‘We do not want to leave our land’: Pacific ambassadors at the United Nations resist the category of ‘climate refugees’

The issue of the social geographical dimensions of climate change is timely and important. This paper sets out to explore one example of this: how people living in the Pacific who are most at risk of being made landless by climate change are portrayed in policy discourse, and how high-level international representatives of Pacific nations have responded to these portrayals. At the heart of this is contention over the portrayal of Pacific Island peoples as ‘climate refugees’. This paper analyses a number of documents since the 1980s, largely from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that deploy the identity construct of ‘climate refugees’. Fieldwork undertaken at the United Nations in New York in 2004 also enabled seven interviews with national ambassadors representing Pacific small island states. Interviews revealed how Pacific ambassadors have responded to the category of ‘climate refugees’, and positioned themselves in the discursive field surrounding the climate change debate. A poststructuralist framework, drawing on Foucault’s ideas of discourse and subject categories provided a means to critically scrutinise and better understand how people from Pacific countries are imagined in the wider, global geopolitical arena, but crucially, how leaders from these nations also construct themselves in relation to climate change and its associated impacts.     

Trace element evidence for the origin of ocean island basalts: an example from the Austral Islands (French Polynesia)

The Austral Islands, a volcanic chain in the South-Central Pacific Ocean (French Polynesia) are composed mainly of alkali basalts and basanites with subordinate amounts of olivine tholeiites and strongly undersaturated rocks (phonolite foidites and phonolite tephrites). The basaltic rocks have geochemical features typical of oceanic island suites. The distribution of incompatible trace elements indicate that the lavas were derived from a heterogeneous mantle source. The chondrite-normalized patterns of the incompatible elements in basaltic rocks of the Austral Islands are complementary to those of island arc tholeiites. As supported by isotope data, the observed trace element heterogeneities of the source are probably due to mixing of the upper mantle with subducted oceanic crust from which island arc tholeiitic magma was previously extracted.     

Famine in the Pacific losing the chances for change

The Pacific Islands are undoubtedly vulnerable to famine. There is varied evidence of past famines in the local Pacific languages, in the ethnographic accounts of Pacific islands, and in the reports of the missionary groups. This famine vulnerability is because of the prevalence of natural disasters and the limited ability of the different island social systems to adapt to these extreme events. The famine vulnerability in the Pacific islands bears both similarities and dissimilarities to the more researched vulnerability of South Asia. Five recent examples of famines or potential famines strongly suggest that the Pacific islands remain liable to famine and that the rapid influx of foreign food relief recently does not remove the islands' inherent susceptibility to famine. By masking the terminal symptoms of famine crises, the influx of food relief may cause loss of the opportunity to develop more sustainable island food systems.     

The 2006 (Мw 8.3) and 2007 (Мw 8.1) Simushir Earthquakes and the 2011 Tohoku Megaearthquake (Мw 9.0): Tectonic Stresses and Development of the Seismic Process

The peculiarities of catastrophic earthquakes that occurred in the Northwest Pacific region on January 13, 2007, and January 15, 2007, east of the Kuril Islands and the Tohoku megaearthquake of March 11, 2011, east of Japan are considered and analyzed. It is revealed that these earthquakes, apart from the fact that they occurred in the transition zone from the Pacific to island arcs and the Eurasian continent, have common features and similar characteristics. The seismotectonic slip in the source of the chronologically first event, the 2006 Kuril earthquake, was a gentle thrust, while that of the second event of January 13, 2007, was a downthrow beneath the Kuril deep trench.     

Crustal strain phenomena in the Solomon Islands, constraints from field evidence, and relationship to the India-Pacific plates' boundary

