu contributed less than 0.01% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Joses Togase, a project manager at Santo Sunset Environment Network (SSEN), an Indigenous environmental group on the island, told Climate Home News that people in the region are facing serious threats from climate change. “Rising sea levels are damaging the coastal zones and eroding valuable local resources that people depend upon to support their livelihoods,” he said.

Further inland, he commented, people are experiencing an increase in landslides, soil erosion and flooding which is impacting crop production, forest cover and access to freshwater. “The unpredictable changing weather, heavy rainfalls, droughts, very rough storms, and more frequent tropical cyclones are major challenges the communities are facing,” he added.

Climate disasters challenge right to safe and adequate housing

In response, the Espiritu Santo project has supported community leaders, forest rangers and climate-related disaster committees to adapt to a changing climate. In 2023, the island was hit by two Category 5 cyclones within a week. The committees – with the help of the SSEN – immediately undertook a damage assessment and identified emergency needs so the government could act quickly.

In the future, this work will be supported by an upgraded early warning system and improved internet access – thanks to solar-powered satellite communication – to allow the community to access live weather advice.

How to farm smart

Food security is often a concern in remote regions and extreme weather adds another layer of vulnerability to communities on Vanuatu. Under these circumstances, subsistence farmers need to switch to crops which have higher yields in a shorter growing season and are able to withstand much harsher weather conditions.

The project, alongside encouraging families to maintain their traditional methods of food production, is seeking to raise awareness of climate-smart agriculture. Demonstration plots have been established to plant drought-resistant crops, such as manioc, kumara and taro.

Growing cover crops between seasons to protect the soil, and intercropping, where more than one crop is grown side-by-side in the same field, are also promoted. These practices are designed to improve soil health, prevent erosion and protect against extreme weather. 

Togase believes these practices should be shared with other Pacific islands facing similar climate threats. “The traditional planting calendar, food crop planting and preservation are some of the important lessons,” he commented.

Advancing women’s rights and empowerment in climate adaptation

Increase in local awareness

Human settlements on Vanuatu date back over 3,000 years. In that time, Indigenous peoples have dealt with a range of environmental risks. The climate crisis is the latest in that series and local people are looking to utilise – and adapt – traditional ways of life to overcome these challenges. Groups such as SSEN provide an important connection between the community and government as they collectively navigate a way forward.

According to Togase, recent interventions on Espiritu Santo have “increased understanding and realisation among the local people to become more conscious and alert” in mitigating climate threats. This has, in part, been achieved through Indigenous knowledge sharing and respecting community governance.

As Vanuatu faces an uncertain future, its people aren’t shying away from these threats, but using nature, existing customs and new ideas to their advantage.

Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK

The post How Vanuatu is facing up to rising climate risks appeared first on Climate Home News.

The declaration is thorough in its recognition of Indigenous peoples’ fundamental freedoms, stating that they have “the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources”.

The importance and value that Indigenous peoples bring to tackling climate change is essential. Local communities should be at the heart of how to solve the climate crisis not only because they are at risk. Their connection to place provides unique insights into how to adapt to increasingly frequent extreme weather events. They have been the custodians of their land and water for generations – and the knowledge that brings is priceless.

The Adaptation Fund has financed multiple projects around the world where Indigenous peoples are being impacted by climate change. This offers the Fund unique opportunities to explore how climate adaptation can be implemented in lockstep with Indigenous knowledge.

Restoring forest

One such opportunity comes from a project that faced challenging circumstances in the deep jungle between Ecuador and Colombia. The project, implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), covers an area of over 915,000 hectares and two watersheds important to both countries.

The region’s Afro and Awá communities live in precarious conditions there, affected by extreme weather events including drought, floods and storm surges. This border area is one of the most food-insecure regions in Latin America. Changes in climatic conditions have meant loss of mangrove forests, unstable crop production and a decline in fish species. This is having a knock-on effect on people’s diet, and malnutrition is increasing.

To address these issues, WFP worked closely with communities to raise awareness of climate risks and incorporated ancestral knowledge into adaptation measures. Restoring over 8,000 hectares of forest helped the livelihoods of 120 communities and 1,100 families in the region. In addition, the creation of resilient family gardens using organic products has helped to improve the diet of a further 600 families.

Using these techniques, alongside other activities such as sustainable agroforestry, helped to protect against damage from heavy rains. At each step, WFP has worked with communities imparting their knowledge and sought to empower local people. This included greater representation for women who, given historic inequalities, are more exposed to climate-related risks.

Local knowledge

The project faced unique challenges: the partners had to navigate working across borders in a large and remote region where there are serious security concerns. Diego Guzmán, the WFP’s national programme officer for food systems and climate change, worked closely on the project. He told Climate Home that the team maintained a line of communication to the UN’s security unit in Ecuador. “We actively engaged local organisations and leaders, leveraging their intimate knowledge of the territory,” he said. This solved some of the additional obstacles of size and borders.

Improving food security and its relationship to climate change among the community was one of the key components of the project. This first meant understanding and respecting traditional norms. “It’s crucial to acknowledge and value the local products that hold significance within these communities, fostering sustainable use of resources for improved food security and economic well-being,” said Guzmán. One of the key lessons from the project – and others like it – is to strengthen how local organizations work. Decisions need to be “inclusive, transparent, and reflective of the community’s priorities,” he added.

It is the sense of mutual respect and a shared end goal that supports the success of these projects. The Fund has also seen other significant components aimed at restoring sustainable ancestral practices in projects it funds in Morocco (reviving ancient underground water channels to address drought), Costa Rica (diversified forest farming to enhance food security), and Mexico (adapted fog catchers to store water), among others. 

Local women in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, taking part in an
adaptation project seeking to diversify food and livelihood security.
Photo credit: Adaptation Fund

Diversifying incomes

Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund, said the organisation “takes great pride in supporting and empowering the most vulnerable local communities and groups, and you see this across many of our projects on the ground”.

“Our five-year medium-term strategy and environmental and social safeguards further foster support of human rights and equitable opportunity, including for Indigenous communities, which very often have the best ideas of what works well locally in building climate resilience,” he explained. 

Another related Indigenous project comes from the other side of the world, on the Indonesian island of  Sulawesi in South Sulawesi province. It aimed to raise awareness of watershed and climate impacts among the Indigenous people of Ammatoa Kajang. The implementing entity was Kemitraan, or the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, a non-profit established in the country for the past two decades.

Here the challenge was to reduce climate-related vulnerabilities through improving how the watershed was managed. This included the creation of different social business groups to help people diversify incomes, selling existing products like candlenuts in more profitable ways, and upgrading crop machinery. Not only did this approach require a climate adaptation plan based on local knowledge, but active lobbying of the regional government to see it implemented over the long-term. Again, strengthening local governance was seen as key.

A shift in thinking

One of the project participants, Namesiah Munaati, told the Adaptation Fund: “What has changed is the mindset of the community – a shift in thinking, from farming practices to managing agricultural products and marketing strategies.”

“There has been an improvement in our family finances. There is enough for children’s allowances and our household needs are met,” she added.

It’s no secret that outside entities have not always acted with local concerns in mind when developing plans and projects designed to support people on the ground. As Indigenous rights have grown in prominence, so has awareness among external partners. There is now recognition that working in partnership with Indigenous people will empower and protect their unique cultures to face new threats including climate change, ensuring their survival for decades to come.

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Adam Wentworth is a freelance writer based in Brighton, UK.

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