ABSTRACT
Pacific Island countries (PICs), particularly small and low-lying ones, are central figures in popular understandings and the politics of global warming. Because of climate change, countries like Tuvalu, which previously had very low international profiles, have appeared in numerous press articles, television documentaries and news accounts around the world. In many ways, representations of the islands as being vulnerable to climate change have been helpful in leveraging international support: the construction of the small islands as Davids fighting against the industrial and newly developing Goliaths has considerable popular appeal in the developed world. However, this support has resulted in little in the way of material action, either in the form of a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or the implementation of programmes that would help Pacific Island governments and communities build effective adaptation strategies. At least with respect to adaptation responses, representations of the Pacific Islands as extremely vulnerable may have created the illusion that adaptation is pointless, and have denied the resilience, agency, capacity and potential that Pacific Island communities have and which could be useful elements of an adaptation response.
