The Relocation of Taro Island

Taro Island, a provincial capital of just over 1,000 people on a low-lying atoll in the Solomon Islands, is facing multiple existential threats resulting from climate change induced sea level rise: inundation, tsunami, salt-water intrusion, malaria, and freshwater shortages. In response, the community has decided to relocate the entire town to the main island of Choiseul, across a 1-mile stretch of water. With the assistance of international aid, a team of Australian planners, scientists, and engineers helped the local government to develop a strategic plan for relocation. However, without the support of the national government in Honiara, plans have stagnated. While architectural and urbanistic responses to climate change worldwide have focused on mitigation and adaptation, the accelerated rate of sea level rise and frequency of severe weather events is forcing communities to consider relocation. Isle de Jean Charles in coastal Louisiana, several small towns along the Alaskan coast, villages in the Carteret Islands, Kiribati, and Fiji are in various stages of the relocation process. Architects and urban planners must develop standards, protocols, and best practices to ensure that these projects are completed in a way that is sensitive to and involves members of those local communities. This paper examines Taro Island as a case study, tracing the history of development on the island, the risks it faces, the decision to relocate, the planning process to date, and the challenges the project is now confronting. Special attention is paid to the community’s desire to become a model for sustainable development.

Volume Editors

ISBN
978-1-944214-31-9