Page 24 - IB July 2020

Climate Climate

Young mangrove nurseries in Bonriki, Kiribati.
ADAPTING ECOSYSTEMS TO

CLIMATE REALITIES

By Nic Maclellan local approval and ownership; shared access to and benefit
from initiatives; integration of local realities; and systems-
A major evaluation of climate adaptation projects in the thinking and forward planning.”
Pacific argues that bottom-up, community-led projects have In collaboration with the Pacific Conference of Churches,
performed better than many top-down, donor-driven initia- WWF Pacific, Conservation Society of Pohnpei and the Red
tives. Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the evaluation looked
The study, published in the prestigious journal Nature at community projects across the region funded by different
Climate Change, reports that “locally funded initiatives and donors and managed by different organisations.
those implemented by non-governmental organisations were
more likely to perform better, and climate awareness - raising Seawalls aren’t the answer
initiatives and those integrated with ecosystem-based adapta- The study found that initiatives focused on preventing land
tion performed best.” loss generally had lower performance and outcomes – many
The research team was led by Professor Karen McNamara were ineffective in preventing encroachment or inundation by
of the University of Queensland and Professor Patrick Nunn of sea level rise or storm surges in the long term.
the University of the Sunshine Coast. The team evaluated cli- “I’ve been very critical of seawalls as a solution to sea level
mate adaptation projects in twenty rural communities across rise and shoreline erosion in the Pacific,” Nunn said. “Basi-
four Pacific countries – Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, cally, they get built by a community who often have very
Kiribati and Vanuatu – allowing comparison between low-lying little cash, and sometimes they build them using materials
atoll nations, high island states or those with both features. taken from offshore, which damages the ecosystem. Eigh-
The adaptation projects at community-level addressed a teen months or two years later, they collapse. People then
range of issues: enhancing food or water security; prevention try to find the cash again to rebuild them. The rural coasts of
of land loss; community relocation; climate change awareness many Pacific islands are littered with the remains of broken
raising; marine resources protection; and enhancing financial seawalls.
security. “Hard solutions work well when they are optimally designed
For lead researcher Patrick Nunn, the best outcomes were with a knowledge of coastal processes and coastal dynam-
found when projects are appropriate to local context, tailored ics, such as the movement of water and the movement of
to cultural specificities as well as community priorities, re- sediments,” he explained. “But in 99% of cases in the Pacific
sources and livelihoods. islands, people just put up a seawall that is vertical and im-
Nunn is well known in the region, working at the University permeable – nothing like what a beach is, which is permeable
of the South Pacific (USP) for 25 years. He was appointed to and sloping. I think there is very little thinking that goes into
a Personal Chair as USP Professor of Oceanic Geoscience in the construction of these type of hard solutions.”
1997. Since 2014, he has worked as Professor of Geography at In contrast, the study reports that “initiatives that are
the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. locally funded, implemented by NGOs, focused on climate
Nunn has now been appointed as lead author of the ‘Small awareness-raising and integrated with Ecosystem-based Adap-
Islands’ chapter for the next 6th Assessment Report of the tation were more likely to be high performing.”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the main Instead of ‘hard’ engineered adaptation solutions, such as
scientific body that reports to the global climate negotiations. building seawalls, the ecosystems approach proposes an inte-
He noted: “Our study recommends four inter-dependent grated response that addresses the adverse effects of climate
priorities for future community-based adaptation initiatives: change but also promotes concrete benefits for livelihoods,

24 Islands Business, July 2020