Karen E. McNamara

Environmental sustainability in practice? A macro-scale profile of tourist accommodation facilities in Australia's coastal zone

While methods have been developed to measure progress towards sustainability in a tourism setting, a shortage still exists of research that examines the integration of environmental sustainability into the existing built environment, particularly across a macro-scale. In an attempt to advance research in this area, this paper profiles the self-acknowledged implementation of environmental initiatives by managers of tourist accommodation facilities along Australias east coast. An original and empirical approach, based on quantitative surveys, was undertaken for 536 accommodation facilities located within one kilometre of the coastline. Broad trends were that larger accommodation facilities were more likely to be in close proximity to coastlines, yet were also more likely to have formal mechanisms to implement environmental initiatives. Regional variation in implementation was apparent, and possible explanations included the role of local cultures and state regulation. Overall, however, results indicate poor uptake of environmental initiatives. We conclude by arguing that such results are a consequence of barriers including the inheritance of older built environments and the poor communication to the managers of facilities of the benefits of implementing environmental initiatives.

Local knowledge and climate change adaptation on Erub Island, Torres Strait

Local knowledge is a valuable asset in observing and managing environmental change, and importantly, is an unheralded source of adaptive capacity. Torres Strait Islanders are no exception, having used such knowledge to adapt to biophysical changes in their environment for centuries. This article explores the ways in which Islanders have coped in the past with environmental changes to plan for their future. This article focuses on Erub Island in the eastern group of islands in the Torres Strait and charts the adaptation actions or activities employed by respected locals (Elders and Aunties). Drawing on their local knowledge, these actions or activities have included the building of rock walls and wind breaks, using native species to re-vegetate sand cays and the coastal foreshore, applying self-sufficient practices such as fish traps and gardening, reading and respecting country, and transferring this knowledge to the younger generation. In this way, it is the Islanders themselves who detail, based on their local knowledge, what is most appropriate for their community.

Coping with extreme weather: communities in Fiji and Vanuatu share their experiences and knowledge

Local communities across the Pacific Island region have long prepared for and managed extreme weather events. Strategies to cope with extreme weather, particularly cyclones and droughts, have involved using particular planting techniques, initiating innovative water storage practices, and employing food preservation tactics to survive. These local experiences and knowledge have been passed on between generations through stories and sharing practical know-how; however, very little formal documentation has transpired to date. This research attempts to document and synthesis these experiences and knowledge to safeguard them through written accounts but also demonstrate how Pacific communities can provide valuable, appropriate and effective strategies to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events. In-depth interviews (n = 40) were conducted with community members from three villages in Fiji (Naselesele, Qeleni and Yanuca) and three villages in Vanuatu (Piliura, Tassiriki and Lonamilo). While typically missing from community vulnerability and risk assessments in the Pacific, local experiences and knowledge are a core strength in enhancing adaptive capacity and planning community-based activities.

Solastalgia and the gendered nature of climate change: An example from Erub Island, Torres Strait

This communication focuses on respected older womens’ (‘Aunties’) experiences of climate and other environmental change observed on Australia’s Erub Island in the Torres Strait. By documenting these experiences, we explore the gendered nature of climate change, and provide new perspectives on how these environmental impacts are experienced, enacted and responded to. The way these adverse changes affect people and places is bound up with numerous constructions of difference, including gender. The responses of the Aunties interviewed to climate change impacts revealed Solastalgia; feelings of sadness, worry, fear and distress, along with a declining sense of self, belonging and familiarity.

Climate-smart agriculture: perspectives and framings

ABSTRACT This paper offers a systematic analysis of the concepts and contexts that frame the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) discourse in the academic and policy literature. Documents (n = 113) related to CSA and published in peer-reviewed journals, books, working papers, and scientific reports from 2004 to 2016 were reviewed. Three key trends emerged from the analysis: studies are biased towards global policy agendas; research focuses on scientific and technical issues; and the integration of mitigation, adaptation, and food security (the three pillars of CSA) is becoming a popular scholarly solution. Findings suggest that CSA is a fairly new concept used to describe a range of adaptation and mitigation practices without a specific set of criteria. Although CSA is often framed around the three pillars, the underlying issues constructing the discourse differ at global, developing, and developed country scales. Although there is increasing research on developing countries, particularly in relation to how CSA can transform smallholder agriculture, there is a paucity of research documenting the experiences from developed countries. The findings suggest that research on CSA needs to move beyond solely focussing on scientific approaches and only in certain geographical contexts. If CSA is to be applicable for farmers across the globe, then cross-disciplinary research that is underpinned by broad socio-economic and political contexts is essential to understand how differences in narratives might affect implementation on-the-ground in both developing and developed countries. POLICY RELEVANCE Although policy makers are increasingly supportive of the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach, the rhetoric has largely been developed on the basis of scientific and technical arguments. The political implications of varying perspectives have resulted in a growing divide between how developing and developed countries frame solutions to the impacts of climate change on agriculture under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Different framings are part of the explanation for why the scope of CSA is being rethought, with the scientific community redirecting attention to seeking a separate work programme under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The current policy framing of CSA will give no new policy direction unless it grounds itself in the smallholder farmer and civil society contexts.

