Socioeconomic Resilience of Local Communities in the Face of Climate Change-Induced Hazards: The Role of Social Capital

Abstract

This study analyses the socioeconomic resilience of local communities in Fiji in the face of climate change-induced hazards. Drawing upon two comprehensive datasets, we computed the households’ socioeconomic resilience capacity index (SERCI), following the FAO's Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis II (RIMA-II) methodology. Our findings revealed that the socioeconomic resilience of Fijian households exhibited an improvement from 1996 to 2007, followed by a stagnation period between 2007 and 2014. iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) households demonstrated lower asset-based socioeconomic resilience compared to other ethnic groups across the two decades we analysed. Nonetheless, accounting for the role of social capital in the socioeconomic resilience capacity of households substantially reduced the gap between the resilience capacity of the different ethnic groups, as iTaukei households demonstrated higher level of social capital than other ethnic groups. Our results underline that in societies such as those in Fiji where social networks play an important role in times of emergencies and disaster, omitting social capital from the analysis of socioeconomic resilience capacity could lead to flawed policies. Our findings call for holistic approaches that account for social as well as economic aspects of resilience to gain a clearer understanding of the socioeconomic resilience capacity of communities prone to the impacts of climate change.