The Solomon Islands lie along the India-Pacific plates' margin and have recorded a history of deformation resulting from the interaction of these two plates. Various kinematic models have been proposed for the Solomons and these have involved a variety of plate tectonic processes. It is pointed out that almost without exception these models have been based on a provincial geological classification of the island group in which it is assumed that two of these provinces—Pacific and Central provinces—commenced their geological development in regions distant from one another. Invariably such models require that Santa Isabel represents part of a collision zone between these two provinces, though field evidence from Santa Isabel for such a collision has in the past been largely lacking.These various kinematic models are examined in the light of more recent field evidence, and a premise on which they have been based—initial separate development for two of the provinces—is questioned. Rather it is here suggested that the Central and Pacific provinces developed in roughly similar positions, one with the other as they occur today, and that they were at least in part separated from Oligocene time onward by a linear peridotite-gabbro ridge, Korighole-Florida high, which acted as a sediment barrier to much of the coarser clastic and volcanogenic sedimentation.The initial development of the Solomon Islands began in an oceanic environment with the extrusion of extensive submarine tholeiitic ‘flood basalts’ and intrusion of associated gabbroic and ultramafic rocks at depth, during the Late Mesozoic to Early Tertiary. This igneous phase occurred with the whole of the island group representing the western margin of the Ontong Java Plateau. Subsequent asymmetric development of the Solomons during the Eocene and Oligocene resulted in uplift, shearing, and the initiation of arc volcanism, plutonism, and arc-related sedimentation in the Central province to the west. In contrast, through much of the Tertiary the Pacific province to the east continued to receive dominantly pelagic sediments before undergoing uplift and renewed deformation in the Pliocene. The recognition that the ophiolite crust in the Solomon Islands represents an autochthonous entity, which has acted as basement to subsequent arc volcanism, has significant implications on geochemical studies of these islands now being undertaken.     

Nature and stability of atoll island shorelines: Gilbert Island chain,Kiribati, equatorial Pacific

Islands rimming Pacific atolls typically form narrow, low‐lying lands that are commonly perceived to be particularly vulnerable to global changes such as sea‐level rise. As these, low islands form the only habitable land for many island nations, understanding the character of shorelines, and the rates and controls that operate to bring about changes, is an issue of central importance. The purpose of this study is to unravel the characteristics of coastal change on atoll islands of the Gilbert Island chain of the equatorial Pacific nation of Kiribati, especially as they relate to autogenic shoreline processes and El Niño/Southern Oscillation variability. Integration of field observations, differential global positioning system data, historical aerial photographs and ultra‐high resolution remote sensing images demonstrates the nature, spatial patterns and rates of change from 17 islands on Maiana and Aranuka atolls. The results illustrate that, between 2005 and 2009, ca 50% of the shorelines on these islands displayed a discernable shift in position; some shorelines were accretionary (at net rates up to ca 8 m year^?1) and others were erosional (up to ca 18 m year^?1). Long‐term net rates of change on Maiana between 1969 and 2009 were lower than short‐term net rates measured between 2005 and 2009. Both short‐term and long‐term observations illustrate some of the greatest change occur near terminations of the largest, north–south oriented islands, associated with longshore movement of coarse sand and gravel. Direct hits by tropical depressions and marked seasonality, factors interpreted as being essential in island growth and shoreline dynamics elsewhere, do not directly impact these equatorial atolls and can be eliminated as fundamental controls on shoreline dynamics. Similarly, observations over four years suggested that shoreline variability probably is not influenced directly by marked sea‐level change, although a recent increase in the rates of shoreline change could reflect instability related to the cumulative effect of a long‐term increase in the rate of sea‐level rise. Within this framework of global change, local anthropogenic effects, autogenic shoreline processes and El Niño/Southern Oscillation‐influenced wind and wave variability control many aspects of these dynamic shorelines. These results provide quantitative insights into the character and variability of rates of shoreline change, information essential for evaluating and mitigating the vulnerability of island nations such as Kiribati.     

The Increasing Severity of Circumpacific Natural Disasters

The Ring of Fire guards the margins of the continents and island arcs bordering the Pacific Ocean. Active volcanic belts dominate the terrestrial landscape, and about 100 km offshore, oceanic trenches parallel the volcanoes. This topographically rugged, geologically unstable transition separating subaerial and submerged portions of the solid Earth is a reflection of convergent and transform lithospheric plate boundaries. The plates themselves are carried along by thermally driven mantle convection. Slow but inexorable differential motions along the plate junctions are responsible for the globe's most intense seismic activity as well as deadly eruptions. Tsunamis, avalanches, mudflows, and catastrophic land subsidence are common associates in this dynamic geologic realm. Moreover, the world's greatest ocean—a heat—transfer engine driven convectively by incoming solar radiation—spawns the most powerful tropical storms, producing devastating coastal flooding. Nowhere is the Pacific Rim free of these natural hazards. As the burgeoning populations of the Circumpacific nations occupy and more intensively develop and degrade ever—larger tracts along the Rim, the aggregate vulnerability of society to natural hazards will increase. To the extent that these same Circumpacific nations increasingly influence global economic systems, the cascade of suffering produced by episodic natural disasters and the rapid transmission of communicable diseases inevitably will produce more substantial financial as well as human and material losses. We can mitigate but not eliminate the adverse effects of natural hazards through a more complete understanding of their fundamental scientific causes, and by planning accordingly. But natural disaster reduction must be coordinated across and transcend political boundaries if we are to be more effective in the future.     

