Solomon Islands

Government

The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Monarch of the Solomon Islands and the head of state; she is represented by the Governor-General who is chosen by the Parliament for a five-year term. There is a unicameral parliament of 50 members, elected for four-year terms. However, the Parliament may be dissolved by a majority vote of its members before its term is complete. Suffrage is universal for citizens over age 21.¹⁰   The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is elected by Parliament and chooses the other members of the cabinet. 

The Solomon Islands governments are characterized by weak political parties and highly unstable parliamentary coalitions. They are subject to frequent votes of no confidence, and government leadership changes frequently as a result.  This instability is one reason why it has been difficult for the nation to independently pursue climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Economy

The Solomon Islands is ranked a "least developed country" as of 2008 because it has a low national GDP of $460 million and per capita GDP of $1,900.¹¹   The country’s main challenges to sustainable development include a small population, relative isolation, susceptibility to natural disasters, vulnerability to external shocks, and excessive dependence on international trade and foreign aid.¹² Its most valuable natural resources are fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc and nickel. Manufactured goods and petroleum products have to be imported and are therefore expensive due to the costs of transportation.¹³

Despite the fact that only 1 percent of land in the Solomon Islands is arable, approximately 75 percent of the population works in agriculture, mostly in the production of subsistence foods and other items for personal consumption.¹⁴   Commercial agricultural products include copra, cocoa, palm oil, and palm kernels. Subsistence crops include yams, taro, bananas, and pineapples. Timber was the Solomon Islands' main export product until 1998, when the world market for timber collapsed. About half of the jobs in the timber industry were lost and the Solomon Islands' GDP fell by an estimated 15 to 25 percent. Its growth and development is hindered by high transportation and communication costs, disproportionately expensive public administration and infrastructure due to its small size, and little to no opportunity to create economies of scale.¹⁵

Island fisheries are currently very small but have potential for consumption domestically or for sale as exports, providing that fishing is conducted sustainably. Twenty percent of the Solomon Islands' population work in services, and 5% in industry and commerce.  Industry, tourism, and in particular diving are the most important sources of income. Growth is slow, however, due to political instability, security issues, lack of infrastructure, and transportation limitations.  The Australian Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), which intervened in 2003 after a period of serious ethnic tensions - mostly as a result of land tenure issues -  is having a positive influence on the economic, political and social stability in the country.  Assistance by donors, including Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, Japan, and the Republic of China, also provides a positive impact on the economic development of the Solomon Islands.¹⁶  

Orange Nemo Clownfish, the Solomon Islands

Source: Flickr. Author:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7921492@N02/ / CC BY 2.0

. Permission: Creative Commons License.

Human environmental impacts

The Solomon Islands are home to a range of unique animals and plants, including one of the most diverse arrays of coral reefs anywhere in the world.¹⁷   However, this biodiversity, as well as associated ecosystems, are endangered by many human activities such as exploitative, extractive, and destructive industries and activities. In addition to the human activities leading to the adverse impacts of climate change and sea level rise, these activities include logging, land clearing, urban development and construction, population growth, waste disposal systems, subsistence farming practices, invasive species, over-fishing, and marine resource exploitation.¹⁸ These activities contribute to loss of biodiversity, loss of species, land and soil degradation, depletion of fish stocks, ecosystem destruction and habitat loss, loss of water quality and quantity, coastal erosion and degradation, sedimentation, loss of soil fertility, saltwater intrusion and increase in disease incidence.  A major environmental concern has been the impact of forest degradation through large-scale logging at the rate of about one million cubic meters from 2005 to 2007, and land clearing for subsistence agriculture as a result of the rapid growth of the country’s population.¹⁹ The unsustainable harvesting of marine resources is also an issue of major concern. Major environment Non-Government Organisation (NGO) partners have been undertaking marine conservation activities and programs related to specific species protection. 

