Solomon Islands’ climate fragility trap: Practical pathways for policy action
The Solomon Islands face a climate fragility trap driven by environmental vulnerability, economic overreliance on natural resources, and limited institutional capacity, which together threaten livelihoods, food security, and social cohesion. This brief suggests implementable policy recommendations, outlining practical, community-led solutions—ranging from decentralised climate governance to climate-resilient infrastructure and sustainable resource management—tailored to the country's unique challenges and informed by successful global models.
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Liaqat-Basu-Policy-Brief-April-2025.pdf
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- The Solomon Islands are highly vulnerable to climate-induced shocks, including cyclones, tsunamis, flooding, and coral reef degradation, threatening livelihoods and food security. The country's reliance on fisheries, agriculture, and forestry, limited disaster preparedness, and weak coping capacities exacerbate this fragility.
- The Solomon Islands face structural economic challenges, including overdependence on resource extraction, low financial inclusion, and a volatile GDP growth rate. Social challenges include land disputes due to internal migration, low education completion rates, and limited capacity for managing a rapidly growing population.
- Key barriers to the government's ability to address the impact of climate change include a lack of geographic information systems for disaster risk assessment, inadequate data collection, limited government budgets, and insufficient capacity for implementing adaptation measures or leveraging new technologies.
- Climate-induced internal migration, resource scarcity, and food insecurity increase tensions among ethnic groups, threatening social cohesion and potentially destabilising the country, especially given its history of ethnic violence.
- Addressing these economic and social challenges requires innovative, community-led approaches and targeted investments.