Abstract
Popular imaginations of the Pacific are of unspoiled islands. However, in both the colonial and postcolonial periods, economic and social transformations have led to widespread environmental and resource degradation. Weak economies and limited social capital raises questions about the internal capacity of the Island nations to cope with environmental variability and change. The analysis draws on concepts of vulnerability, specifically the notion of vulnerability as a “hazard of place,” which integrates both biophysical and social considerations in defining vulnerabilities in a particular place. For the Pacific Islands, vulnerability is analysed with reference to resource exploitation, threats from toxic substances, and climate variability and change. Since the concept of vulnerability of place encapsulates social and institutional capacities to cope (social vulnerability), there is reference also to institutional responses to environmental degradation and change.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Cocklin, C. (1999). Islands in the Midst: Environmental Change, Vulnerability, and Security in the Pacific. In: Lonergan, S.C. (eds) Environmental Change, Adaptation, and Security. NATO ASI Series, vol 65. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4219-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4219-9_9
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