Page 29 - IB November 2023

Water Security Water Security

of Pacific Islanders live in an urban area, and even less live and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). She was also
near connected pipe services,” he said. “This is important part of a virtual plenary session on food security at the Pacific
when we think of water security because in the Pacific, water Resilience Meeting, which emphasised the need for breaking
security is primarily managed at a household, village or an down silos and focusing on co-developing solutions.
island council level so supporting those communities to better Some of those disruptors include “markets and financial
manage their resources and supporting women and girls will shocks that we’re seeing, a pandemic like COVID-19 was a
play a really essential role.” The Pacific, Hebblethwaite says, major disrupter to the food system, and some of the animal
also has the world’s greatest disparity in access between diseases that are emerging across the whole Asia Pacific
urban and rural communities, with 51% of rural dwellers region, like African swine fever and some other pests and
having access to basic water facilities compared to 93% of diseases. Even things that are not just within our region, like
urban dwellers. the Ukrainian war, and who knows how it’s going to play out
“It is profound, and it shows the challenge in actually now with what’s happening with Israel and Palestine,” Cosjin
supporting these communities to have not just services, but stressed.
the capacity to manage the extremes of water, whether it be “COVID-19 has taught us in the last couple of years that
drought or flood or the impacts of water-borne diseases,” he the disruption of production and the anxiety from the
said. eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai i last year, has
Lusia Sefo–Leau, Chief Executive Officer for the Pacific really exacerbated the confidence level in our farmers and
Water and Wastewater Association (PWWA) concurred that the fishermen,” Minoru Nishi, Managing Director of Nishi Trading
data “speaks volumes about the unmet demand for water that Tonga, reiterated.
is there in our communities”. 70% of Pacific farmers live in rural areas. “They are
In its years of service, Sefo–Leau said PWWA has done its important for our food security, and I don’t think enough
benchmarking survey amongst its 30 utilities spread across 21 attention is given to them to address their needs at the
countries and territories in the Pacific. grassroots level,” Nishi said.
From that survey, PWWA found that the Solomon Islands The President of the Pacific Island Farmers Organisation
Water Association (SIWA) services a population of about 61,000 Network (PIFON) said the umbrella organisation has gone
- “a mere 10% of the country’s total population.” from strength to strength, from 18,000 members in eight
She continued: “Kiribati Public Utilities Corporation countries to now more than 90,000 members represented in
provides water to only 32% of the country’s total population 14 countries.
and Tonga Water Board 60% of the total population. So, the Partnerships are essential and they need to include
question is, what about the rest of the countries who have no “farmers, businesses, governments, and donor agencies,”
access [to water]? Who provides for them?” said Nishi. “They need to come and collaborate and listen to
Water security is not all about access either. More than 90% the voices of our farmers and fishermen in order to develop
of disasters are water-related, with climate change hitting policies and systems to address some of the challenges that
hardest through water, said Sefo–Leau. they face.”
“Two natural disasters stand out for me as the most Last year, Tonga’s food exports were down by 62%, the
destructive water disasters in Samoa in the last decade. First, worst it’s ever been, and that’s because of COVID-19, the
the floods of 2012, which destroyed livelihoods, assets, and volcanic eruption and the drought, Nishi highlighted.
people’s properties. And secondly, the floods of 2020, which Nishi said Pacific Island countries should be addressing and
I must say, are the worst that I have seen in the Apia urban supporting local industries, local farmers, and fishermen
area in my lifetime. to create employment, noting that Tonga is “losing a lot of
“People say a picture speaks a thousand words and an aerial our youth to seasonal worker schemes in Australia and New
view of Apia under knee-high brown dirty water in the middle Zealand.”
of COVID-19 is a picture that is stuck in my mind. “We need to break down barriers for inter-regional trade,
“Water is the connector of all living things. It connects something that I’ve spoken about for many years and very
us all at a very basic level. It flows through us, from us little has been done. I think we need political will from our
and around us, it rises from below and falls from above in leaders at the PIFS (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat) to seek
different forms. It can sustain life, provided it is accessible, good advice from the right people in order to make informed
and sustainably and safely available, but it can also destroy decisions.”
life if we do not plan and manage the risks,” she added. Nishi added: “We need to really think about our approach to
When water is affected, so are food systems. climate change, food security, and the health of our people.
“There are so many, what we would call, disruptors that are I’d like to reiterate the strength of our farmers organisation
impacting on the food system to be resilient and adaptive,” in the region—that is a model and an approach that we should
said Michaela Cosjin, Team Leader for Livelihoods and take and build on.”
Adaptive Environments with the Commonwealth Scientific

Islands Business, November 2023 29