{"title":"Freshwater Mussel (Batissa violacea) Fishery and its Value in Fiji","authors":"J. Lako, N. Kuridrani, M. Sobey","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-08","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the local freshwater mussel, or kai (Batissa violacea), fishery value chain, its values and contribution to the livelihood of people in Viti Levu, Fiji. The assessment was performed through face-to-face interviews, with the use of semi-structured questionnaires administered to 125 actors. A walk through the value-chain was also conducted that confirmed the sites’ environmental conditions. Results revealed that even though the kai fishery is dominated by rural women, men were also employed as kai processors, transporting agents and exporters. This fishery generated at least 58 other employments through the 500 kai harvesters within the five major provinces understudy. These were drivers, boat builders, retailers, processors, exporters, and harvesters. Three sales pathways were identified that determined the revenues and profits: (i) harvesters sell own harvests directly to the consumer at the municipal markets, (ii) harvesters sell through intermediary traders to consumers, and (iii) harvesters sell through processors to supermarkets, hotels or exporters. When revenues and profits were calculated, harvesters earned much less, compared to intermediary traders, processors, and exporters. Major constraints include continuous reduction in catch size of kai, lack of transport, and marketing at the local municipal markets that require improvements.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83202867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Determinants of Microentrepreneurial Success in One of the Small Island Developing States of the Pacific: Evidence from Samoa","authors":"Romalani Leofo, Afualo Salele","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-04","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the attributes of Samoan microentrepreneurs to identify the important determinants of business success measured by income. Using survey analysis, we find a positive association between participation in social support network, age of microentrepreneurs, and business income. Additionally, we find weakly significant results that participation of microentrepreneurs in microfinance increases their business income. Furthermore, we find that social support network participation has a positive and significant impact on microbusiness income. Our findings extend the results of prior studies, and should be of interest to government authorities, non-government organisations and microfinance institutions for policy planning and future improvements in the microfinance sector. We recommend for microfinance policy makers and practitioners to value the importance of creating safe environments for microentrepreneurs to interact with each other and with various groups from the community for support and growth.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81522389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender Differences in HIV Risk Perception and Sexual Behaviour of Young Adults in Metropolitan Areas of Fiji","authors":"Gurmeet Singh, Aarti Sewak, K. Reddy, Sharan Ram","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-05","url":null,"abstract":"This study seeks to understand variations in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) risk perception and sexual behaviour among male and female adults in Fiji. The Second-Generation Surveillance Report (2006) indicates the median age of first sex within the youth group as 16 years (range 10 – 23 years). Therefore, this study was purposively targeted at individuals of reproductive age, preferably 10 years and above. We utilized convenience sampling to collect 137 self-administered surveys from individuals working in both public and private sector organizations in two highly populated areas of Fiji. Independent samples t-test analyses revealed that men living in urban areas are more likely to experiment with multiple sexual partners, have a higher tendency of engaging in sexual practices, and are highly likely to have unsafe sex with multiple partners. Gender-sensitive interventions may help facilitate and achieve positive behaviour change among males and influence the sexual health of females.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"103 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72404522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tourism Development in the South Pacific: The Cases of Nauru and Tuvalu","authors":"N. Towner, S. Taumoepeau","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-6","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Tuvalu and Nauru are isolated developing island nations located in the South Pacific Ocean. In contrast to the established larger Pacific destinations such as Fiji and Tahiti, the tourism industries on both Tuvalu and Nauru are in their infancy. Tourism development in these remote island nations faces a myriad of challenges which include a lack of infrastructure, environmental susceptibility, economic vulnerability, difficulties with access and considerable distances from major tourist markets. This paper reviews tourism on Tuvalu and Nauru and evaluates their current situation regarding potential tourism development through workshops with relevant stakeholders, surveys and subsequent SWOT analysis. The results of the paper outlined a large number of challenges faced by Tuvalu and Nauru due to their geographic location but also highlighted that both Islands possess fascinating and unique features that have the potential to attract niche tourism markets. A key finding of this paper is that the tourism stimulus or potential attraction can also be the chief threat to the islands’ economic survival hence the two edges of the sword. Further research is required to assess the effect of the withdrawal of the Refugee Processing Centre on Nauru’s economy and to evaluate the impact of climate change on Tuvalu’s society and potential adaption strategies.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83756207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Explaining Policy Change in Samoa’s Mental Health System","authors":"T. Fadgen","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-07","url":null,"abstract":"Modern mental health systems are the products of successive waves of policy development and adaptation. This is particularly so in many low to middle income countries that inherited colonial mental health laws, and institutions often followed by legislative shifts at independence. But how otherwise do these systems change? And why do these systems change? This article applies historical institutionalism to consider policy change over time, in a single case study of a small island state, Samoa. In doing so, the article will consider three discrete policy change episodes to argue that national policy change in the area of mental health has been the result of foreign direction or influence. These three critical change events occurred leading to policy change: colonisation, independence and the intervention of an intergovernmental organisation. These findings are instructive for future, domestically-driven policy change initiatives, in providing the importance of historical policy development and the continuing importance of international policy advocates in promoting policy change.