Climate Resilience in the Pacific: Part 1 - Insights from Current & Future Efforts

Welcome to Part 1 of our series focused on the climate resilience and infrastructure challenges currently facing the Pacific Islands. This first part introduces key topics that will be covered in this series, drawing on the work Beca has done with Pacific communities over more than three decades, and the authors insights from the May 2024 Pacific Ocean Pacific Climate Change Conference.
 

The Pacific Islands are on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events and environmental degradation are realities that Pacific communities live with every day. For them, building climate resilience isn’t an abstract concept—it’s a necessity for their survival and long-term sustainability.

However, balancing the need for immediate action to maintain livelihoods with long-term resilience planning is an ongoing challenge for governments and communities across the region. Although the amount of international climate finance is increasing, there are still challenges in ensuring funds are directed where they are needed most and that short term projects are not hindering the long term adaptive strategies needed to minimise socio-economic impacts. The increased focus on developing National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in Pacific Island countries is establishing overall strategies to guide resilience investment. But there is a need to ensure these NAPs create a clear pathway that is flexible and actionable, given the inherent uncertainties associated with climate change.

What is climate resilience?

At its core, climate resilience is about more than just adapting infrastructure or responding to environmental changes. It encompasses the protection of cultural heritage and the wellbeing of local communities, so the Pacific Islands continue to thrive. There is much we can learn from Pacific Island people who have adapted their ways of living to minimise environmental impacts for centuries. This article emphasises the importance of a consistent and holistic approach to building resilience.

Resilience in Infrastructure: Lessons from a Fiji bridge project 


Infrastructure is the backbone of any community, especially in the Pacific Islands, where geographical isolation can compound the impacts of climate disasters. One of the key projects demonstrating resilience in action is a series of bridge upgrades Beca completed in Fiji. These bridges serve as lifelines during extreme weather events, allowing access to critical services like healthcare and education. They also maintain the social connectivity necessary to foster community level support, particularly for the most vulnerable.

In the Pacific, infrastructure resilience goes beyond simply building strong structures. It requires forward-thinking designs that anticipate future climate challenges. These bridge upgrades illustrates how infrastructure can be dynamic, flexible and robust enough to adapt to uncertainties - from rising sea levels to more frequent cyclones.

By embedding community resilience considerations into the planning and design phases, Beca and our local partners are developing practical infrastructure solutions to support Pacific communities now and well into the future. This includes considering the maintenance of structures and how quickly accessibility can be restored following significant climatic events.

“By embedding community resilience considerations into the planning and design phases, Beca and our local partners are developing practical infrastructure solutions to support Pacific communities now and well into the future”.

Protecting Environmental and Cultural Legacies

Environmental stewardship and the integration of cultural knowledge are foundational to climate resilience in the Pacific. For centuries, Pacific Islanders have been stewards of their lands and waters, relying on traditional practices and deep-rooted cultural values to maintain harmony with the environment. These traditions offer invaluable lessons in sustainability, which must be preserved as we confront modern climate challenges.

Take for example the work our Beca team did developing climate adaptation strategies to inform the National Adaptation Plan for the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The people of the low-lying atolls of the Marshall Islands face existential threats from climate change, with rising seas jeopardising their land and way of life. Yet the Marshallese have shown incredible resolve to stay connected to their ancestral lands.

As they confront climate challenges, they rely on a deep sense of identity and community to guide their resilience efforts. This highlights an essential truth: building resilience isn’t just about protecting infrastructure or the environment—it’s also about preserving cultural legacies and ensuring future generations continue to thrive in their homelands.

At Beca, we recognise the importance of blending modern scientific approaches with traditional knowledge – centring the work we do in the systems of the communities which it impacts. By working alongside Pacific communities, we are not only helping to protect vital ecosystems but also empowering communities to lead the way in developing and implementing their own local solutions that align with their traditional practices.

“This highlights an essential truth: building resilience isn’t just about protecting infrastructure or the environment—it’s also about preserving cultural legacies and ensuring future generations can continue to thrive in their homelands”.

The Costs of Inaction: Economic and Social Implications

As the global community acknowledge the economic costs experienced by small island developing states from a changing climate through the Loss and Damage Fund, there is a growing need to consider non-economic loss and damage alongside direct economic costs. The affects of climate change on the social fabric of communities, including compounding impacts that are causing many to migrate away from their traditional lands in search of improved livelihoods, may not be immediately evident or attributed to climate change. But they are nevertheless contributors. For many, the emotional and cultural ties to their land are as critical as economic survival. The loss of ancestral lands due to sea-level rise or climate-induced migration can have profound social and psychological impacts.

