Climate Change Awareness and Community Resilience in Remote Atoll Villages of Tuvalu
Keywords:
climate change resilience, Tuvalu, atoll communities, community awareness, sea-level rise, Pacific IslandsAbstract
Tuvalu, a low-lying Polynesian atoll nation in the central Pacific, faces an existential threat from anthropogenic climate change as accelerating sea-level rise, intensifying storm surges, saltwater intrusion, and coral bleaching events collectively undermine the ecological and social foundations of life on its nine atolls. This community service study evaluates a six-month participatory climate change awareness and resilience-building programme—Rising Tides, Resilient Communities—implemented across five remote atoll villages in Funafuti, Nanumea, Nui, Vaitupu, and Nukufetau atolls, engaging 184 adult community members. Employing a single-group longitudinal design with measurements at baseline, three months, and six months, the programme integrated climate science literacy, traditional ecological knowledge, adaptive food and water security strategies, ecosystem restoration practices, early warning system training, and community advocacy capacity building. Findings demonstrate statistically significant improvements across all ten resilience indicators measured, alongside strong cultural relevance ratings for all programme components. These results advance the evidence base for culturally grounded, community-led climate resilience frameworks in small island developing states facing existential climate risk.
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