A newly published study for the Central Province in the Solomon Islands highlights how healthy ecosystems are critical to the long-term resilience and prosperity of any local community, and even more so when building community resilience to climate change. The Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) study calls for urgent actions to protect priority key ecosystems and services through ecosystem-based responses and sustaining ecosystem services.
The assessment was conducted in eight targeted communities in Central Province at the end of 2024 as part of the Pacific BioScape Programme. The majority of people in the Province are conducting subsistence activities to sustain their livelihoods. An example of this is where a farmer produces enough food to feed their family, but not any extra to sell or trade. Cash income is typically generated through agriculture such as fruit, vegetables and nuts, copra production, fish for market sales in Honiara, harvesting of marine products, tourism and timber exports. All of these benefits come from ecosystem services from the surrounding environment.
