Presentation by Thilde Bech Bruun, University of Copenhagen - at the young researchers meeting on multifunctional landscapes, Gothenburg June 7-8, 2016.

1. Tikopia: A climate smart, sustainable and
multifunctional island
Thilde Bech Bruun
University of Copenhagen

2. Triple win in multifunctional landscapes - Climate
smart, sustainable and profitable - is it possible?
Climate smart
• Increasing agricultural productivity
• Improving adaptation to climate change
• Contributing to mitigation of climate change
Sustainable
Profitable

3. Tikopia
Famous for being hit by one of the worst tropical cyclones ever recorded –
without any casualties
Used by IPCC WG II as an example of autonomous adaptation to climate
change
Included as a prime example in Jared Diamond’s popular science bestseller
‘Collapse - How societies chose to fail or succeed’
Studied by anthropologist Raymond Firth in the 1920’s and 1960’s (‘We – The
Tikopia’) and by archeologists Patrick Kirch and Douglas Yen in the 1980’s
(‘Tikopia: The Prehistory and Ecology of a Polynesian Outlier’)

4. Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,
Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)
• Have the changes in subsistence production system, resource use and livelihoods
improved or worsened the prospects for sustainable development, and what have
been the main drivers of these changes? (Timeframe 30-50 years)
• How do the predicted changes in climate, sea level and economic globalisation
processes affect production, resource use and livelihoods and how have
communities adapted to change in the past?

5. Sustainable resource use or imminent collapse? Climate,
Livelihoods and Production in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP)
1. Livelihood strategies
2. Land use change, farming
systems analysis, food security
3. Soil resources – impact of land
use on soil properties
4. Use of marine and terrestrial
resources, assessment of
sustainability of resource use
5. Adaptation to climate change –
local perception of climate
change and its impact

6. Solomon Islands

7. Tikopia: Extinct volcano
Max elevation 360 m
Area: 4.6 km2 (Volcanic clay)
Distance to Honiara: 1200 km

10. Tropical cyclone Zoë – December 2002 2002
3rd most powerful tropical cyclone
340 km/hour
1 min sustained 285km/hour
3 days
No official warning

13. The journey to Tikopia

22. Tikopia

26. Demography
Population: 1200
• Stable since 1965, but 4800 Tikopians are living outside
the island

27. Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Agriculture
Almost 100% of the island is cultivated
• Agroforestry with permanent fields
• Fallow systems with mulching
• Oven gardens around houses

28. Agroforestry with permanent fields
• Giant taro
• Taro
• Yam
• Bananas
• Breadfruit
• Sago
• Coconuts
• Tobacco
• Fruit trees

29. Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Agroforestry systems
Betelnut
Giant taro
Sago
Banana
Breadfruit

31. Fallow systems with mulching
• Cassava
• Sweet potatoes
• Taro

33. No burning
No external inputs
No mechanization
No signs of soil degradation!

34. Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Fishing
All households consume fish every day
90 % mention fishing as the primary
livelihood activity
• Deep sea fishing
• Trolling from canoes (barracudas, tuna)
• Flying fish fishing
• Large nets outside the reef
• Small nets on the reef
• Speargun hunting on reef
• Shark fishing

35. Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Fishing

36. Institut for Geografi og Geologi
Import and income sources
No import of food!
• Limited import of
Fishing equipment
Kerosene
Machetes
Clothes
• Income sources
Remittances
Selling of handicraft to
tourists (2 ships per year)
State officials (7)

37. The Cyclones
Cyclone timeline: in 1952, 1985, 1991 and 2002 (+ 2015)
Effects of cyclones
• Damage on buildings, equipment, tools
• Gardens heavily damaged
• No trees left for canoe building
• Sea breakthrough into crater lake

38. Perceptions of change
Problem ranking: Increased intensity and/or frequency of cyclones is rated
highest: A very serious matter in Tikopia
Perceptions: Cyclones are increasing in number and intensity
IPCC 5AR: Climate Change Scenario for 2050: Intensity of cyclones projected to
increase by 20 %

39. Adaptation of the agricultural production system
Well adapted system and little long-term effect of cyclone Zoe on farming

40. Crop diversification and multiple plots

41. Location of farmers’ fields: Exploitation of ecological niches and
risk minimization
3

42. Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)
• Emergency food supplies
• Use of traditional preservation techniques:
Fermentation of damaged crops

43. Short-term coping after cyclones (Food supply)
• Emphasis on short cycle crops
• ‘Oven gardens’ around houses
• Emphasis on fishing

44. Multifunctional
Landscape
Climate smart
Sustainable
Profitable
Triple win in multifunctional landscapes – Climate
smart, sustainable and profitable

45. Thanks