Abstract
Most remote outer islands (ROIs) in the Pacific have become left-behind places and are increasingly marginalised: Local people are moving away from ROIs to main islands or abroad, climate-induced stressors are more intensely undermining local livelihoods, government services are typically limited and unreliable, and foreign aid projects are often ineffective and unsustainable. Despite widespread awareness among scholars and policymakers that ROIs are lagging behind in development processes, research on ROIs has remained all too rare and has instead predominantly focused on main islands and close-by outer islands. Drawing on field research conducted in one of Fiji’s most remote districts, Ono, this study seeks to contribute to research on (de-)marginalisation in the context of the Pacific Islands. It does so by exploring how populations residing in ROIs perceive and undergo processes of development and marginalisation. This presentation discusses (1) how a left-behind ROI population experiences changes to their quality of life over time in the context of environmental shocks (such as cyclones) and socioeconomic trends (such as depopulation), and (2) how development actors can help de-marginalise ROIs and enhance the quality of life of ROI populations. The research findings highlight that the social networks within individual ROI populations as well as between ROIs and main islands play a key role in how marginality is experienced. This underscores the paramount importance of social cohesion and rural-urban interlinkages for de-marginalisation processes in the geographically scattered Pacific Island archipelagos.