Future migrations from Tuvalu and Kiribati: exploring government, civil society and donor perceptions

Across the world, different communities will be more or less able to adapt to the impacts of climate change based on their levels of exposure, access to a diversity of livelihood assets and adaptive capacity. Pacific communities are highly exposed to many of the projected impacts of climate change, which has garnered much media and government attention over the last decade. This article investigates how the government and non-government actors in Tuvalu and Kiribati, two low-lying Pacific nation-states, are responding to the challenges of climate change, particularly in relation to how they view migration as an adaptation ‘solution’. A brief contextual overview of terms such as ‘migration’ and ‘relocation’ indicates how they have only been used more recently at the multilateral level, most notably by the President of Kiribati. Building on a historical overview, interviews (n = 10) with government officials, and representatives from non-governmental organizations and donor agencies revealed that although each group had a sense of migration as a possible future scenario there were critical differences in how this issue was understood and represented.

Reading, Learning and Enacting: Interpretation at Visitor Sites in the Wet Tropics Rainforest of Australia.

The northern Wet Tropics rainforest of Australia was declared a world heritage site in 1988 and now supports an extensive tourism industry that attracts an estimated 2.5 million local and international visits annually. As part of the visitor experience, many sites include both environmental and cultural interpretation experiences, which range from static displays to one‐on‐one guided tours. This paper identifies visitor demand and level of satisfaction with the static signage and displays used at rainforest sites throughout the Wet Tropics. The research involves visitor surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 and observations at a number of rainforest sites. The results indicate that visitors consider the level of interpretation to be adequate, but appear to use it poorly. While higher at commercial sites, visitor interest in reading the interpretation is very low at public sites. Overall, this article seeks to address whether the aims of nature‐based interpretation, including education and the influencing of attitudes and site behaviour, are being achieved.

The need to reinterpret “community” for climate change adaptation: a case study of Pele Island, Vanuatu

“Community” has long been used as the preferred scale for implementing development projects, but it is being increasingly pitched as the panacea for climate change adaptation. The Pacific region is no exception and given the speed at which projects are being implemented it is important to extract lessons from past community-based projects more generally to inform adaptation activities now and in the future. This article draws from in-depth focus-group discussions (n = 10) in four village communities in Pele Island (Vanuatu) to understand the key factors influencing the success and failure of community-based projects (n = 34) since the late 1970s until the end of 2013. The overwhelming sense from participants is that projects have largely failed in these communities, due in part to a number of standard challenges associated with sustaining projects, including issues of finance, maintenance, management expertise and so on. But it has been the social dynamics, power relations and changing traditional norms at the community level that have been at the epicentre of project failure. This points to an urgent need for “community” to be re-framed as more than just the place where projects are rolled out. Instead, it needs to be a site where the socio-political context is understood and transformed to: avoid problems being built into projects; guarantee that project goals and outcomes do not exacerbate existing inequalities; and ensure that projects do not fail, weaken adaptive capacity or result in maladaptation. This article concludes with a preliminary set of four guidelines that may contribute to the climate change adaptation literature and assist practitioners and donors working with “community” on climate change adaptation efforts now and in the future.

Community-based climate change adaptation: a review of academic literature

ABSTRACT The focus on climate change adaptation, rather than mitigation, has become more prominent since the turn of the century. Given this, it is important to consider what has been achieved so far, particularly community-based approaches which have become the resolve for practitioners and donor agencies working in the sector. This review of 128 publications on community-based climate change adaptation, identified through a systematic database search, follows the development of this body of work in the academic literature. Commencing in the early 2000s, the literature detailed the emergence of community-based adaptation (CBA), driven by a number of factors: recognition of the human dimensions of changes; appreciation of the role of local knowledge for strengthening adaptive capacity; and a push to focus on the scale at which impacts are felt and link this action with pro-poor development outcomes. A more substantial body of work emerged in the literature from 2010 onwards, defining a series of key enablers for effective CBA, which included: use participatory approaches; recognise that adaptation is a social process; and support CBA at multiple scales. More recently, there has been a growing emphasis in the literature to re-conceptualise CBA, which will require focusing on innovation, learning and multi-sectoral approaches.

Raising awareness about climate change in Pacific communities

Community-based climate change projects in the Pacific typically seek to raise the awareness of locals about the consequences of climate change and changing weather patterns. A key concern is that such activities might be done in an ad hoc manner, with little consideration of local relevance, audience and the integration of local experiences and knowledge. Drawing on the results gleaned from an interactive focus group with 10 climate change practitioners working in the region, this exploratory study investigates why raising awareness about climate change remains crucial, and importantly, how such activities might be done in a more relevant, meaningful and empowering way at the community level in the Pacific. This commentary argues that it is essential for communities to make local sense of climate change, particularly in an ever-changing world where knowledge is continuously expanding and changing. Initial findings suggest that making local sense of and raising awareness about climate change readily comes about with due consideration of approach, audience and context.