The assessment of Pacific Island environmental vulnerability : a critical study of the development of an environmental vulnerability index by the South Pacific Geoscience Commission.

摘要

The interaction between science and policy in the management of the environment inthe Pacific region has seen it subject to different interpretations, practices andpolicies. Importantly, this has exposed the lack of capacity to mitigate environmentaldegradation in the region, and the need for accurate assessment and monitoring ofenvironmental change.This thesis examines the conceptions of, and responses to, environmentally framedvulnerability of Pacific Island communities through an examination of one attempt tomeasure environmental vulnerability in the Pacific Islands by the South PacificGeoscience Commission (SOP AC). The historical contexts of the science and politicsinvolved in management of the Pacific environment are described, as the developmentof SOPAC's Environmental Vulnerability Index. Their project has selected andmanipulated 47 indicators that do not accurately reflect the role that the environmenthas in the lives of Pacific Islanders.It finds that Pacific Island communities remain subject to policies and methodologiesimplemented by a number of organisations that predominantly involve 'top down'processes that are subsequently imposed on local communities. This gives rise toproblems of governance in environmental management that are not necessarilyresolved by increases in empirical scientific data, or more sophisticated environmentalmodelling.