Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Managing Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific Region pp 151–169Cite as

A Knowledge Network Approach to Understanding Water Shortage Adaptation in Kiribati

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Kiribati, a small-island developing state in the Pacific, experiences a range of climate change impacts, including drought, sea-level rise, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion to freshwater lenses. These impacts negatively affect food security and drinking water quality resulting in poor human health outcomes, particularly child morbidity. Timely warning about changes to drinking water supplies could reduce community health impacts but the existence and effectiveness of knowledge networks for water quality are unclear. This paper describes an engagement process with key stakeholders (government, community service organizations and community members) to understand how information about the impacts of climate change on potable water supplies was sought and shared using a social network analysis approach. The information networks revealed were highly fragmented and timely sharing of information was poor, which limits effective prophylactic intervention that might reduce child mortality from preventable diseases and illnesses such as diarrhoea. The main conclusion reached is that fragmented island geography and traditional forms of oral information transmission may be important factors that shape the formation and function of water knowledge networks in Kiribati. The wider application of these findings to other Pacific Island contexts requires further research to fully understand how knowledge flows could be optimized in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Axelrod R (2006{1984}) The evolution of cooperation. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett J, Waters E (2016) Rethinking the vulnerability of small island states: climate change and development in the Pacific Islands. The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. J. Grugel and D. Hammett. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 731–748

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennardo G (2009) Language, space and social relationships: a foundational cultural model in Polynesia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP (2006) Identifying sets of key players in a social network. Comput Math Organ Theor 12:21–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP, Everett MG, Freeman LC (2002) Ucinet for windows: software for social network analysis. Analytics Technology, Harvard, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP, Everett MG, Johnson JC (2013) Analyzing social networks. Sage Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Botsman R, Rogers R (2011) What’s mine is yours: how collaborative consumption is changing the way we live. Collins, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer JD (2000) Ethnography. Open University Press, Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JR (2018) Migration and climate change in the Pacific. Handbook of migration and globalisation. A. Triandafyllidou. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp 379–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Christakis N, Fowler J (2007) The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years. N Engl J Med 357:370–379

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cross R, Lasester T, Parker A, Velasquez G (2006) Using social network analysis to improve communities of practice. Calif Manage Rev 49(1):32–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham R, Cvitanovic C, Measham T, Jacobs B, Dowd A, Harman B (2014) A preliminary assessment into the utility of social networks for engaging local communities in climate adaptation policy: working paper prepared for NSW Office of Environment & Heritage. Sydney, Australia, Institute for Sustainable Futures

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham R, Jacobs B, Measham T, Harman B, Cvitanovic C (2017) Social network analysis: a primer on engaging communities on climate adaptation in New South Wales, Australia. UTS:ISF, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Cvitanovic C, Cunningham R, Dowd A-M, Howden SM, van Putten EI (2017) Using social network analysis to monitor and assess the effectiveness of knowledge brokers at connecting scientists and decision-makers: an Australian case study. Environ Policy Gov 27(3):256–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Freitas CR, Helbig M, Matzarakis A (2014) Hydroclimatic assessment of water resources of low Pacific islands: evaluating sensitivity to climate change and variability. Int J Climatol 34:881–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dowd A, Marshall NA, Fleming A, Jakku E, Gauillard E, Howden M (2014) The role of networks in transforming Australian agriculture. Nat Clim Change 4(558–563)

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnegan RH, Orbell MR (eds) (1995) South Pacific oral traditions. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler J, Christakis N (2010) Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks. Soc Sci. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913149107

  • Harman B, Cunningham R, Cvitanovic C, Jacobs B, Measham T (2015a) Community based perspectives on climate change and adaptation in the Shoalhaven region. CSIRO, New South Wales, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman B, Cunningham R, Jacobs B, Measham T, Cvitanovic C (2015b) Engaging local communities in climate adaptation: a social network perspective from Bega Valley. CSIRO, New South Wales, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman B, Rylandce K, Brown P, Cunningham R, Jacobs B, Measham T (2016) Engaging local communities in climate adaptation: a social network perspective from Orange Valley, New South Wales, Australia. CSIRO, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckscher C, Adler P (2007) The firm as a collaborative community: reconstructing trust in the knowledge ecomony. Oxford University Press, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Houghton JG (1979) A model for orographic precipitation in the North-Central Great Basin. Mon Weather Rev 107:1462–1475 (American Meteorological Society)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson JC, Boster JS, Palinkas LA (2003) Social roles and the evolution of networks in extreme and isolated environments. J Math Sociol 27(2–3):89–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman I (2014) No change from climate change: vulnerability and small island developing states. Geogr J 180(2):120–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman I, West JJ (2009) Climate change and small island developing states: a critical review. Ecol Environ Anthropol 5(1):1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirch PV (1988) Long-distance exchange and Island colonization: the Lapita case. Norw Archaeol Rev 21(2):103–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kothari AR, Bickford JJ, Edwards N, Dobbins MJ, Meyer M (2011) Uncovering tacit knowledge: a pilot study to broaden the concept of knowledge in knowledge translation. BMC Health Serv Res 11

