Tikopia: A climate smart, sustainable and

multifunctional island

Thilde Bech Bruun

University of Copenhagen

Triple win in multifunctional landscapes - Climate

smart, sustainable and profitable - is it possible?

Climate smart

• Increasing agricultural productivity

• Improving adaptation to climate change

• Contributing to mitigation of climate change

Sustainable

Profitable

Tikopia

Famous for being hit by one of the worst tropical cyclones ever recorded –

without any casualties

Used by IPCC WG II as an example of autonomous adaptation to climate change

Included as a prime example in Jared Diamond’s popular science bestseller

‘Collapse - How societies chose to fail or succeed’

Studied by anthropologist Raymond Firth in the 1920’s and 1960’s (‘We – The

Tikopia’) and by archeologists Patrick Kirch and Douglas Yen in the 1980’s

(‘Tikopia: The Prehistory and Ecology of a Polynesian Outlier’)

Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,

Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)

• Have the changes in subsistence production system, resource use and livelihoods

improved or worsened the prospects for sustainable development, and what have

been the main drivers of these changes? (Timeframe 30-50 years)

• How do the predicted changes in climate, sea level and economic globalisation

processes affect production, resource use and livelihoods and how have

communities adapted to change in the past?

Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,

Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)

1. Livelihood strategies

2. Land use change, farming systems analysis, food security

3. Soil resources – impact of land use on soil properties

4. Use of marine and terrestrial resources, assessment of sustainability of resource use

5. Adaptation to climate change –local perception of climate change and its impact

Solomon Islands

Tikopia: Extinct volcano

Max elevation 360 m

Area: 4.6 km2 (Volcanic clay)

Distance to Honiara: 1200 km

Tropical cyclone Zoë – December 2002 2002

3rd most powerful tropical cyclone

340 km/hour

1 min sustained 285km/hour

3 days

No official warning

The journey to Tikopia

Tikopia

Demography

Population: 1200

• Stable since 1965, but 4800 Tikopians are living outside

the island

Institut for Geografi og Geologi

Agriculture

Almost 100% of the island is cultivated

• Agroforestry with permanent fields

• Fallow systems with mulching

• Oven gardens around houses

Agroforestry with permanent fields

• Giant taro

• Taro

• Yam

• Bananas

• Breadfruit

• Sago

• Coconuts

• Tobacco

• Fruit trees

Institut for Geografi og Geologi

Agroforestry systems

Betelnut

Giant taro

Sago

Banana

Breadfruit

Fallow systems with mulching

• Cassava

• Sweet potatoes

• Taro

No burning

No external inputs

No mechanization

No signs of soil degradation!

Institut for Geografi og Geologi

Fishing

All households consume fish every day

90 % mention fishing as the primary

livelihood activity

• Deep sea fishing

• Trolling from canoes (barracudas, tuna)

• Flying fish fishing

• Large nets outside the reef

• Small nets on the reef

• Speargun hunting on reef

• Shark fishing

Institut for Geografi og Geologi

Fishing

Institut for Geografi og Geologi

Import and income sources

No import of food!

• Limited import of

� Fishing equipment

� Kerosene

� Machetes

� Clothes

• Income sources

� Remittances

� Selling of handicraft to tourists (2 ships per year)

� State officials (7)

The Cyclones

Cyclone timeline: in 1952, 1985, 1991 and 2002 (+ 2015)

Effects of cyclones

• Damage on buildings, equipment, tools

• Gardens heavily damaged

• No trees left for canoe building

• Sea breakthrough into crater lake

Perceptions of change

Problem ranking: Increased intensity and/or frequency of cyclones is rated

highest: A very serious matter in Tikopia

Perceptions: Cyclones are increasing in number and intensity

IPCC 5AR: Climate Change Scenario for 2050: Intensity of cyclones projected to

increase by 20 %

Adaptation of the agricultural production system

Well adapted system and little long-term effect of cyclone Zoe on farming

Crop diversification and multiple plots

Location of farmers’ fields: Exploitation of ecological niches and

risk minimization

3

Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)

• Emergency food supplies

• Use of traditional preservation techniques:

Fermentation of damaged crops

Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)

• Emphasis on short cycle crops

• ‘Oven gardens’ around houses

• Emphasis on fishing

Multifunctional

Landscape

Climate smart

Sustainable

Profitable

Triple win in multifunctional landscapes – Climate

smart, sustainable and profitable

Thanks