Transformed landscapes: 3000 years of adaptation and resilience in Vanuatu.

Climate change poses a significant threat to Australia and its region. Food security and pressure on resources are going to be critical challenges for many of Australias Pacific Island neighbours, with anticipated changes in social, agricultural and economic development. This project focuses on the history of past strategies of adaptation on Efate Island, Vanuatu, where there is an exceptional record of high-density population and innovative changes in land use in response to changing environmental conditions. To better understand the way Efate Islanders have adapted to changing environments over thousands of years, this project introduces cutting edge remote-sensing technologies alongside new archival discoveries and traditional knowledge of land use practices. A team of archaeologists, historians and linguists will work together to show how different strategies for adaptation on Efate might point to an expanded range of possible futures for land use across the region. Un