The new freely-associated states of micronesia: Their natural and social environmental challenges

The former United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) which has been administered by the United States since the end of World War II, has divided itself up into four separate political entities: (1) the Federated States of Micronesia, (2) the Republic of Belau, (3) the Marshall Islands Republic, and (4) the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The first three of these aforementioned entities are freely-associated states with the United States. This is a new form of political arrangement for these areas and it is also new for the United States. All of these areas have a colonial history of domination by Spain, Germany, Japan, and the US, and these colonial powers have all left legacies which the new states have to deal with. There are also a number of natural environmental factors — such as vast distance and the limited store of natural resources - which are constraints that the new states have to face and overcome with the help of the former colonial powers and the rest of the world. Whether or not these new states can be successful in their continued economic and social development at a pace rapid enough to bring sufficient foreign capital, depends on their own energy and also on the nature and quality of the outside assistance.     

Control of paleoshorelines by trench forebulge uplift,Loyalty Islands

Unlike most tropical Pacific islands, which lie along island arcs or hotspot chains, the Loyalty Islands between New Caledonia and Vanuatu owe their existence and morphology to the uplift of pre-existing atolls on the flexural forebulge of the New Hebrides Trench. The configuration and topography of each island is a function of distance from the crest of the uplifted forebulge. Both Maré and Lifou are fully emergent paleoatolls upon which ancient barrier reefs form highstanding annular ridges that enclose interior plateaus representing paleolagoon floors, whereas the partially emergent Ouvea paleoatoll rim flanks a drowned remnant lagoon. Emergent paleoshoreline features exposed by island uplift include paleoreef flats constructed as ancient fringing reefs built to past low tide levels and emergent tidal notches incised at past high tide levels. Present paleoshoreline elevations record uplift rates of the islands since last-interglacial and mid-Holocene highstands in global and regional sea levels, respectively, and paleoreef stratigraphy reflects net Quaternary island emergence. The empirical uplift rates vary in harmony with theoretical uplift rates inferred from the different positions of the islands in transit across the trench forebulge at the trench subduction rate. The Loyalty Islands provide a case study of island environments controlled primarily by neotectonics.     

Spatialising the Melanesian Canarium industry: Understanding economic upgrading in an emerging industry among three Pacific small island states

This paper examines economic upgrading in the Canarium indicum (Canarium) nut industry in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Canarium is a tree that is indigenous to Melanesia, and has been the subject of several commercialisation attempts since 1988. The paper assesses the outcomes to various actors in the Canarium supply chain from attempts to upgrade industry products and processes by: (1) increasing the available resource in suitable locations; (2) improving nut products and processing techniques; (3) increasing actors’ knowledge and supply chain coordination; and (4) establishing product standards. A two-phase data generation process was implemented. Document analysis and participant observations of industry workshops initiated a set of four economic upgrading interventions that were adaptively implemented. A second stage of workshops and 76 interviews enabled outcomes to be assessed at the project’s end. Findings suggest that a small number of urban-based entrepreneurs benefit and subsequently are lead actors in industry development, but at the expense of benefits being distributed to a larger, more spatially disparate group of smallholder and small commercial growers. These economic upgrading outcomes are circumscribed by core-periphery relations in Pacific small island states and the scale of industry in each country. Thus, spatial inequalities are reproduced through the emerging Canarium industries. We argue that different routes to industry development are required in each country. Development initiatives that capitalise on the benefits of micro-enterprise clusters, joint action and regional institutional arrangements are proposed to overcome the impediments imposed by the particular geographies of Pacific island states.     

西太平洋海域海山地形分形特征研究

对太平洋麦哲伦海山区、威克—马尔库斯海山区、马绍尔群岛、中太平洋海山区及莱恩群岛5个海山区的平顶海山与尖顶海山地形进行分形研究,结果表明两种类型海山地形具有不同的分形特征。海山形态投影覆盖法揭示平顶海山具有单分形的大尺度构造分形,尖顶海山具有大尺度构造分形和小尺度结构分形的双分形结构。海山等高线尺度法分形结果显示,同一海山区平顶海山分维值小于尖顶海山的;同一海山不同高程段等高线分维值基本保持稳定,垂向上具有明显的分段性,可以参考并使用它进行地貌垂向分带。     

Fossil mammoths from Santa Cruz Island, California

Mammoth remains on Santa Cruz Island, one of the four Northern Channel Islands of California, are very sparse, in marked contrast to those reported from Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands of the same island group. A probable major reason for this scarcity is that Quaternary deposits are greatly restricted on Santa Cruz Island. It is proposed, contrary to popular opinion, that fossils found on Santa Cruz Island were derived from animals which died on the island, and were not transported there by humans. Reasons for this conclusion are that the size and geological context of the fossils are similar to those of the largest mammoth fossils of Santa Rosa Island, and that, in spite of extensive investigations by many persons, mammoth remains have not been found in middens, either on the islands or on the adjacent mainland.     

