Journal article
Misperceptions of climate-change risk as barriers to climate-change adaptation: A case study from the Rewa Delta, Fiji
Climatic Change, Vol.110(1-2), pp.169-186
2012
Abstract
While increasing research is focusing on the effective adaptation to climate change in richer (developed) countries, comparatively little has focused specifically on this subject in poorer (developing) countries such as most in the Pacific Islands region. A significant barrier to the development of effective and sustainable adaptive strategies for climate change in such places is the gap between risk and perceived risk. This study looks at a vulnerable location in Fiji-the densely populated Rewa River Delta where environmental changes resulting from shoreline retreat and floods are expected to increase over the next few decades and entail profound societal disruption. The numbers of people living in the Rewa Delta who know of climate change and could correctly identify its contributory causes are few although many rank its current manifestations (floods, riverbank erosion, groundwater salinization) as among their most serious environmental challenges. While lack of awareness is a barrier to adaptation, there are also cultural impediments to this such as short-term planning perspectives, spiritual beliefs, traditional governance structures. One way forward is to empower community leaders in places like the Rewa Delta to make appropriate decisions and for regional governments to continue working together to find solutions that acknowledge the variation in sub-regional trans-national vulnerability to climate change. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Details
- Title
- Misperceptions of climate-change risk as barriers to climate-change adaptation: A case study from the Rewa Delta, Fiji
- Authors
- S Lata (Author) - University of the South Pacific, FijiPatrick Nunn (Author) - University of New England
- Publication details
- Climatic Change, Vol.110(1-2), pp.169-186
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Date published
- 2012
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10584-011-0062-4
- ISSN
- 0165-0009
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2012 Springer Netherlands. The author's accepted version is reproduced here in accordance with the publisher's copyright policy. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0062-4
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450063002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
184 File views/ downloads
717 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites