The Pacific Islands must blend tradition with modernity to thrive in a post-COVID, politically dynamic and climate-driven world, according to CEO of the Fred Hollows Foundation and regional development expert Dr Audrey Aumua.
Delivering the 2022 Sir John Crawford Memorial Address on food security, Aumua said that although the Pacific was beautiful, its ever-changing environment provided significant challenges for agriculture — particularly in the face of climate change.
“Increasingly powerful cyclones have been wreaking havoc across the Pacific,” she said.
“Most recently, the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano — a few minutes of volcanic activity destroyed decades of development.
“Hanging over it all is a more rapidly changing climate, leading to sea level rise, droughts, infectious diseases, unsustainable development, food and nutrition challenges and threats to livelihoods and our traditional ways of life,” the CEO said.
Malnutrition is still a large issue for many Pacific Islands, with current food production not sufficiently providing the number of fruits and non-starchy vegetables required for good human health.
Pacific agriculture will face greater challenges in the future as rising sea levels swallow up the already scarce arable land in atoll countries such as Kiribati. Farmers will be forced to work their limited land harder, and rely more heavily on chemical fertilisers.
This poses an environmental risk to the other key source of food in the Pacific — the ocean. Aumua said the preservation of the “blue-green” (fishing and agriculture) economy was key to food and economic security.
“Across the countries of the Pacific, 50-70% of people depend on agriculture and fishing for their livelihoods,” she said.
“The blue-green economy means evolving not only our food systems but our relationship with food so that we can capture and emancipate a very powerful means to realise the climate-resilient societies and climate-resilient food systems that the Pacific needs.”
Aumua’s call for greater implementation of scientific knowledge and technology in agriculture and fishing could provide an opportunity to bolster Australia’s ailing Pacific Step-up Strategy.
While DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson said the strategy was guided by what Pacific leaders and communities had told DFAT they wanted, a report from the Lowy Institute earlier this year said Australia’s actions needed to be more targeted in order to improve our standing in the area.
“Australia’s failing Pacific Step-up strategy needs serious change to succeed. Shifting Australian support towards helping those Pacific Island domestic interest groups seeking good governance might do it,” the report read.
Minister for foreign affairs Penny Wong has taken steps towards repairing these damaged relationships, undertaking a diplomatic tour of the region soon after she assumed office.
The feedback from some of our Pacific neighbours has been positive, and the joint communique released after last month’s Pacific Island Forum in Suva suggests Australia’s changed public stance on climate change may be the biggest factor in improving relations.
“Leaders welcomed and fully supported Australia’s renewed commitment to the Forum’s climate change priorities, and welcomed the interest from Australia to host a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties in partnership with Pacific Island countries,” the communique said.
Despite the coming challenges, Aumua said Pacific communities had plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.
“We as a region are learning to embrace science, technology, innovation, tradition and flexibility to ensure our small nations achieve big ambitions.
“We have the resources in place — organisations like The Pacific Community (our regional scientific organisation) who are already working to pool our knowledge, expand our scientific expertise and help up prepare for the future.”
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