The Pacific region has a unique place in the global food system. Between 50 – 70% of Pacific people depend on agriculture and fishing activities for their livelihoods. The region’s sustainably managed tuna fisheries contribute 50% of the global tuna catch. The Pacific is also home to extensive crop biodiversity, and Pacific countries are developing unique value chains for markets and international supply, including of high-value products. The sustainable management of these food systems provides significant contributions to the global food supply chain.
However, Pacific countries face unique challenges in realising equitable benefits in the global food system, with implications for the health and livelihoods of Pacific people and the economic development of the region. The Pacific faces a triple burden of malnutrition, and non-communicable diseases and associated risk factors are the leading causes of premature death in most PICTs. Climate change poses a fundamental threat to Pacific food systems. Urgent global and local action is needed to manage climate change and other risks, including for the most vulnerable, to ensure no one is left behind.
In Pacific Island countries and territories, SPC is supporting food security and the health of Pacific food systems through technical, scientific, and development work.
Challenges to Pacific food production due to climate change
Climate change poses significant challenges to food production in the Pacific. It affects both the land and sea, impacting staple crops, fisheries and aquaculture farming that are vital for the region. Some key points to consider:
- Fisheries and aquaculture farming: Climate change is causing sea temperatures to rise and alters ocean currents. These changes are affecting the distribution of marine fish stocks, which can have impacts in the fishing industry. Warmer waters also stress aquatic species such as oysters for instance, harming their growth and health, directly impacting aquaculture by challenging temperature-sensitive species.
- Staple Crops: Climate change can lead to more extreme weather events, which can be especially harmful to staple crops like bananas, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, coconuts, giant taro, and swamp taro. These crops are vulnerable to heavy rainfall, which can lead to water-logging, especially in regions that already experience high rainfall.
- Livestock: Rising temperatures can make it challenging for poultry farmers to maintain ideal conditions for their birds. This can affect poultry farming in the region.
In summary, climate change is putting additional stress on Pacific food systems by affecting staple crops, livestock, and fisheries. It's important to find ways to adapt to these changes and ensure food security for the region.
New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna are committed to sustainable and resilient food systems
The PROTEGE project is working with the authorities of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna to develop strategic and operational plans on food system sustainability to ensure more resilient food systems that add value to the territories’ natural resources while at the same time protecting them.
In French Polynesia, food consumption is also limited by cost, with 53% of Polynesians unable to afford a healthy diet, a figure that falls to 24% if self-consumption is included (Source: Présidence de la Polynésie française, 2023). Therefore, in order to reducing input dependency, French Polynesia, supported by the PROTEGE project, has implemented initiatives using biomass to improve soil fertility and locally produce animal feed (Black soldier fly larvae), which have created the potential to reduce crop and livestock production dependence on external inputs.
To find out more, see this video.
In Wallis and Futuna, eating well has become a health priority and an educational process that starts at an early age. At the Vaimoana agricultural college, students sow and harvest vegetables and herbs to learn how to choose the diet that corresponds to their Polynesian genetics.
Watch this video produced by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DSA) of Wallis and Futuna, supported by the PROTEGE project.
Passing on farming traditions to protect food systems in Tonga
The Pacific is a large region with small and exceedingly diverse countries. Bringing these countries together for collaboration to solve the region’s food systems challenges is the first step. SPC and its partners have been hosting a series of Pacific-wide dialogues that look both to tradition and innovation in cultivating game-changing solutions for more resilient food systems.
In Tonga, a local organisation is setting up organic farming projects to enable young people to learn from elders how to generate some revenue while protecting the country's food systems. Watch more below (or click this link).
About Pacific Food Systems
The “convergence of crises” – the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery efforts, climate change and natural disasters, NCDs, and the high cost of food – will continue to challenge the region. SPC’s brings multiple sectors with diverse stakeholders together to leverage action through interdisciplinary ways of working. Tackling the food and nutrition security challenges requires strong collaboration, within SPC and in member countries, to design and enact new food systems strategies that feed a growing Pacific.
“Food systems strategies need to draw from and link to existing national plans, that already have a focus on different parts of the food system. SPC, for example, is doing this through its country support work in health, statistics, fisheries and agriculture, and forestry programmes, as well as through the dedicated Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), to build a healthy and resilient Pacific,” says Alisi Tuqa, Food Systems Programme Lead for SPC.
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