Human Ecology

, Volume 37, Issue 5, pp 629–642 | Cite as

The Role of Barrier Islands in Subsistence of the Inhabitants of Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands

Article
First Online:

Abstract

This multidisciplinary study examines the strategy adopted by villagers in the Roviana Lagoon, South New Georgia, Solomon Islands, to cope with changing socioeconomic and demographic conditions. The study addresses land use, shifting cycles, land tenure, soil nutrients, subsistence production, vegetation, land cover change, and carrying capacity. The results suggested that even if a society had been integrated into the market economy and introduced cash cropping, they used a small island, which was fertile, mainly for traditional shifting cultivation under customary management. However, they used a large area of the main island for cultivation of potentially risky perennial cash crops for private income. This case suggests that a local society is able to develop a harmonized way of rural development, community welfare, and environmental preservation.

Keywords

Sustainability Barrier island Carrying capacity Consensus formation Risk aversion 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the residents of Olive village, especially late Reverend Nathan Kera, Mr. Ronol Kitu, and Mr. Edwin Huti for their kind approval and support of our research. We are grateful to the staff of the Ministry of Forest, Environment, and Conservation and the government of the Solomon Islands, especially Hon. Job Dudly Tausinga, Mr. Myknee Qusa, and Mr. Basile Gua. We are also grateful to Mr. Takuya Nagaoka (Auckland University), Dr. Hiroaki Setoguchi (Kyoto University), Dr. Akitoshi Iwamoto (Tokyo Gakugei University), Prof. Yutaka Suga, Dr. Motomu Tanaka, and Dr. Hana Furusawa (The University of Tokyo) for their kind advice and support during the course of this research. Finally, we are grateful to anonymous referees for their useful comments on this paper. The Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences (“Harmonization of Rural Development and the Community Welfare (leader: R. Ohtsuka)” and MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology) KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists: T. Furusawa) financially supported this study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Asian Studies Network (ASNET), Division for International RelationsThe University of TokyoTokyoJapan
  2. 2.Japan Wildlife Research CenterTokyoJapan

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