tikopia: a climate smart, sustainable and multifunctional island
TRANSCRIPT
Tikopia: A climate smart, sustainable and
multifunctional island
Thilde Bech Bruun
University of Copenhagen
Triple win in multifunctional landscapes - Climate
smart, sustainable and profitable - is it possible?
Climate smart
• Increasing agricultural productivity
• Improving adaptation to climate change
• Contributing to mitigation of climate change
Sustainable
Profitable
Tikopia
Famous for being hit by one of the worst tropical cyclones ever recorded –
without any casualties
Used by IPCC WG II as an example of autonomous adaptation to climate change
Included as a prime example in Jared Diamond’s popular science bestseller
‘Collapse - How societies chose to fail or succeed’
Studied by anthropologist Raymond Firth in the 1920’s and 1960’s (‘We – The
Tikopia’) and by archeologists Patrick Kirch and Douglas Yen in the 1980’s
(‘Tikopia: The Prehistory and Ecology of a Polynesian Outlier’)
Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,
Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)
• Have the changes in subsistence production system, resource use and livelihoods
improved or worsened the prospects for sustainable development, and what have
been the main drivers of these changes? (Timeframe 30-50 years)
• How do the predicted changes in climate, sea level and economic globalisation
processes affect production, resource use and livelihoods and how have
communities adapted to change in the past?
Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,
Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)
1. Livelihood strategies
2. Land use change, farming systems analysis, food security
3. Soil resources – impact of land use on soil properties
4. Use of marine and terrestrial resources, assessment of sustainability of resource use
5. Adaptation to climate change –local perception of climate change and its impact
Solomon Islands
Tikopia: Extinct volcano
Max elevation 360 m
Area: 4.6 km2 (Volcanic clay)
Distance to Honiara: 1200 km
Tropical cyclone Zoë – December 2002 2002
3rd most powerful tropical cyclone
340 km/hour
1 min sustained 285km/hour
3 days
No official warning
The journey to Tikopia
Tikopia
Demography
Population: 1200
• Stable since 1965, but 4800 Tikopians are living outside
the island
Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Agriculture
Almost 100% of the island is cultivated
• Agroforestry with permanent fields
• Fallow systems with mulching
• Oven gardens around houses
Agroforestry with permanent fields
• Giant taro
• Taro
• Yam
• Bananas
• Breadfruit
• Sago
• Coconuts
• Tobacco
• Fruit trees
Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Agroforestry systems
Betelnut
Giant taro
Sago
Banana
Breadfruit
Fallow systems with mulching
• Cassava
• Sweet potatoes
• Taro
No burning
No external inputs
No mechanization
No signs of soil degradation!
Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Fishing
All households consume fish every day
90 % mention fishing as the primary
livelihood activity
• Deep sea fishing
• Trolling from canoes (barracudas, tuna)
• Flying fish fishing
• Large nets outside the reef
• Small nets on the reef
• Speargun hunting on reef
• Shark fishing
Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Fishing
Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Import and income sources
No import of food!
• Limited import of
� Fishing equipment
� Kerosene
� Machetes
� Clothes
• Income sources
� Remittances
� Selling of handicraft to tourists (2 ships per year)
� State officials (7)
The Cyclones
Cyclone timeline: in 1952, 1985, 1991 and 2002 (+ 2015)
Effects of cyclones
• Damage on buildings, equipment, tools
• Gardens heavily damaged
• No trees left for canoe building
• Sea breakthrough into crater lake
Perceptions of change
Problem ranking: Increased intensity and/or frequency of cyclones is rated
highest: A very serious matter in Tikopia
Perceptions: Cyclones are increasing in number and intensity
IPCC 5AR: Climate Change Scenario for 2050: Intensity of cyclones projected to
increase by 20 %
Adaptation of the agricultural production system
Well adapted system and little long-term effect of cyclone Zoe on farming
Crop diversification and multiple plots
Location of farmers’ fields: Exploitation of ecological niches and
risk minimization
3
Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)
• Emergency food supplies
• Use of traditional preservation techniques:
Fermentation of damaged crops
Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)
• Emphasis on short cycle crops
• ‘Oven gardens’ around houses
• Emphasis on fishing
Multifunctional
Landscape
Climate smart
Sustainable
Profitable
Triple win in multifunctional landscapes – Climate
smart, sustainable and profitable
Thanks