Sinking Islands, Drowned Logic; Climate Change and Community-Based Adaptation Discourses in Solomon Islands

Jan van der Ploeg, Meshach Sukulu, Hugh Govan, Tessa Minter and Hampus Eriksson
Additional contact information
Jan van der Ploeg: Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia
Meshach Sukulu: WorldFish, Honiara PO Box 438, Solomon Islands
Tessa Minter: Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
Hampus Eriksson: Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-24

Abstract: The saltwater people of Solomon Islands are often portrayed to be at the frontline of climate change. In media, policy, and development discourses, the erosion and abandonment of the small, man-made islands along the coast of Malaita is attributed to climate change induced sea-level rise. This paper investigates this sinking islands narrative, and argues that a narrow focus on the projected impacts of climate change distracts attention and resources from more pressing environmental and development problems that are threatening rural livelihoods.

Keywords: policy narratives; resilience; climate finance; rural development; indigenous peoples; media; participation; development projects; Pacific; Malaita (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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