Getting Ready for the Future of Climate Change
UNDP is working with the Solomon Islands Government to help communities adapt to a changing climate. The project is building on the momentum from climate leaders in each community. These are some of the 'climate change heroes' who are making a difference in the adaptation by working with their friends and families for a more resilient future. Their concerns and local activism are woven into a dynamic alliance with adaptation projects to form a grassroots movement working to help people prepare for the future of climate change.
Nellie is from the small coral atoll of Santa Catalina in the province of Makira. She’s already had to move houses after an earthquake made her part of the island more vulnerable to sea level rise. She says the future of the community is bleak with the increasing threats of climate change.
Santa Catalina is facing converging challenges of population increase and reduced food security because of extreme weather. To make up for the calorie shortfall, imported food like rice and noodles is being brought over from the mainland but creating new problems with waste and sanitation.
Nellie and her neighbours noticed an increase in the amount of rubbish in their community. Plastics bags, biscuit wrappers, rice bags and tin cans started piling up and created hygiene problems. Nellie set up a community clean-up project to get women involved in keeping their areas rubbish-free.
“We don’t have enough resources to sustain life,” says Nellie. “The only option is education.” As the waves moves further inland on Santa Catalina, Nellie says the next generation s should go to town and marry off the island to find a future.
Nellie says they’ve seen a drop in cases of diarrhoea since they started the friendly clean-up competitions. Teams of women are encouraged to join together twice a week for cleaning bees, and the title of 'cleanest ward' is highly sought.
Jimmy is an unlikely climate hero. For years he ran a shop selling imported food with limited nutritional value. Because of climate change he says his community needs to go back to traditional ways and grow their own food.
Jimmy is from the island of Supizae just next to Taro in Choiseul province. Plans are being made to relocate Taro to the mainland because sea level rise will intensify erosion in the years ahead and water shortages will remain, even with the extra government support from the project.
To find enough space for his food production, Jimmy has moved into the swamps on his island to raise chickens and ducks for extra income and their nitrogen-rich manure.
Small scale chicken operations like Jimmy’s can help families earn extra money for school fees and boost the productivity of their gardens and fruits trees. Food security is a major concern across the Solomon Islands.
Jimmy’s granddaughter looks at the camera as he plays another duet with his wife. Jimmy says climate change adaptation is about balancing the inequalities and addressing the injustices his people are facing as a result of industrial countries carbon emissions.
Rendy Solomon carries a plastic bag with her wherever she goes. She’s always on the look out for more plastic rubbish so she and her friends from Plasticwise Gizo can use the trash to make handbags and other creative handicrafts.
Rendy is from Gizo, the growing capital of Western province and it’s expected to grow more with a tourism boom in the years ahead. But the city is held back by water shortages and limited rubbish collection. Rendy and allies are pushing for greater awareness about the impact of plastic but the streams and harbour are still teaming with rubbish.
An uncontrolled landfill is where some of the plastic of Gizo ends up. The open dump spills down the hillside into streams and rusted cars mix with fetid waste and food packaging.
Marylin is one of the 50 women who make up Plasticwise Gizo. She uses traditional weaving techniques to turn the plastic wrappers into stylish handbags. The collective shares the profits so the women benefit but it’s also starting important conversations about climate change and protecting water resources.
It takes more than 300 plastic wrappers to make this handbag. Each one is carefully cut and folded and then woven using traditional techniques. Plasticwise is inspiring others to find creative solutions to the waste problem in the Solomon Islands.
Like most Solomon Islanders, Rendy has a passion for traditional songs and culture. By fusing kastom ways with conservation and a women’s movement, she’s helped create a potent narrative that has broad appeal.
Japhet is from the Polynesian island of Rennell but he says their culture is under threat because of climate change and bauxite mining operations that are ripping his island apart.
Rennell is covered in dense tropical forests but for more than a decade logging and mining have been clearing trees to expand operations. Japhet says it’s taking land they need for growing food and also sapping the motivation to plant when cash buys rice and tuna from the shops.
Bauxite is used to make aluminium so it’s a valuable global commodity under the forests of Rennell. Lack of controls at the mining sites could impact water sources and destabilise an already vulnerable community that is struggling with the impacts of climate change.
Japhet wanted to help his family and community find more sustainable options beyond mining so he went into the honey business. With dozens of hives, he earns a tidy profit and he’s helping boost productivity of fruit trees.
“What the bees display is love and unity,” says Japhet. He says his community can learn lessons about how the bees work together. With logging and mining continuing to cause land disputes on Rennell, Japhet says the message of resilience and community is urgently needed.
Janet is from Tuwo out on the Reef Islands of Temotu province. Salty water from rising sea levels are killing her fruit trees and longer droughts make growing food even more challenging.
Tuwo spreads along the lagoon on Fenuloa island. As the sea rises, people move inland to escape the waves but this process is taking away the limited land for growing crops.
Janet’s hands tell a story of hard work. A wife, mother, farmer and member of the church choir, Janet is a busy woman by any standard. She works in the garden to ensure her children have enough fresh vegetables and get a balanced diet.
Several times a week Janet goes into the bush with a machete and a bag to fill up with rich soil from the forest floor. She takes it from the high ground on the island so it’s not been impacted by the salty water from the sea.
Bag by bag, Janet fills these old canoes with fertile soil. She’s turned the leaky boats into raised beds around her house. It’s a simple innovation but it protect the young fruit trees and helps her grow more vegetables for her children.
Communities in the Solomon Islands are on the frontline of climate change working with the Government and experts from the UN Development Programme to find ways to adapt to the changing environment.
Under the Solomon Islands Water Sector Adaptation Project, “Gud Wata Fo Strongem Komuniti Lo Evritaem", six far-flung communities across the country have become innovation hubs to test and refine methods to cope with issues like drought, salination of wells and the loss of crops to the encroaching sea. The goal is to equip people with the resilience to meet the challenges of the future and serve as a replicable model of adaptation around the Pacific and the world.
The Solomon Islands Water Sector Adaptation Project, “Gud Wata Fo Strongem Komuniti Lo Evritaem", is funded by the GEF-Least Developed Countries Fund and implemented by the Water Resources Division of Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme. The project aims to improve the resilience of water resources to the impacts climate change and improve health, sanitation and quality of life, so that livelihoods can be enhanced and sustained in the targeted vulnerable areas.
To find out more, go to: http://siwsap.org.sb/