Responding to Climate Change and Security of Tenure Challenges in Vanuatu: The Role of Land Professionals
Williams Ganileo
The issue of climate changes has had so much impacts on the life of our people causing changes to land use planning to accommodate for the needs that is essential for livelihoods. It could be stated here as a very comprehensive issue to research and find ways to deal with it. More so, the issue of land tenure itself is a complicated one to note where 95 percent of land in Vanuatu is owned by tribes through the ownership patterns that follows the patrilineal and matrilineal lineages. Responding to climatic issues as a land professional is a very complicate issue because one needs good data to proof the fact that there is changes happening on the coastline. Most of the islands are either high or flat which makes an interesting to note where most coastlines are being washed away and where the place are becoming more deeper proving the areas of changes. A lot of people have moved from their islands to find home in the urban areas. This movements are either temporary or permanent which leads to other issues that is because causes more complication to livelihoods. For land professionals, it has been a major concern on when land is in the center of the decision making. One, the people create squatters on native lands that is against the laws of this country. But because the national government has the overall power over her citizens, under the redistribution of land under the Constitution of Vanuatu, the government will allocate land to the land less.
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