A preliminary exploration of relationships among fishery management, food security, and the Millennium Development Goals in Melanesia

Abstract

In this article I use the lens of the human development indicators (HDIs) to hypothesize scenarios for the relationships among food security, commodity fisheries and human development for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Although the present low human population densities in these countries mean that food security, including subsistence fisheries, is largely intact, high rates of human population growth will likely pose threats to this security within three decades. A large body of research shows that educating women is the best way to slow human population growth, but education levels in Melanesia, particularly for women, are very low by world standards. I examine the potential and actual contribution to investment in education from commodity fisheries and other primary production sectors in Melanesia, and conclude that considerably more could be spent by both individual families, and the state, on education in this region.