Barriers to transformation. A case study of April ridge relocation initiative East of Honiara, Solomon Islands

Increasing vulnerability to extreme environmental events (EEEs), exacerbated by climate change, is making adaptation inevitable for rural communities in Small Islands Developing states (SIDs), including the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). Particularly the communities’ located along the coastal areas that are experiencing sea level rise and coastal erosions, storm surges and flooding. Governments and development agencies across the Pacific have begun to implement adaptation policies to climate change at the community level to build resilience. This paper reports what limits and barriers rural household face for long-term adaptation, using community relocation from Mataniko Riverside to April Ridge, East Honiara, Solomon Islands, as a case study. Two hundred forty six (246) families were affected by the flash flood of Mataniko Riverside in April 2014. The Solomon Island government offered flood victims plots of land in an area safe from flooding. As of July 2015, the date of the study, the relocation process had been stalled, with flood victims still waiting for the promised plots of land. Questionnaires, oral interviews and focus group discussions with flood victims identified vulnerability, flood prone area and changing weather patterns as major limits, and government failures and the socioeconomic reality of these households as major barriers to adaptation. The study determined government failures to include a complicated land tenure system, absence of infrastructure development at the new site, inconsistent commitment to ensure completion of the land transfer to the settlers, and the lack of access to credit. Socioeconomic attributes including insufficient income, lack of formal education and skills, and consequential limited livelihood alternatives, also act as crucial barriers. The research findings indicate the need to design a relocation policy that addresses the limits and barriers identified here, specifically the land tenure system, and the financial support available to facilitate the relocation process.