IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/natres/v35y2011i1p9-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marine gold and atoll livelihoods: The rise and fall of the bêche‐de‐mer trade on Ontong Java, Solomon Islands

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Egelund Christensen

Abstract

The rise and fall of the bêche‐de‐mer trade in Solomon Islands is an example of how small, remote island communities are influenced by drivers of change on both the national and international scales. This susceptibility leads to local economic collapses and changed livelihoods. This article focuses on small‐island livelihoods, socio‐economic responses to fluctuating markets and the instability caused by internal and external forces of change. Quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews and participant observation have been used to explore the development trajectories of Ontong Java, a Polynesian outlier in Solomon Islands, in the context of the bêche‐de‐mer trade over the past forty years. The main findings can be captured in four distinct periods that demonstrate the transformation of this atoll community from subsistence‐oriented strategies to specialization in marine resource extraction to economic collapse and return to subsistence. It is concluded that this atoll population has shown a remarkable ability to adjust and cope with processes of globalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Egelund Christensen, 2011. "Marine gold and atoll livelihoods: The rise and fall of the bêche‐de‐mer trade on Ontong Java, Solomon Islands," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(1), pages 9-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:35:y:2011:i:1:p:9-20
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2011.01343.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-8947.2011.01343.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1477-8947.2011.01343.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Godfrey Baldacchino, 2004. "The Coming Of Age Of Island Studies," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(3), pages 272-283, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Birk & Kjeld Rasmussen, 2014. "Migration from atolls as climate change adaptation: Current practices, barriers and options in Solomon Islands," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(1), pages 1-13, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria-Stella Portelli & Elisabeth Conrad & Charles Galdies, 2020. "Developing an Environmental Justice Index for Small Island States: The Case of Malta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Martin Paldam, 2013. "Safe havens in Europe: Switzerland and the ten dwarfs," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 10(3), pages 377-396, December.
    3. Angeliki Mitropoulou & Ioannis Spilanis, 2020. "Towards a contemporary research agenda for island branding: developments, challenges, and dynamics," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(4), pages 293-303, December.
    4. Dixon, Keith & Gaffikin, Michael, 2014. "Accounting practices as social technologies of colonialistic outreach from London, Washington, et Cetera," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 683-708.
    5. Langle-Flores, Alfonso & Quijas, Sandra, 2020. "A systematic review of ecosystem services of Islas Marietas National Park, Mexico, an insular marine protected area," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    6. Jan Petzold & Alexandre K. Magnan, 2019. "Climate change: thinking small islands beyond Small Island Developing States (SIDS)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 145-165, January.
    7. Kallis, Giorgos & Varvarousis, Angelos & Petridis, Panos, 2022. "Southern thought, islandness and real-existing degrowth in the Mediterranean," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:35:y:2011:i:1:p:9-20. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.