Evaluation of policy environment for climate change adaptation in tourism

Tourism in small island developing states and territories in the South Pacific is crucial to the development of these countries yet highly vulnerable to climate change. Drawing on political science theories, this study critically analyses the policy environment of Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu for the tourism sector’s adaptation to climate change. Three aspects of the policy environment were analysed, namely stakeholder commitment, resource availability and capacity, and presence of enabling mechanisms or processes. We find that Samoa provides the most conducive policy environment among the three for climate change adaptation. The difference can be attributed to political instability and lack of institutional coordination in Fiji; and in Vanuatu, industry players showing little concern for climate change and lack of policy implementation. Stakeholders should take ownership of the climate change issues, and governments better manage the funding from aid agencies and establish policy mechanisms that facilitate adaptation

Not by rent alone: Analysing the pro-poor functions of small-scale fisheries in developing countries

The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small-scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource-poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent-maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled