Port Vila Bay, Efate

Port Vila Bay is the site of the capital of Vanuatu located on the Southwestern coast of Efate Island. This area was selected as a case study due to the high vulnerability to coastal hazards. The population growth rate on Efate Island is almost double the national rate, with the majority of the growth occurring in the peri-urban fringes of Port Vila municipality, Efate. This population growth has added to the settlement’s concentration within the coastal zone, and together with the high reliance of marine resources for livelihoods and food security and the exposure to coastal hazards such as tropical cyclones and impacts of climate change, this region is highly vulnerable to coastal hazards.

Pollution of coastal recreational waters in small island developing states are also among coastal risks that need attention. Coastal waters are often degraded due to wastewater discharge or runoff contaminated with fertilizer, oil, pesticides, dirt, bacteria and other pollutants from waste disposal as it makes its way through storm drains.

In July 2018, recreational uses of waters in Vila Bay were banned due to contamination with Escherichia coli (E. coli), a potential health threat. This was also suspected for Erakor Lagoon, however, it was not monitored. As the coastal water in Erakor lagoon system is widely used by the local communities and tourists for snorkelling, fishing and swimming, understanding the residence time of any pollutants discharged in the lagoon is important to maintaining water quality and for the health of the local population.

Erakor Lagoon also hosts current and future tourism facilities along its shore. In this case, coastal adaptations to protect the population bordering the lagoon rely more on soft or hard engineering solutions than evacuating the risk zones as it could be in a low development zone such as Port Resolution in Tanna. Moreover natural ecosystem has already been modified and this is another aspect to treat when determining adaptation strategies.

The Southwest of Efate was also a practical case study site in that data collection was more accessible than for remote locations and allowed study of the reef processes in detail. Once methods to estimate risks in reef environment were established transferral of this approach to other locations could be facilitated for future studies.

Port Resolution

Port Resolution is a series of small hamlets in the south eastern corner of Tanna. The community comprises approximately 280 ha of land and 150 ha of inshore coastal coral reef and in-shore lagoon. The population largely lives in traditional housing, is agrarian subsistence-based, and retains strong familial and tribal affiliations. Tanna is often referred to as the stronghold of kastom1 – a place where people still know and revere traditional songs, can trace their lineage, and organise and participate in rituals, community decision-making processes and ceremonies. Tanna is commonly regarded as an example of a location in which kastom and modernity can coexist.

The Port Resolution community depends almost exclusively on a combination of subsistence farming, animal husbandry, and artisanal fishing for sustenance and non-food product harvesting for building dwellings. Customary resource management practices rely on the ability of resource users to adaptively manage and understand generally tight biophysical feedback loops, and to effectively modify community-wide practices accordingly. These customary practices are generally built on a foundation of manipulating or supporting ecological processes. The Port Resolution farming system typically comprises three components:

1. a shifting cultivation system;
2. a perennial plantation cultivation system; and
3. a forest and arboricultural system.

The productivity of this subsistence system and integrity of the adjoining tropical forests are at the centre of a complex web of interdependencies that have an impact on overall village community well-being and resilience to climate change. This productivity is reportedly under threat, mostly likely from shortened fallow times in the shifting cultivation system. As with the land, the inshore marine areas are subject to customary ownership and allocation of access, and are both economically and culturally important to the Port Resolution community.

Marine habitats in the Port Resolution area include significant areas of shallow coral gardens and sea grass beds in some of the more sheltered areas on the lee-side of the reefs. Customary marine fisheries management has evolved to manage social relationships (closures for funerary rights, or managing relations with neighbours), rather than from a need to conserve fisheries.

There are no permanent freshwater streams in Port Resolution. The village's water source is a single mains pipe, which runs a significant distance (~10 km) from a nearby mountain range. The flow from this source is slow but is consistent and reportedly rarely fails completely. In the main village (Ireupuow) there is a groundwater pump, which at the time of our field work was broken. A limited number of rooftop capture water tank combinations have been installed.