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.

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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.

Despite the vast stretch of water between them, the two small island nations share a common challenge: how to protect their people from rising seas and extreme weather. 

Climate change is an ever-present reality for these two countries – and all other island states – in the region. The land that juts out of the Pacific Ocean makes up less than 1% of the total area. The sea that surrounds these islands is both an essential economic resource and a looming threat.

“Climate change isn’t just science – it’s personal,” one participant told the Cook Islands National Loss and Damage Dialogue held in Rarotonga in mid-April. “With warmer temperatures and fewer pandanus trees, the women’s weaving traditions are under threat.”

Recent research from NASA found that Pacific islands are expected to experience at least 6 inches (15.24 cm) of sea level rise over the next 30 years, whether the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions or not. In recent years, the climate crisis has exacerbated many existing problems for island nations: more severe droughts and cyclones, together with the encroaching sea, have destroyed livelihoods and increased people’s economic vulnerabilities. 

“Communities on remote Pacific islands are in danger of having their culture and way of life erased if we don’t act now and help them survive,” said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund. “It’s desperately important that we work to support people most vulnerable to climate shocks,” he added.

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As extreme weather persists, small but crucial interventions are being explored to support people to adapt to their new reality. In small island developing states, such as the Cook Islands and Federated States of Micronesia, these ideas have been put to the test, with both nations implementing projects to build climate resilience and enable communities to thrive in spite of the growing stresses they face.

Remoteness makes resilience key

Many of the climate-related issues for small island – or large ocean – states are connected to their remoteness. There are over 1,000 islands comprising the sovereign nations in the Pacific – the Federated States of Micronesia alone has more than 600 islands.

These inhabited islands are often hard to reach and lack basic infrastructure such as electricity access, healthcare provision and water security. This makes them even more vulnerable to disasters and increases the need to build resilience to climate shocks.

In recent years, governments in the Cook Islands and Micronesia have sought financing from the Adaptation Fund to address these chronic issues. The resulting projects provide important lessons in adaptation in places on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Finance flowing for locally led climate adaptation

Both countries have locally based organisations, known as national implementing entities (NIEs), accredited through the Adaptation Fund’s “direct access” scheme which helps countries manage their adaptation efforts. Entities can propose and develop projects and receive financial support from the Fund without going through international agencies.  

Projects in both island states are tailored to local adaptation needs, but bear many similarities in their approach to climate problems. They are focused on outer islands, water and food security, data monitoring, gender concerns and restoring ecosystem health, as a path to climate resilience.

“We need to work harder to understand what life is like for people in remote places, especially on low-lying Pacific islands. From the beginning, these projects built in these concerns, ensuring decisions and solutions were community-led, inclusive, and informed by local knowledge,” added Ollikainen.

Adaptation for farmers and fishers

On the Cook Islands this meant increasing water storage across the outer Pa Enua islands, alongside 25 new farms and 11 agro-nurseries with a strong focus on establishing climate-resilient crops. A new early warning system was created, with local training provided on disaster risk preparedness and centralised data management.

In addition, 35 community grants were awarded to farmers and households to help pay for adaptive tools such as fencing, tanks and agricultural equipment. “The climate has changed, full-stop. But now we’ve got drip irrigation [to sustainably water crops]. We’re still growing,” commented one farmer on Mitiaro, a tiny volcanic island.

Mani Mate, a director at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the NIE carrying out the resilient livelihoods “PEARL” project, said it shows “how small island nations can deliver tangible, locally led resilience when adaptation is community-driven and well-resourced”. 

“While challenges remain, the Cook Islands now have tools, systems and experience to build on, along with growing interest in a second phase of support,” Mate added.

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In a similar way, the Micronesian project implemented by the Micronesia Conservation Trust, also an Adaptation Fund NIE based on the island, has put in place effective state protections for marine habitats, increasing awareness and enforcement capabilities, as well as access to sustainable finance. The project issued locally led small grants across the islands to allow communities to directly implement marine-based measures, such as the restoration of upland forests and mangroves and stronger fisheries management.

The focus on protected areas is in keeping with the wider Micronesia Challenge, an initiative of five governments across the wider region, to conserve 50% of marine resources by 2030, equivalent to 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometres).

Adaptation Futures conference in the Pacific

Climate scientists have long understood how precarious islands are when confronted with extreme weather, such as powerful cyclones or long dry spells. The experiences of ocean states, and the recent interventions in the Cook Islands and Micronesia, could provide policymakers with sufficient evidence to inform future adaptation responses.

“The project gave us the tools, but more importantly it gave us the confidence to lead our own resilience,” commented a local representative on Mauke in the Cook Islands.

Practitioners will be given ample opportunity to discuss these issues in New Zealand later this year. The biannual Adaptation Futures conference in October will put Indigenous and Pacific island concerns at the heart of the event, providing a unique moment to have these stories told and acted on.

“Pacific island concerns have not always received the right amount of attention and awareness,” said Ollikainen. “But what happens in these places – drought, flooding, sea level rise – is being repeated around the world. Low-lying islands are the canary in the coal mine – we ignore the warning at our peril.”

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

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