Social and health impacts

Climate change and sea level rise are likely to displace a number of communities in the country, particularly in the low-lying atolls where it is difficult to find protected land.  Land tenure and access to land has often lead to ethnic tensions, and as communities move to areas protected from the effects of climate, these tensions are likely to intensify.  A number of coastal communities, particularly on the islands of Guadalcanal and Makira, have already moved two to three times over the past 15 years due to storm surges and rising tide lines.²³  

Climate change may also affect the island's supply of fresh water.  Water in Solomon Islands is sourced mainly from rivers and streams originating in high mountain and dense forest catchments on high islands, rainwater harvesting (especially on artificial islands) and from thin freshwater lens of underground aquifers on small low lying atolls and islands. These sources are expected to be affected by climate change and sea-level rise on both high and low-lying islands. Information provided by communities and/or villages indicate that they are already experiencing contamination of their freshwater sources by rising sea levels (low-lying atolls), water shortages, saltwater intrusion and flooding of rivers and streams.²⁴   The decline in availability of clean water for agricultural and household use may very well lead to health issues including poor nutrition, reduced immunity, and the spread of harmful bacteria and parasites. Other potential health issues resulting from climate change are similar to those in other tropical areas and include changes in the prevalence of a number of diseases and illnesses including malaria, mental illness, malnutrition, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, micronutrient deficiency, parasitic diseases due to poor sanitation, tuberculosis, leprosy and non-communicable diseases.²⁵

Village Market, Marovo Lagoon

Source: Flickr. Author:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7921492@N02/ / CC BY 2.0

. Permission: Creative Commons License.

Agricultural impacts

Climate change may affect both subsistence and commercial agriculture.  Increased temperatures tend to cause a reduction in crop yield.  Furthermore, there is a known correlation between rising temperatures and decreased crop yields like taro that is grown on the coastal lowlands of Makira, one of the main islands in the country. Sea level rise and coastal erosion are also already becoming more evident, reducing the land available for agriculture and increasing vulnerability to natural disasters and salt-water intrusion. In addition, increased frequency and intensity of cyclones and floods may result in destruction of crops and an increase in the prevalence of  diseases and pests, particularly if they occur in combination with increases in mean temperatures and humidity. Recovery from such physical damage is often slow. The rice industry, for example, is still recovering from the impacts of Cyclone Namu in 1986 and there is now a heavy reliance on imported rice. Fisheriesare also likely to be affected by changes in climate, mainly as a result of coral bleaching induced by rising water temperatures, and also as a result of increases in the prevalence of natural disasters.²⁶    

Mitigation

The Solomon Islands is not a major contirbutor of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing about .3 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year, or .8 tons per person.²⁹ However, improving access to electricity though renewable energy projects that also showcase the nation as a net clean energy producer are a major priority both for the government and within the private sector. 

One private sector project led by the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and funded by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) developed a unique financing mechanism that allows islanders to participate in renewable energy projects without the use of cash, a precious resource on the islands. Through trading crops such as cassava, dalo or bananas, islanders can gain access to energy through solar lighting and micro-hydro projects.³⁰

In July 2009 the Solomon Islands finished construction on the Renewable Energy Centre, the first of its kind in the region. The center will hold examples of hydro, solar and bio-fuel renewable energy systems that produce few to zero carbon emissions. Run by the energy division of the Solomons ministry of mines, energy and rural electrification, the center aims to exemplify how renewable energy can be installed in the many rural villages located on the islands.³¹

Adaptation

The Solomon Islands government is implementing a number of concrete adaptation projects and activities to address climate change risks in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP):³²

