The people of the Pacific Islands have a long history of living and coping with a highly variable climate and environment.

Constraints faced by Pacific islands societies historically were not much different to the issues faced by many Pacific societies today: limited arable land, deforestation, limited freshwater, high population growth and depletion of natural resources, and vulnerability to extreme events such as cyclones, droughts, earthquakes and tsunamis. Responses to these constraints included various social controls on natural resource use, population control and voluntary or forced migration to other islands. These offered a high degree of resilience to climatic events. Rapid climate change is now increasing the vulnerability of Pacific islands societies, adding to the many environmental problems that continue to limit options for future generations of Pacific Islanders. These changes include the intensity, frequency and distribution of extreme events, changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, ocean acidification and sea level rise. Utilisation of natural resources underpins the national and local economies of Pacific countries. Climate change undermines the capacities of many ecosystems to continue to provide these services and its impact will increase if other threats to the productive ecosystems of the Pacific are not addressed. To address these climate change impacts, it is increasingly recognised that Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), or “natural solutions” can and must play a critical role.

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