While the effects of climate change impact a community’s sense of identity (through displacement or competition driven by resource scarcity), the strength of social ties and sense of community in turn supports and guides more proactive and effective long-term adaptation.

As a partner to these communities, Beca takes an approach to resilience planning that considers not only economic factors but also the cultural and social dimensions that are vital to the wellbeing of Pacific peoples. Through our work assessing the vulnerability of Cook Island communities to climate change we identified that demographic vulnerabilities, such as dwindling populations and loss of community capital are having flow on effects on the resilience of the remaining population - as people leave to seek employment, education and health opportunities. Implementing resettlement programmes and identifying the key local resources needed to support a population are pivotal considerations for future adaptation planning.

Collaborating for Lasting Impact

Building climate resilience in the Pacific is an ongoing collective effort. It requires collaboration between governments, international organisations, local communities and industry leaders. No single entity can tackle the complexities of climate resilience alone. At Beca, we have long believed that the most impactful solutions come from partnerships —where diverse perspectives and multi-discipline expertise come together to co-create sustainable outcomes.

One of the critical challenges facing Pacific communities is "research and consultation fatigue”, as many have been subjects of countless research initiatives without seeing tangible results. We must move beyond ‘research for the sake of research’. Our approach focuses on delivering actionable, practical outcomes that address the immediate needs of communities. This requires sensitivity to local contexts and a commitment to ensuring that communities are not just consulted but are active participants in the decision-making process.

For example, our work on Vanuatu’s Rapid Climate Risk Assessments demonstrates how collaboration can create efficient, scalable solutions. By developing a rapid climate risk assessment framework, we worked alongside local stakeholders to identify the most urgent climate threats across multiple sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure and tourism. This framework enables decision-makers to conduct assessments themselves to prioritise adaptation measures and respond proactively to the most significant risks – achieving cross government collaboration in the identification of risks whilst avoiding silos.

“Building climate resilience in the Pacific is an ongoing collective effort. It requires collaboration between governments, international organisations, local communities and industry leaders. No single entity can tackle the complexities of climate resilience alone”.

The Path Forward: What Can We Do?

So, what can we do to support communities in building climate resilience in the Pacific? The answer lies in taking a holistic approach that addresses the diverse and interconnected challenges faced by local communities. Some key actions include:
 

• 1. Strengthening partnerships: Collaboration is key to unlocking climate finance, technical expertise and community engagement. By fostering partnerships across government, local communities, businesses and international organisations, we can amplify the impact of resilience efforts.
• 2. Investing in resilient infrastructure: Infrastructure acts as the very building blocks of wider environmental, cultural and social resilience and should be driven with community needs at the centre. Projects like the bridge upgrades in Fiji demonstrate the importance of building infrastructure that can withstand climate shocks. These investments are not just about economic development—they are also about securing livelihoods and ensuring access to essential services during times of crisis.
• 3. Prioritising cultural and environmental stewardship: Climate resilience must include protecting the environment and preserving the cultural identities that define Pacific communities. Incorporating Indigenous/traditional knowledge into resilience planning enables solutions that are both more sustainable and culturally appropriate.
• 4. Delivering on promises: Addressing community ‘research and consultation fatigue’ means delivering concrete outcomes that improve resilience, ensuring funding reaches local communities, and connecting up efforts across organisations to avoid duplication. We must move from theory to practice, ensuring that resilience strategies are localised and implemented with urgency and focus.

The Pacific Islands show that building resilience against climate change lies in practical actions shaped by community needs and cultural identity. Investments should empower local leadership and focus resources effectively. Pacific communities, with their history of adapting to environmental challenges through stewardship, offer valuable knowledge for sustainable solutions. By prioritising collaborative, inclusive and practical approaches, these efforts can protect livelihoods and ensure a future where Pacific Islanders continue to thrive amid growing climate challenges.


About our Authors:

Carlos Carvajal
Carlos Carvajal is a Senior Climate Change and Sustainability Advisor in Beca’s Environmental & Sustainability team. He has contributed to environmental and community resilience projects across Bolivia, US, Pacific Islands and New Zealand. This ranges from paleoclimate research, coral reef vulnerability, hydrogeological assessments, to climate risk assessment and climate change adaptation plans.

Nola Smart
Nola Smart is a Senior Planner/Senior Climate Change and Sustainability Advisor in Beca’s Environmental & Sustainability team. She works with communities across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to tackle complex sustainability and climate change challenges - from understanding and improving environmental and social outcomes, and sustainable management/leadership, to assessing emissions reductions, climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation planning. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 - ‘Community Empowerment in the face of Climate Change (Cook Islands)’ where we explore these themes in more detail. More info about Beca’s Pacific Development capabilities can be viewed here.