新生代埃达克岩两种成因类型的含矿性和源区:西南太平洋带与东太平洋带的对比

埃达克岩是一种新型的火成岩(Sr/Y值≥20),形成于环太平洋带的大洋岛弧、大陆边缘造山带和陆缘火山弧环境,依据REE配分模式可将其划分为两种成因类型:大洋型(O-型)埃达克岩和大陆型(C-型)埃达克岩。西南太平洋带是世界上新生代埃达克岩和类埃达克岩广泛分布的地区之一。这些中酸性岩浆岩广泛分布于东南亚地区的菲律宾群岛、苏拉威西和加里曼丹中部、印度尼西亚几内亚岛和巴布亚新几内亚至所罗门群岛一带,零星见于班达岛弧、苏门答腊和西爪哇等地。研究结果表明:不同成因类型的埃达克岩具有不同的含矿性,反映各自来源于不同的岩浆岩源区。无论在西南太平洋带还是东太平洋带(智利),C-型埃达克岩(La/Yb值≥12)是俯冲板块的部分熔融作用叠加岩浆上侵过程中MASH(熔融-混染-储存-均一化)和AFC(混染-分异-结晶)作用的产物,与世界级斑岩铜-金矿床共生;而O-型埃达克岩(La/Yb比值≤12)则与俯冲的海洋平缓板块部分熔融作用有关,在西南太平洋带主要与浅成热泉金矿带和喷气型矿床有成因联系。     

Rates of magma ascent and depths of magma reservoirs beneath La Palma (Canary Islands)

Peridotitic mantle xenoliths from historic and prehistoric eruptions on La Palma show many similarities. Prolonged reactions of the xenoliths with their host magmas have been used to place constraints on the magma transport system beneath the island. All xenoliths show crystalline selvages and 0.9–2.6 mm wide diffusion zones in olivine along most of their surface. Diffusion kinetics in olivine, combined with fluid inclusion barometry, document that selvages and diffusion zones formed at crustal levels within 8 to about 100 years. Some xenolith fractures lack selvages and were in contact with the host magma for less than 4 days. A multistage magma ascent is proposed: (i) peridotite wall rock was fragmented and became incorporated into the ascending magma years to decades prior to the eruption; (ii) the xenoliths were rapidly transported to, and deposited in, crustal magma reservoirs, forming selvages and diffusion zones at the xenolith rims; (iii) renewed fragmentation of the xenoliths occurred days to hours prior to eruption, possibly by decompressive strain fracturing during rapid ascent.     

Resource conflict,policy change and practice in Canadian fisheries management

The Canadian marine fisheries are presently in the midst of a grave crisis. On both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, fish stocks have been depleted through overfishing. Fish habitats are being damaged or permanently destroyed through industrial development. Gross overcapacity exists in both the primary and secondary sectors of the fishing industry, which is primarily attributable to the common property status of the resource. Many fishermen and processors have been or are in states of near bankruptcy as increasing energy costs, high product inventories and market weakness have crippled operations. A lack of alternative employment opportunities for many participants coupled with a high regional and community dependence on depressed resource-based industries has confounded attempts by government to introduce measures leading to more rational fisheries management. The outcome has been a strategy characterized as ‘incremental ad hocery’. Major inquiries were conducted into both the Atlantic and Pacific fisheries in the early 1980s. Conflict between and among the federal and provincial governments, various sectors of the commercial fishery, Indian and recreational usergroups, fishery interests and other industries, as well as Canada and other nations, has made it difficult to implement needed reforms. Stock and habitat maintainence and improvement; user regulations, coupled with tenure rights for fishermen; and marketing research and promotion are accepted as key components of any long-run fishery management strategy. In the short-run, the need is to develop approaches that are implementable in the context of diverse conflicting and vested interests.     

