How are Pacific Islander communities adapting to climate change?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-07-24 04:00

Australia; Pacific; VIC; QLD

Photo by Gary Runn on Unsplash

Coastal communities in the Pacific Islands are facing increased risks as a result of climate change, and Australian and Fijian researchers have studied the case of a small Fijian village to look at how the community is adapting. The researchers visited the village of Nagigi, which has a population of around 630, and the nearby settlement of Bia-I-Cake which is home to around 60 people, to speak to them about what they were seeing in their communities and how they were adapting. The researchers say community members reported concerns around declining fish numbers and increased flooding and cyclone risk. They say community members are organising to build local aquaculture and regulate fishing practices in the area, while some have been able to use government support and land belonging to their community to rebuild their homes further from the coast.

Journal/
conference: PLOS Climate

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, CSIRO, The University of Queensland

Funder: This work was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (project ID: DP190100604) ($445,000 AUD to CM and KM). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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