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85313155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do high renewable energy targets hinder donor-funded rural electrification in Pacific island countries?","authors":"Ryohei Ikarii","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2019.39(1)-02","url":null,"abstract":"High renewable energy targets and rural electrification are not necessarily complementary in Pacific island countries (PICs). While PICs need to tackle both high renewable energy targets for climate change and rural electrification for further development, investment in renewable energy in urban areas is a more cost-effective means of achieving renewable energy targets than rural electrification with renewables. In the energy sector in PICs, foreign aid is the single most important source of investment. Thus, this research will investigate donor-funding for energy projects, assess the extent to which the funding is focused on rural electrification, and examine whether the situation has changed over time in this region. A large share of the information about foreign aid for energy projects between 2013 and 2015 are extracted from a database of a think tank. All the energy projects are sorted into four categories: urban power supply, rural electrification, others, and unspecified projects. The results show that PICs are not only improving urban power supply but also enhancing rural electrification currently, and foreign aid for rural electrification has increased over time. This research also suggests policy recommendations for the donor and recipient governments, including data collection and analysis on electricity demand and energy consumption.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80913468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Development of Trade Arrangements in the Caribbean Island Nations and the Pacific Island Countries","authors":"K. Rai","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-5","url":null,"abstract":"The contemporary turn of events post-Brexit and the election of Donald Trump hints at a return of protectionism. However, for years now, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been advocating and continues to advocate that regional arrangements and closer economic integration would benefit all countries. Arguments regarding trade integration clearly have been contentious. Nonetheless, in regards to small island countries (SICs), it is quite evident that they perform better together than alone. The route to regionalism has been a long and painful journey for both the Caribbean Basin and the Pacific Rim. Many simply dismiss the sluggish growth of the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in comparison with the Caribbean Island Nations (CINs) by simply declaring that regionalism is working better for the latter. This study presents a detailed account of efforts at nurturing regionalism on the part of these two seemingly similar, yet distinguishable groups of islands. Through such scrutiny, this paper documents a stark contrast in the development of trade arrangements that clearly influence the growth of the regions.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81979871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Impact Case Study of Improved Road Infrastructure on Urban Communities in Samoa","authors":"S. Taua'a","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-4","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the social-economic impacts of the upgraded Vaitele Street on a selected number of households residing along a two-hundred-meter stretch of the Vaitele Street. Studies conducted elsewhere in the developed and developing world, report a significant positive impact of infrastructure on economic growth, income and productivity. Massive donor funded infrastructure investment particularly in major road and drainage construction have been implemented in Samoa for the last fifteen years to support development efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, now replaced by Sustainable Development Goals. However, there has been a dearth of impact studies both at the national and local levels to gauge how road upgrades among other infrastructure developments are impacting the lives of the general population. This study intends to fill this knowledge gap, by documenting the social –economic experiences of twelve households with road frontage properties and how they are making the most of the opportunities presented by the upgraded Vaitele Street.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"221 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76639204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conference Review: International Conference on Sustainable Alternatives to Poverty Reduction and Ecological Justice (SAPREJ-18), The University of the South Pacific, 26-29 June 2018","authors":"Eberhard Weber","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-6","url":null,"abstract":"From June 26-29, 2018, the 18th international conference on Sustainable Alternatives to Poverty Reduction and Ecological Justice (SAPREJ-18) took place at The University of the South Pacific (USP). The aim of the conference was to strengthen academic and interfaith dialogue on major social and environmental challenges that the Pacific Islands and other parts of the world are facing in the 21st century.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82968371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Kiribati Game Development: Cultural Transmission, Communities of Creation, and Marketing","authors":"A. Voogt","doi":"10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33318/jpacs.2018.38(1)-2","url":null,"abstract":"The people of Kiribati play a broad assortment of card and board games. The game rules show several innovations that were made outside the purview of the games’ manufacturers. The presence and regional development of proprietary board games illustrates product development scenarios that are counterintuitive to marketers. Using game boards and game rules collected in Kiribati, this study offers an explanation on how game development in Micronesia can be understood using cultural transmission theory by locating the Republic of Kiribati both geographically and economically within the Pacific Islands economies and their communities and within their own anthropological context. The findings emphasize the importance of understanding regional and country-specific cultural practices when applying principles of product development, placement and distribution.","PeriodicalId":29702,"journal":{"name":"Locale-The Australian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies","volume":"131 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75820866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}