• Formulation of a National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) for Solomon Islands.  The purpose of this project is to serve as a simplified and direct channel of communication for information relating to the urgent and immediate adaptation needs of the Solomon Islands to the detrimental impacts of climate change. The NAPA includes a country-wide set of strategies for undertaking the immediate and urgent actions required to address the adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise. These strategies include planning, prevention, survival and recovery options for both the immediate and near-term future. The development of the NAPA is only the first step in an ongoing process of research, action, evaluation and revision.
  The submission of a NAPA document to the UNFCCC is a country's obligation as a signatory to the convention; it is an obligation which the Solomon Islands Government has yet to fulfill. The project assists the Solomon Islands Government's effort to fulfill this obligation. The NAPA will be adopted as the national adaptation strategy and will be the basis of the adaptation funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Total funding allocated for this project is $200,000 from GEF resources.
• Capacity Building for Sustainable Land Management in the Solomon Islands (SLM).  This project builds the capacity of the Solomon Islands government to implement sustainable land management into each level of decision making, from remote farming communities, to provincial government administrations, to the national-level agencies responsible for rural land management and economic development on the islands.
  The project works on two fronts: First, it works with local communities to raise awareness of the need for integrated approaches for SLM; enhanced participatory technical development to incorporate SLM into economic development and natural resources initiatives; as well as to use landscape approaches to help meld traditional and local practices with national and provincial governance processes. Second, it supports the development of land use regimes and integrated resource management policy processes to improve the capacity and vertical linkages between the national and provincial levels of government. Systematic capacity development at the national level concentrates on policy integration and mainstreaming, and the facilitation of the filling of data and information voids at levels of government. The SLM is a four-year project with a budget of $475,000, from GEF.
• Solomon Islands Enabling Activity for Second National Communication (SNC).  The purpose of this project is to enable Solomon Islands to prepare its Second National Communication (SNC) to the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC. The activities within SNC are a continuation and update of the work undertaken by Solomon Islands to prepare its Initial National Communication (INC), which was carried out under the Pacific Islands Climate Change Assistance Project (PICCAP) (1997 to 2000). The main components of the project are: a) inventory of green house gas (GHG) emissions; b) programs containing measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change; c) and programs and national action plans that are considered relevant for the achievement of the objectives of the UNFCCC.
  The project will enhance national capacities and will raise general knowledge and awareness on climate change and its effects. It will contribute to putting climate change issues higher on the national agenda through strengthened cooperation and increased involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the process. SNC will also strengthen and build national capacities for participation in different mechanisms related to GHG mitigation and to fulfilling other commitments to the UNFCCC. This three-year project has a total budget of $405,000, from GEF.

Other UNDP projects tangentially associated with climate change via natural resource protection and management include:

• Strengthening the Programming, Monitoring and Reporting Capacities of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology (MECM) in Solomon Islands. The purpose of this preparatory assistance project is to build the capacity of the MECM in environmental management and conservation. The project will focus on identifying capacity gaps, which will be analyzed along three dimensions: 1) policy development and implementation; 2) better use of scientific knowledge in effective environment monitoring processes; and 3) information management and reporting. The project is for nine months and is funded by UNDP with a total budget of $89,000. A follow-on project will be formulated based on priority capacity building areas identified by the Solomon Islands Government.
• Establishing a Framework for Community-Based Conservation and Natural Resource Management in Solomon Islands. The purpose of the project is to develop a mechanism for community-led resource management for biodiversity conservation on the islands. The project aims to fill the gap in natural resource governance created by the decline in, or erosion of, traditional resource management systems. Working with customary land-owning communities, this project will help enhance and update traditional systems to suit current population pressures and economic imperatives. A policy and legal framework that supports the stewardship of natural resources by traditional owners is expected to be formulated as an outcome of this project. The project has a duration of 18 months with a budget of $201,000, consisting of $186,000 from UNDP resources and $15,000 as an in-kind contribution from MECM.
• Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme. The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme is a global initiative to assist community activities that will benefit the global environment. SGP is implemented at the global level by the United Nations Office for Project Services; NZAID and UNDP have established a cost sharing agreement at the Pacific level that co-funds SGP projects. The annual program budget for Solomon Islands is $300,000, half of which comes from GEF and the other half from NZAID.
• Pipeline Project for 2009: Strengthening Environment Management. This is a successor project to the preparatory assistance project, which will strengthen the environment management and conservation capacities of the Solomon Islands Government, in particular the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology. The preparatory assistance project will identify existing gaps and priority areas within the Ministry that will determine the main focus of this project.