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15 UnderstandingLossandDamage inPacificSmall Island… 371
15.2.1 Attribution
Attribution isparticularlycomplex in thePacificIslandcountriesdue to thescarcity
of data and knowledge, which could be used to monitor and understand change.
For example, some resource and environmental management practices have been
detrimentalontheislandsandassucharecontributingtonegativeimpactsintheform
ofcoastalandcatchmenterosion.Suchpracticesarenotdirectlythecauseofclimate
changebut ratherhuman-induced,andsomeof thesehavealso longhistorical roots,
e.g.stemmingfromcolonialpracticesontheislands,suchasresourceextraction.For
estimatingL&D linked to anthropogenic climate change, there needs to be a solid
understanding how this can or ismeasured andwhat proxies can be used in cases
where thenecessarydatadoesnot exist (ConwayandMustelin2014).
15.3 TheLossandDamageOptionsSpace in thePacific
Ouranalysis suggests that theoptions-policyspacemaybeveryconstrained—espe-
ciallywhendealingwithextremeorintolerablelossesanddamages(seeTable15.1).
Most Pacific Islanders, up to 80% ormore in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, are
whollyorpartlydependentonsubsistencefarmingandfishing.Peopledependingon
subsistence,especiallythoseinremotelocationswithverylimitedmarketeconomies,
cannot simply change their livelihoods. This is the case even though the food gar-
dens canbe increasinglyunproductive, or unable toprovide for changingdemands
andlifestyles,suchashealth,education,andtechnologyexpenses—withconsequent
rising food insecurity.
Constraints to adaptation are most obvious in isolated and remote rural areas,
however they also exist in urban areas. Increasingly a substantial part of the urban
populations in most SWPacific countries live in informal settlements, character-
izedas“urbanvillages”wheremanyoftheattributesofruralvillagesarereproduced
(Jones2016),includingfoodgardensasanessentiallivelihoodstrategy.Formostpeo-
pleinmostPacificIslandcountrieseconomicopportunitiesareverylimited,because
of “the combinationof remoteness, small size, geographicdispersion, andenviron-
mental fragility” (WorldBankGroup2017).As a consequence,manyPacificSIDS
have seen only very limited increases in per capita incomes over the past 25 years
(WorldBankGroup2017).This all acts to limit theoptions space.
Withinthiscontext,weexaminewhatoptionsexistormightneedtobedeveloped
for SWPacific Islands states, under the headings of tolerable and intolerable risk
(Fig. 15.2).At present there are still tolerable risks,which canbemanaged largely
through better climate changeadaptation, development and disaster risk reduction
strategies. The option space can therefore appear to be broad, but is constrained
as described above. Tolerable refers here to the circumstances people are dealing
with today,while intolerable refers todevelopingcircumstances, but includescases
wherepeoplearealreadyfacedwith thechoiceof relocation,anddecisions thatwill
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Title
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Subtitle
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Authors
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 580
- Keywords
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima