Land law and natural disasters in the South Pacific

This article provides an overview of land law and policy in a context of natural disasters in the South Pacific. While most land in the Pacific is formally held under customary tenure, existing law and policy tends to emphasise state-based responses to natural disasters and their effects on human mobility. The article argues for greater engagement with customary land issues in a context of natural disasters and human mobility. Whether legally classified as state or customary land, there is still a need for consultation or agreement with customary groups that claim land selected as sites for temporary shelter or planned resettlement. Whether or not the law allows direct dealings in customary land, agreements with customary landholding groups to sell or lease land are inevitable in a context of human mobility arising from natural disasters. The law and policy challenge is to develop procedures for customary land agreements that facilitate adaptive migration while ameliorating the potential for conflict over land.