Viliamu Iese

Climate Change Implications for Crop Production in Pacific Islands Region

The purpose of this chapter is to bring to the fore implications of climate change on the status of crop production in the Pacific Islands region. The Pacific Island people derive their livelihood or secure their food security from natural resources sectors including agriculture,forestry, fisheries and aquaculture; that is, their livelihood is depended on the environment. Any threat or impact on their environment will have profound impact on people’s livelihoods. The PICTs limited land resources are under constant pressure from many factors including climate change. Agricultural crops contribute substantially to people’s food security status.

The proliferating brown alga Sargassum polycystum in Tuvalu, South Pacific: assessment of the bloom and applications to local agriculture and sustainable energy

Since 2011, the small South Pacific atoll nation of Tuvalu has been affected by algal blooms, the most recent being a large growth of the brown alga Sargassum on the main atoll of Funafuti. The gravity of the situation led to an invitation to the authors from the Tuvalu Government to conduct an initial survey of the problem in November 2013. The bloom was seen to be localized on the lagoon side of the main populated island of Fongafale, distributed in a variably dense belt up to 100 m from the shoreline. A total of 19 species of macroalgae were found in the survey area, the dominant one being the phaeophyceaen alga, Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh, with individual plants reaching up to 2 m in length with a cover ranging between 16 and 23 % of the substratum. For seven transects laid from the southern tip of the island to the end of the populated area, wet biomass ranged between 0.45 and 3.56 kg m−2, with an average of 1.68 kg m−2. There was a correlation noticed between the density of human population on the shore and algal biomass, with the highest biomass figures opposite a school and a hotel. Water quality tests also showed nutrient levels almost twice as high in front of populated areas than in unpopulated areas of the island. The algal belt was seen to be concentrated in water less than 1 m deep, becoming sparser as depth increased. The high amount of Sargassum biomass available makes it a good candidate for use as a fertiliser additive for agricultural practices in Tuvalu. Benefits from seaweed-based fertilisers are numerous, and individual farmers have already reported success with the blooms species on the atoll. Additionally, the Sargassum biomass could be converted into biogas using the process of anaerobic digestion in simple household digesters, to meet the need for renewable energy in lighting and cooking.

Eruption Styles of Samoan Volcanoes Represented in Tattooing, Language and Cultural Activities of the Indigenous People

In the Samoan language, culture, activities and beliefs are based on hidden volcanic characteristics and other elements that hint at people’s and communities’ experiences with volcanism and their consequences. Hardly any of these significant features appear in earlier western scientific literature. Traditional and cultural components, however, are mirrored mainly in place names, tattooing traditions, dancing activities (siva or faafiafiaga), traditional speeches (lauga) and songs (pese). To identify volcanic features that correspond with specific volcano names, linked to volcanic events, and document the cultural experience of people with Samoa’s rich volcanic landscape, field work was conducted. The field surveys equally looked for field evidence to link collected cultural data that has remote relevance with volcanism and targeted communities to map out their understanding of volcanism in areas considered to represent the youngest volcanic phases in the islands (from the Late Pleistocene to present time). These volcanic features were linked to collected oral traditions and stories uncovered by interviewing people from various villages located near these young volcanoes. Elderly people, especially, were able to recall and recite many such oral traditions. The study concentrated on Samoa’s two main and most populated islands, Upolu and Savai’i Island. The aim of this study was to experience how the early arrivals to the islands defined and responded to the active volcanism and the volcanic landscape of Samoa. This study helps us understand how the early occupants transformed volcanic features into part of the main culture components, which still continue throughout the modern generation. In other words, these people use volcanic information as record, memory or evidence to let the later arrivals know that they were the first to arrive at this particular place. This confirms the fact that most of these occupants were witnessing volcanic activities in this part of Savai’i. Skills used by the early occupants to classify stronger and less strong impact activity (e.g. thickness of volcanic smoke) provide valuable information for the volcanic monitoring system on the island. The study also identified the movement of people not only within the main islands of Samoa but also the arrival of the Tonga group in several parts of Samoa.

Climate engineering: early reflections on a complex conversation

This is a background account and formal statement prepared by participants in the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies’ Climate Engineering Summer Course, held between 2 and 17 August 2014 in Potsdam, Germany.