Social-ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Sandra G McCubbin; Tristan Pearce; James D Ford; Barry Smit

doi:10.5751/ES-09129-220153

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Social-ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Social-ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu

Sandra G McCubbin, Tristan Pearce, James D Ford and Barry Smit

Ecology and Society, Vol.22(1), pp.331-343

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09129-220153

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Abstract

climate change

food security

imported foods

local foods

Pacific Islands

This article examines food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu in the context of recent social-ecological changes. We consider both social and ecological processes in order to provide a holistic account of food security. An analysis of data collected through a fixed-question survey and freelists with 50 households and semistructured interviews with 25 key informants reveal that access to food of sufficient nutritional and cultural value is the primary driver affecting food security, more so than general food availability. Ten percent of the households surveyed experienced a shortage of food in the previous month, and 52% ate less desirable imported foods, which tended to be nutrient poor because they could not access preferred local foods. Factors and processes affecting access to local foods include: availability of and access to land; declining involvement in local food production; the convenience of imported foods; unreliable interisland shipping; and climate and environmental changes that have negatively affected food security and are expected to continue to do so.

Details

Title: Social-ecological change and implications for food security in Funafuti, Tuvalu
Authors: Sandra G McCubbin (Author) - Queen's University, Canada
Tristan Pearce (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
James D Ford (Author) - McGill University, Canada
Barry Smit (Author) - University of Guelph, Canada
Publication details: Ecology and Society, Vol.22(1), pp.331-343
Publisher: Resilience Alliance Publications
Date published: 2017
DOI: 10.5751/ES-09129-220153
ISSN: 1708-3087
Copyright note: Copyright © 2017 by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance. This article is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt the work for noncommercial purposes provided the original author and source are credited, you indicate whether any changes were made, and you include a link to the license.
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450343302621
Output Type: Journal article