Psychological Adaptation to Climate Change Risks among Adolescents and Young Adults in the Pacific Small Island Developing States

This project addresses climate change risk experiences and psychological adaptation among young people in two Pacific Small Island Developing States, Fiji and Solomon Islands. The Pacific Islands are highly vulnerable to adverse climate change impacts. A large proportion of the global burden of disease attributable to climate change is borne by adolescents and children. Adolescents face risks from concrete climate-related stressors, such as extreme weather events, as well as abstract stressors, such as anxiety about ongoing and projected climate change impacts. This project will investigate how climate risk exposure affects developmental and wellbeing outcomes among young people in the Pacific Islands. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this project will be the first of its kind to identify resilient and vulnerable groups of young people in the region to understand how they are experiencing climate change impacts and explore avenues for policy interventions to enhance their capacity for adaptation.

Dr Charles Ogunbode, De Montfort University; Dr Navjot Bhullar, University of New England, Australia; Dr Jack Maebuta, Solomon Islands National University; Professor Patrick Nunn, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia; Dr Lavinia Tiko, University of the South Pacific, Fiji