    Google Scholar 

  • Krupa M, Cenek M, Powell J, Trammell EJ (2018) Mapping the stakeholders: using social network analysis to increase the legitimacy and transparency of participatory scenario planning. Soc Nat Resour 31(1):136–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuruppu N, Liverman D (2011) Mental preparation for climate adaptation: the role of cognition and culture in enhancing adaptive capacity of water management in Kiribati. Glob Environ Change 21(2):657–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler J, Patel M (2012) Exploring children’s vulnerability to climate change and their role in advancing climate change adaptation in East Asia and the Pacific. Environ Dev 3:123–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malm T (2008) Outriggers lost in the sea of time: an overlooked aspect of cultural change and conditions for sustainable development in Oceania. Tradit Mar Resour Manage Knowl Inf Bull 23:3–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauss M (1990 [1950]) The gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies. W.W. Norton, New York, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mavoa H, Waqa G, Moodie M, Kremer P, McCabe M, Snowdon W, Swinburn B (2012) Knowledge exchange in the Pacific: the TROPIC (Translational Research into Obesity Prevention Policies for Communities) project. BMC Public Health 12(1):552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMichael AJ, Woodruff R, Whetton P, Hennessy K, Nicholls N, Hales S, Kjellstrom T (2003) Human health and climate change in Oceania: a risk assessment. Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Méheux K, Dominey-Howes D, Lloyd K (2006) Natural hazard impacts in small island developing states: a review of current knowledge and future research needs. Nat Hazards 40(2):429–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer M (2010) The rise of the knowledge broker. Sci Commun 32:118–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell CJ (1969) Social networks in urban situations: analyses of personal relationships in Central African Towns. Manchester University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukheibir P, Boronyak-Vaso L (2016) Dynamic adaptive management process—supporting community adaptation to water shortages in Kiribati. P. f. U. (PACAM). Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurse LA, Mclean RF, Agard J, Briguglio LP, Duvat-Magnan V (2014) Small Islands. Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part B: regional aspects. Contribution of working group II to the Fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Barros V.R., C. B. Field, D. J. Dokken et al. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1613–1654

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelling M, Uitto J (2001) Small Island developing states: natural disaster vulnerability and global change. Environ Hazards 3:49–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramierez-Sanches S (2011) Who and how: engaging well-connected fishers in social networks to improve fisheries management and conservation. In: Bodin O, Prell C (eds) Social networks and natural resource management. Cambridge University, New York, pp 119–146

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Singh RB, Hales S, De Wet N, Raj R, Hearnden M, Weinstein P (2001) The influence of climate variation and change on diarrheal disease in the Pacific Islands. Environ Health Perspect 109(2):155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Storey D, Hunter S (2010) Kiribati: an environmental ‘perfect storm’. Aust Geogr 41(2):167–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storlazzi CD, Elias EP, Berkowitz P (2015) Many atolls may be uninhabitable within decades due to climate change. Sci Rep 5(14546)

    Google Scholar 

  • White I (1996) Preliminary report: freshwater lens recharge at Bonriki, Kiribati. IHP-V Technical Documents in Hydrology No. 5. Paris, France, UNESCO, pp 1–38

    Google Scholar 

  • White I, Falkland T, Perez P, Dray A, Metutera T, Metai E, Overmars M (2007) Challenges in freshwater management in low coral atolls. J Cleaner Prod 15(16):1522–1528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodroffe CD (2008) Reef-island topography and the vulnerability of atolls to sea-level rise. Glob Planet Change 62:77–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by USAID through their Pacific-American Climate Fund. The research team acknowledge the important partnership of the Kiribati Climate Action Network (KiriCAN) staff. The authors would also like to thank all who participated in this research and each of the reviewers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Building 10, Level 10, 235 Jones St., Ultimo, Sydney, 2007, Australia

    Rebecca Cunningham, Pierre Mukheibir, Brent Jacobs & Louise Boronyak

  2. Kiribati Climate Action Network, Eita Village, PO Box 110, Tarawa, Kiribati

    Pelenise Alofa

Authors
  1. Rebecca Cunningham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pierre Mukheibir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brent Jacobs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Louise Boronyak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Pelenise Alofa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Cunningham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Cunningham, R., Mukheibir, P., Jacobs, B., Boronyak, L., Alofa, P. (2020). A Knowledge Network Approach to Understanding Water Shortage Adaptation in Kiribati. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Managing Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific Region. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40552-6_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation