Projects

Promoting Resilience of Subsistence Farming to El Niño Events in Papua New Guinea: An Integrated Social-Ecological Approach

Background – the global problem of climate change

As climate change takes hold, the world will become subject to increasingly extreme weather events. In 2015 there was a particularly severe El Niño event which caused droughts, floods and unusual temperatures the world over. Although it is not possible to state that the severity of this particular event was due to climate change, projections suggest that this type of event is going to be more frequent, and more severe, in the future.

A small village on the slopes of Mount Wilhelm © K. Sam

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) rural population is highly dependent on small-scale agriculture for its food security. This is potentially threatened by severe weather like the 2015 drought, both directly through crop failure, and indirectly through increases in insect pests. Forest-dwelling communities rely on forest products in times such as these, but the degree of this reliance, and its impact on the forest ecosystems, is not clear.

Following the 2015 El Niño, we have an opportunity to better understand people’s responses to extreme weather events, and support the government and local communities of PNG to plan for the future by assessing how ecological and social systems interact to influence people’s livelihoods and food security.

The Project

Our research aims to provide evidence to support actions to improve the resilience of PNG’s rural communities to extreme weather and climate change. We will improve understanding of how natural ecosystems support people at times of need, both directly (e.g. through using forest resources) and indirectly (e.g. through pollination of crops). We focus on an area of Mount Wilhelm where long-term ecological studies by the New Guinea Binatang Research Center give us a strong foundation for this new research.

The project combines both social and an ecological elements. On the social side, we will explore villagers’ perceptions of the impacts of the El Niño on their livelihoods, and of how they would change their behaviour under different future scenarios of climate change. On the ecological side, we will collect data on crop yields and pest pressure, to help us understand the ecological impacts of, and responses to, the El Niño. Furthermore we will investigate whether natural forests can buffer the negative impacts of the El Niño on rural food production, either directly or indirectly.

Outline of scope of research/aims

Our study site covers villages at different heights up Mount Wilhelm, allowing us to understand how elevation (which influences how cool and rainy an area is) influences

the relationships between people and their natural environment.

Our aim is to improve the environmental and socio-economic evidence of the impacts of the 2015 El Niño event on our study site and suggest strategies to improve the resilience of PNG subsistence farming to future extreme weather events, ultimately enhancing societal well-being and local development.

Steep food gardens on the slopes of Mount Wilhelm © K. Sam

Summary of planned activities

April 2016 – March 2017: Collect ecological data on crop yields and pest pressure in food gardens and adjacent natural forests at villages along Mount Wilhelm

October 2016 – March 2017: Collect social data about food gardens, well-being and strategies for coping with extreme weather events.

April – October 2017: Combine our ecological and social understanding of the village agriculture system, with local views, to develop ways to better cope with future extreme weather events.

Project impact

We aim to provide evidence which will be useful for stakeholders such as government bodies and NGOs working on improving social and ecological resilience in PNG. Ultimately, we hope to support decision-making in policies and projects related to PNG’s Sustainable Development Goals (Zero Hunger, Climate Action, Life on Land, and Responsible Consumption and Production), the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (Sustainable development of the country’s biological resources), and the PNG Vision 2050 (Environmental sustainability and climate change).

Research assistants trained by BRC collecting insects feeding on plants (Photo credit: Tim Cockerill)

We will share our findings with local villagers at our study site and organise a disseminate workshop to promote discussion amongst key stakeholders to identify key areas for actions and further research. Furthermore our findings will be transferable to other parts of rural PNG, and to other developing countries, thereby improving global understanding of how to improve social-ecological resilience to climate change.

Get involved

If you would like to find out more about the project please contact Emilie Beauchamp: emilie.beauchamp@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Follow us on Twitter #PNGelnino

Collaborators:  The New Guinea Binatang Research Center is a non-profit organisation in PNG devoted to biodiversity research. See: http://baloun.entu.cas.cz/png/