The Assesslnent of Pacific Island Environlnental Vulnerability: A
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The Assesslnent of Pacific Island Environlnental Vulnerability: A critical study of the developlnent of an Environlnental Vulnerability Index by the South Pacific Geoscience COlnlnission. A Thesis sublnitted in paliial fulfilln1ent of the requirelnents for the Degree of Master of Alis of Geography at the University of Canterbury by Silnon J. Lambert University of Canterbury 2001 Table of Contents Abstract. .. '" ....... , ................... '" ........................................... IV Acknowledgements .................................................................. V List of Figures and Tables .......................................................... vi Abbreviations ......................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................... " ............. 1 1.1 An Overview of the Pacific Islands ....... , ............................... 3 1.2 Previous Work on Pacific Island Vulnerability ......................... 6 1.2.1 The Vulnerability of Islands: the Pacific region ........................ 8 1.3 Problem Statement ........................................................... 11 1.4 Thesis Aim and Format. ................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Science and the management of vulnerability. .. 15 2.1 Science ........................................................................ 15 2.1.1 Western science ............................................................ 15 2.1.2 Environmental science. ................................................... 17 2.1.3 Hazards and disasters ...................................................... 20 2.2 Science in the Pacific ...................................................... 23 2.2.1 History. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .. .. .. ... ... .. ... .. ... .. 23 2.2.2 Hazards and disasters in the Pacific. .................................... 26 2.3 A Pacific Science? ........................................................ 27 2.4 Science and decision making .............................................. 30 2.4.1 Usefulness and problems ................................................... 30 2.4.2 Indicators and Indices: communicating environmental qualities ..... 32 2.5 Conclusions .................................................................. 35 Chapter 3 Environmental management in the Pacific ...................... 37 3.1 Environmental institutions: traditional and colonial .................... 37 3.1.1 TraditionaL ..... , ..... " ..................................................... 37 3.1.2 Management after Colonisation.. .. .. 44 3.2 Independence: a time of development or neo-colonialism ............ 51 3.2.1 Development strategies .................................................... 51 3.2.2 Health ......................................................................... 57 3.3 Contemporary management of PIC environments ...................... 58 3.3.1 Governance and legitimacy ............................................... 58 3.3.2 Transboundary issues: implications and responses ..................... 63 3.4 Measuring Development and the Environment. .................... '" 65 3.5 Conclusions ................................................................. 68 Z 6 MAR 2002 ii Chapter 4 Supranational Policy in the Pacific............... .............. 70 4.1 Environmental organisations. ........................................... 70 4.1.1 Science and multilateral environmental agreements... ...... ... ...... 73 4.1.2 Capacity and funding. ................................................... 75 4.2 The Pacific regional context: contemporary organisation.. .. .. ... 77 4.3 Pacific environmental policies. ........................................ 80 4.3.1 Developll1ent. .................. '" ... ..................... ......... ..... 80 4.3.2 PIC capacity. ............................................................. 85 4.4 Pacific regional responses to vulnerability .............................. 87 4.4.1 Development of responses ................................................ 87 4.4.2 The South Pacific Geoscience Commission and the EVI Project. ... 87 4.5 Conclusions ................................................................. 92 Chapter 5 The Environmental Vulnerability Project..................... 94 5.1 Development of the EVI .................................................... 94 5.2 Framework .................................................................. 99 5.2.1 Sub-indices .................................................................. 100 5.3 Indicators.................................................. ..... .......... ... 101 5.3.1 Categories ................................................................... 101 5.3.2 Weighting ................................................................... 102 5.4 Indicator List: Descriptions, weighting and scoring.. ...... .. ... 103 5.4.1 Meteorological Indicators .................................................. 104 5.4.2 Geological Indicators ....................................................... 107 5.4.3 Country Characteristics Indicators ........................................ 108 5.4.4 Biological Indicators ........................................................ 110 5.4.5 Anthropogenic Indicators .................................................. 113 5.5 The EVI Calculator. ....................................................... 120 5.6 Data issues: capacity and availability ................................... 121 5.7 EVI Funding. ............................................................... 123 5.8 Conclusions ................................................................. 124 Chapter 6 Critique of the EVI. .. 126 6.1 EYI Operational Definitions ............................................... 126 6.1.1 The EnvirOlIDlent. ......................................................... 126 6.1.2 Environmental vulnerability. ............................................. 128 6.2 Limitations of the EVI indicators. ....................................... 129 6.2.1 Meteorological indicators .................................................. 130 6.2.2 Geological indicators ....................................................... 131 6.2.3 Country characteristics............ ......... ............... ......... ...... 133 6.2.4 Biological indicators ....................................................... 134 6.2.5 Anthropogenic indicators .................................................. 136 6.2.6 Calculations of the EYI. ................................................... 137 6.3 The sub-national scale: islands and islanders ........................... 138 6.4 Motivations for the EYI. .................................................. 138 6.5 Data: availability and reliability. .......................... ............. 140 iii 6.6 Conclusions. ............................................................... 141 Chapter 7 Conclusions. ...................................................... 143 7.1 Sun11nary ..................................................................... 143 7.1.1 Science ........................................................................ 143 7.1.2 Traditional Practices ........................................................ 144 7.1.3 Traditional Post-Contact. ................................................... 145 7.1.4 Multi-national Organisations .............................................. 146. 7.2 Vulnerability Revisited.. .... ... .. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...... 147 7.3 Review and Recommendations.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 149 References. .. .. .. ... .. 152 iv Abstract The interaction between science and policy in the management of the environment in the Pacific region has seen it subject to different interpretations, practices and policies. Importantly, this has exposed the lack of capacity to mitigate environmental degradation in the region, and the need for accurate assessment and monitoring of environmental change. This thesis examines the conceptions of, and responses to, environmentally framed vulnerability of Pacific Island communities through an examination of one attempt to measure environmental vulnerability in the Pacific Islands by the South Pacific Geoscience Commission (SOP AC). The historical contexts of the science and politics involved in management of the Pacific environment are described, as the development of SOPAC's Environmental Vulnerability Index. Their project has selected and manipulated 47 indicators that do not accurately reflect the role that the environment has in the lives of Pacific Islanders. It finds that Pacific Island communities remain subject to policies and methodologies implemented by a number of organisations that predominantly involve 'top down' processes that are subsequently imposed on local communities. This gives rise to problems of governance in environmental management that are not necessarily resolved by increases in empirical scientific data, or more sophisticated environmental modelling. v Acknowledg ements Thanks are expressed to my supervisors, Associate Professor Ian Owens, and Dr. Jon Barnett, who as a NZ Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellow at Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, assisted with travel funding via the NZ Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. I would like to thank Canterbury University for their provision of a Masters Scholarship. I would also like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for their provision of a Historical Research Grant and access