Community water governance for climate-resilient water security in Fiji

ABSTRACT

Climate change is a significant and growing threat to water security in the Pacific Region. However, little is known about how communities in the region mobilize resources and institutions to safeguard water security and build resilience. We engage the community disaster resilience framework and use ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews to examine how rural communities in Fiji mobilize household and community resources (effectively and otherwise) to manage water security amid persistent climate-related disasters. We highlight important lessons on the opportunities and challenges of community water governance for water security and disaster resilience in the Pacific Islands.

KEYWORDS:

• Water security
• community water governance
• community water committees
• disaster resilience
• Pacific Island region
• Fiji

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Abby Córdova and Dr Erin McDonnell for their guidance in the development of this study. We are thankful to Donovan Leiva for creating the study area map. We would like to also express our gratitude to the study participants for their willingness to participate and provide their insights which made this research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame.