Contextualizing future climate-forced community relocations on islands: the long history of water-related settlement mobility in Ra Province, Fiji

Patrick D. Nunn; Tricia King; Roselyn Kumar; Binaya Raj Shivakoti; Elyse Zavar; Paul Geraghty; Isoa Korovulavula; Krishna K. Kotra; Arishma Ram; Seci T. Sekinini

doi:10.1007/s10745-026-00685-2

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Contextualizing future climate-forced community relocations on islands: the long history of water-related settlement mobility in Ra Province, Fiji

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Contextualizing future climate-forced community relocations on islands: the long history of water-related settlement mobility in Ra Province, Fiji

Patrick D. Nunn, Tricia King, Roselyn Kumar, Binaya Raj Shivakoti, Elyse Zavar, Paul Geraghty, Isoa Korovulavula, Krishna K. Kotra, Arishma Ram and Seci T. Sekinini

Human Ecology, Vol.54(2), pp.1-17

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-026-00685-2

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Abstract

water

mobility

Islands

climate change

sea-level rise

future

Ra Province

Fiji

Through a study of Ra Province (northeast Viti Levu Island, Fiji) involving both archival research and community engagement, we highlighted a long history of Indigenous population mobility. Many coastal settlements have mostly undocumented histories of relocating inland due to shoreline retreat and land loss over recent decades. Studies of Navutulevu and Vunitogoloa use oral histories and nineteenth-century accounts to show this. More recent autonomous relocations, identified through field surveys in Madhuvani and Navuniivi, are regarded as ‘invisible’ because such major adaptation responses are not usually included in most formal or published reviews of community relocation in the Pacific. Based on our results and a broader understanding of societal evolution in the Pacific Islands region, we concluded that population mobility and settlement relocation have historically been common on (comparatively small and remote) oceanic islands, often in response to changing environmental conditions. Therefore, the possibility of future relocation might seem less intimidating for many coastal residents because of this history. The idea that future relocation is rare and therefore requires extensive funding and policy support, rooted in post-globalization norms, is inaccurate. In reality, it could undermine the resilience of Pacific Island communities by dismissing their histories of autonomous adaptation.

Details

Title: Contextualizing future climate-forced community relocations on islands: the long history of water-related settlement mobility in Ra Province, Fiji
Authors: Patrick D. Nunn (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Tricia King - University of the Sunshine Coast
Roselyn Kumar - University of the Sunshine Coast
Binaya Raj Shivakoti - Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Elyse Zavar - University of North Texas
Paul Geraghty - University of the South Pacific
Isoa Korovulavula - University of the South Pacific
Krishna K. Kotra - University of the South Pacific - Emalus Campus
Arishma Ram - University of the South Pacific
Seci T. Sekinini - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Human Ecology, Vol.54(2), pp.1-17
Publisher: Springer New York LLC
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1007/s10745-026-00685-2
ISSN: 1572-9915
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Grants: Regional partnership for localization of NDC through community led 'adaptation innovation hubs' in the Asia Pacific, 0980027926, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (Japan, Kobe) - APN
Water security for locally relocated coastal communities in the western Pacific region, WAC/2022/128, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (Australia, Canberra) - ACIAR
Traditions of Artificial-Island Construction in the Western Pacific Islands, 0980028923, Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (United Kingdom)
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991219491202621
Output Type: Journal article

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