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Dark Side of Development: Modernity, Disaster Risk and Sustainable Livelihoods in Two Coastal Communities in Fiji

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  • Per Becker

    (Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

The world is changing rapidly, as are the remotest rural communities. Modernity is spreading across the world under the guise of development and it is transforming disaster risk. This raises issues concerning how disaster risk is changing in such milieus. Using a sustainable livelihood approach, this article investigates access to different types of capital that central to the vulnerability of two coastal communities in Fiji that are affected by modernity to different extents. This comparative case study is based on semi-structured interviews, focus groups and observation. The results indicate that modernity transforms access to and use of key capitals (natural, physical, financial, human, and social capital) on both community and household levels, increasing dependence on external resources that are unequally distributed, while undermining social cohesion and support. Although disaster risk might be of a similar magnitude across the board at the community level, modernity transforms vulnerability significantly and skews the distribution of disaster risk, to the detriment of the households left behind by development.

Suggested Citation

  • Per Becker, 2017. "Dark Side of Development: Modernity, Disaster Risk and Sustainable Livelihoods in Two Coastal Communities in Fiji," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2315-:d:122703
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    Cited by:

    1. Yannan Zhao & Jie Fan & Bo Liang & Lu Zhang, 2019. "Evaluation of Sustainable Livelihoods in the Context of Disaster Vulnerability: A Case Study of Shenzha County in Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Melanie M. Bakema & Constanza Parra & Philip McCann, 2018. "Analyzing the Social Lead-Up to a Human-Induced Disaster: The Gas Extraction-Earthquake Nexus in Groningen, The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.

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