1. MacDonald, M.C., Hadwen, W., Chan, T., Elliott, M., Kearton, A.
Climate disasters and water shortages – How local adaptation is being used to develop resilience to extreme weather events in Pacific Island Countries
MacDonald, M.C., Hadwen, W., Chan, T., Elliott, M., Kearton, A.
1. Introduction
Climate change poses real threats to development and health in the Pacific, particularly through its impacts on freshwater resources. This project aims to integrate climate change impacts and current practices to develop a framework that will enable communities and water managers to navigate from understanding impacts to evaluating adaptation options for water supply and sanitation.
Objectives of this poster:
to understand the role of multiple water sources in daily household water management;
to explore the function of water source cycling to increase community- and household-level resilience during times of water scarcity; and
to investigate both traditional and modern adaptation options being used to mitigate the effects of floods, droughts and cyclones.
3. Results:
3.1Multiple water sources
Fig. 2. Relative frequency of reported water sources by country
Fig. 3. Relative frequency of reported water sources by community
Fig. 4. Relative frequency of water source allocation by usage in the Solomon Islands
Fig. 5. Relative frequency of water source allocation by usage in the Solomon Islands
Fig. 1: Study countries and sites. Left: location of Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands in the Pacific ocean. Middle: Islands visited in the Marshall Islands. Right: Islands visited in the Solomon Islands.
3.2 Seasonal variability in water sources and uses
2. Methods
2.1 Selecting study sites
Two countries were selected to inform our understanding of climate change threats, management concerns and adaptation opportunities in PICs.: a) Solomon Islands (SI)– flood prone catchment study, and b) Marshall Islands (RMI)– drought prone atoll case study (Fig. 1). These case study areas were selected on the basis of i) existing relationships between members of the research team and the relevant stakeholders in the considered areas, ii) the availability of information on current water issues and climate change threats, and iii) the degree to which they are representative of areas throughout the Pacific.
2.2 Data collection
Comprehensive household surveys were conducted in eight communities and seven islands of RMI (n = 299), as well as five communities and two islands of SI (n = 106). Additionally, gender-separate focus group discussions were held in both RMI (n = 16) and SI (n = 10), to contextualize the survey data and provide more detailed explanations of sociological considerations.
2.3 Preliminary analysis
Visualization of the data using stacked barplots of both relative and absolute frequencies
Chi-square tests of independence of water uses and sources (α = .05)
Fig. 6. Absolute frequency of reported rainwater (shared) use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
Fig. 8. Absolute frequency of reported private well water use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
Fig. 10. Absolute frequency of reported river water use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
Fig. 7. Absolute frequency of reported private rainwater use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
Fig. 9. Absolute frequency of reported public well water use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
Fig. 10. Absolute frequency of reported seawater use by seasons and extreme climate-related events
4. Implications
RMI households rely primarily on rainwater (private) for consumptive needs, but well water (private) for non-consumptive needs (eg gardening, bathing, washing).
SI household water is more complex, with multiple water sources used for multiple (consumptive and non-consumptive) purposes.
The type and number of water sources used in SI HHs remains relatively constant across uses, as opposed to RMI where choice of water source is highly dependent on use.
In SI household water management strategies are largely dependent on seasonal precipitation patterns, but in RMI austere usage behaviours allow private rainwater to be consumed throughout the year, even during the dry season.
Extreme weather events cause severe perturbation to household water management strategies in both SI and RMI.
5. Future Analyses
Examination of individual household data to better understand how the selection of a water source (for a given usage) is influenced by seasonal precipitation patterns.
Explore the role of austerity measures in inter-seasonal household water security in RMI.
Investigate the impact of other socio-cultural (eg. perceived risk) and environmental (eg. distance to source) parameters on household water management
Water Studies Centre
Australian Rivers Institute