火山海岸与环境反馈——以海岛火山海岸为例

海南岛火山海岸以沿小火山口形成的海蚀地貌和全新世火山爆发使局部海湾抬升为海岸阶地、河口堵流并形成深切海湾以及促进了珊瑚礁发育为特征。火山活动改变了海岸带的地势、坡度、动力条件、沉积特征以及海岸演变趋势,火山海岸发育受到构造内动力、波浪、潮流、风化作用等外动力以及生物作用的多重影响。火山岩岩性和时代反映出北部湾湾底的现代拉张构造活动。夏威夷火山海岸的环境效应以造陆和板块移动形成岛链、近期熔岩流喷溢改变地貌和大气质量等为特征。现代日本鹿儿岛火山碎屑喷发物掩埋道路和建筑物并促发泥石流灾害,改变着火山海岸作用过程。对比研究火山海岸及其环境效应,及时预报并进而制定有效的防灾、减灾对策。     

Regressive diagenesis in Pleistocene eolianites from Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Evidence from a Late Pleistocene eolianite in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, demonstrates that red algal clasts replaced by low-magnesian calcite in the subaerial environment show a partial re-constitution of their original high-magnesian calcite mineralogy when they are exposed subsequently to sea water. This process only affects the cell walls of the red algae, which, owing to their specific microarchitecture (extremely small crystal size, very large specific surface area), offer the most favourable conditions for dissolution-reprecipitation or diffusion processes. High-magnesian caicite precipitated as a second generation cement on fresh water calcitic cement is an equivalent of the high-magnesian calcite cement which at many locations on the island leads to the formation of beachrock in Holocene intertidal sediments.     

From labour lines to urban living: Health transition in Mauritius

Recently Mauritius has witnessed a rapid urbanization process. In such a small space, with a high population density and an improving economic situation — shifting from an agricultural-based to an industrial one — it is possible nowadays to distinguish the growth of major villages into well-structured urban centres. Contrary to the trend observed in some economically less developed countries (LDCs), health characteristics have veered mostly towards trends exhibited by economically more developed countries (MDCs). This paper will describe briefly the urbanization processes at work in Mauritius and will explore the changing health characteristics and provisions observed in such a small island state. It will try to lay the foundation for comparison with other small island states transcending the MDC/LDS divide.     

Nearshore Carbonate Dissolution in the Hawaiian Archipelago?

Inorganic carbon measurements made in the late 1980s suggest that alkalinity in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Archipelago is elevated relative to the oligotrophic waters of the North Pacific. These observations have been interpreted as evidence for a “halo” of elevated carbonate saturation state produced by the dissolution of highly soluble magnesium calcites and aragonite on the island platform or in the water column surrounding the islands. If present, this “halo” has implications for air–sea carbon dioxide exchange in Hawaiian waters and may impact the response of coral reef communities to the acidification of the surface waters of the global ocean. The purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude and extent of the elevated calcium carbonate saturation state observed on previous expeditions to this region. Transects were conducted near several atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from shallow water adjacent to the forereef to the open ocean 15 km from the island. Hydrographic profiles were collected at each station, and discrete water samples were collected for the measurement of carbon system parameters necessary to compute calcium carbonate saturation state. Our data were compared with observations made at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series site at Station ALOHA and with hydrographic data collected on the WOCE lines in the North Pacific around the archipelago. We did not detect a carbonate dissolution halo around the islands. We conclude that the previously observed halo was probably an analytical artifact, or possibly a result of extreme variability in carbon chemistry surrounding the islands.     

Bathymetric and geological maps from the British Antarctic Survey

Since my 2012 feature about British Antarctic Survey (BAS) geological maps, the survey has continued to produce a series of ad hoc maps highlighting the results of their ongoing research, often in collaboration with their international colleagues. Not only has BAS added to their geological mapping series with James Ross Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, they have also produced a map of the bedrock topography of the entire continent, together with two bathymetric and geological settings sheets of the seas to the north of Antarctica. The first oceanographic map focuses on the South Sandwich Islands, some of the most remote United Kingdom overseas territories, roughly 700 km south‐east of South Georgia. Finally, the Drake Passage sheet shows the sea bed morphology from the Falklands and Tierra del Fuego to the South Shetland Islands just off the Antarctic Peninsula, spanning 70–50°W in longitude and 52–63°S in latitude. Below 60° south, all international territorial claims have been frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, which has demilitarized the entire continent since 1961 and ensured it remains untainted by mineral exploration and which has now expanded to a membership of over 50 nations.