EXTREME heat, drought, cyclones, flooding, sea-level rise and coastal inundation are damaging crops and arable land in Eratap and Teouma, the main suppliers of fresh market produce to Vanuatu’s capital, threatening food security and livelihoods in the Pacific island nation.
Community members told a Building Our Loss and Damage (BOLD) Response Project consultation in Eratap that climate-related events are becoming more frequent and severe, disrupting planting and harvesting seasons and making it harder to maintain reliable food production.
“Long periods of severe heat and drought have a devastating impact on our crops and lands,” said John Markal from Eratap.
“At the end of 2025 our gardens were full of healthy crops, but the severe heat has caused many to die.”
Taro varieties can survive the heat, Markal said, but manioc, a staple food used in traditional cooking, often cannot.
Participants also described food shortages after recent cyclones, when a ban on selling produce at markets was imposed to ensure adequate food supplies for families. The ban, however, also reduced community livelihoods and income.
An El Niño event was declared in June 2026 by the World Meteorological Organisation’s Pacific Regional Climate Centre.
For nations in the eastern and central Pacific, the event means an increased likelihood of below-normal rainfall and potential drought conditions, which may add stress to crop production, food security and livelihoods.
Communities said recovery was becoming more difficult as extreme events occurred more frequently and closer together, leaving little time to restore gardens, replace lost crops and return to normal production levels before the next event.
At Teouma Beach, a site visit highlighted the impact of flooding on the Teouma River Basin, where riverbanks were heavily eroded.
Many gardens are situated along the river because of access to water and good soil, but flooding can wipe out entire gardens, forcing families to start again or relocate to safer areas.
Relocation can put families farther from optimal selling points, increasing stress and the cost of living, participants said.
A significant portion of Teouma Beach, once used for gardens and farming, has also been lost to extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and coastal inundation, placing further strain on livelihoods.
“Growing two or more crops in the gardens can reduce the risk to climate events,” Eratap Chief Kenneth Alban said during a site visit to his upland gardens.
“During drought or cyclones, mixed cropping can reduce losing everything at once. If one crop is damaged or dies, another may survive and continue to provide food and income.”
Alban also emphasised the importance of building knowledge about climate change impacts and effective responses.
“This consultation has been a good opportunity for our community to learn about climate change,” he said.
“We are continuing to see the impacts and it’s important for us to know how to respond to the changes and build our knowledge on the issue so we may share with our other community members.”
A significant portion of Vanuatu’s population relies on subsistence agriculture for food security and livelihoods, leaving the sector highly exposed to climate change and natural hazards.
“Following the BOLD Response Project Vanuatu Inception Meeting in February 2026, the agriculture sector has emerged as the highest priority sector for scientific assessment and implementation,” BOLD Project Manager Malaki Iakopo said.
“We are committed to locally led approaches and implementation that recognise traditional knowledge, customary governance and community priorities,” he said.
The Eratap consultation, held from Aug. 17-18, was the first of several community engagement activities for Vanuatu under the BOLD Response Project. The Vanuatu Department of Climate Change organised and facilitated it, with technical support from SPREP and Climate Analytics.
BOLD is a five-year project running from 2025 to December 2029 and funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through its Federal Foreign Office under the International Climate Initiative.
A consortium led by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and Climate Analytics is implementing the project across Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
