‘No one was prepared’: Vanuatu feels cost of climate crisis

By William On Apr 18, 2023

Port Vila, Vanuatu – On the waterfront in Port Vila, Mark Philips runs an adventure travel company.

He bought U Power Sea Adventures, which guides holidaymakers through the waters around Vanuatu’s capital, in July last year and was excited about the prospects. In early March, Cyclone Judy struck and was quickly followed by Cyclone Kevin.

“Coming out of COVID, it was a bit risky to buy a tourism company with no one in the country and locked down for three years,” Philips told Al Jazeera. “We were also prepared for other lockdowns, but no one was prepared for two Category 4 cyclones in a week.”

The island nation of Vanuatu, most at risk of major natural disasters in the Pacific, is facing an initial recovery bill of tens of millions of dollars following the twin cyclones.

A state of emergency was declared for six months after storms swept through the archipelago from March 1 to 3, destroying homes and key infrastructure, including roads, ports and the airport.

More than 251,000 people – 80 percent of the population – were without power and food. Water supply was patchy.

“We had a rough time during COVID. Everyone was in a very precarious financial position because the borders were closed for so long, but companies started reinvesting at the end of last year. There was a lot of hope. Then we had two cyclones and it did a lot of damage,” Joanna Spencer, development consultant at the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Port Vila, told Al Jazeera.

Simon Troman (left), owner of Café du Village on the Port Vila waterfront, and Mark Philips, who operates adventure travel, U Power Sea Adventures. These are two of many local businesses that have seen their revenues drop after Cyclones Judy and Kevin [Catherine Wilson/Al Jazeera]

Tourism accounted for 45 percent of Vanuatu’s gross domestic product (GDP) before COVID hit, with most of the 256,000 international visitors in 2019 coming from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United Kingdom.

The country was also a popular stopover for cruise ships, with passengers using the time to shop at local markets, eat at cafes and restaurants, and explore coastal villages and marine life.

But with COVID-19, the cruise ships stopped coming and people like Philips are now dealing with a sharp drop in sales while also having to repair buildings, boats and equipment.

“For March, we expected at least eight to nine cruise ships, but they were all canceled, so we had zero in the month of March,” Philips told Al Jazeera. “We’ve tried to do our best with shorter hours and opening up when we can, just to keep the business afloat.”

Both the wharf and the access road sustained damage from the cyclone and cruise ships are not expected to return until late April.

Local hopes of an increase in tourism during the Easter holiday, a major holiday in Australia, were dealt a further blow when the sole Boeing 737 of Air Vanuatu, the national carrier, foundered with mechanical problems in the Australian city of Brisbane on March 31. It has yet to resume its international routes.

Philips is still facing ongoing costs.

“We have employees and they too have lost their homes. They need the company to pay them so they can rebuild their homes. We have kept every employee on board from the day of the cyclone to make sure everyone is fed and cared for,” he said.

Climate vulnerability

Further on in Vila Bay, Simon Troman owns Le Café du Village, a popular bar and restaurant. Sitting on his outdoor patio, Troman said he had seen an 80 percent drop in customers since the cyclones. And he has yet to repair the damage they’ve done.

“We are the [veranda] roof all the way. We’ve lost all the front ports [of the café] and all the signage and the electricity and lighting along the waterfront was destroyed,” Troman explained.

“I didn’t add up what its value would be. But another problem is that not much of the equipment is available here. So we are now looking at a lead time of two to three months to bring things in, which will take us into June and July before we have things back in place,” he said.

Rain whips up a Vanuatu market. On the left is a woman with her back to the camera in a colorful floral dress. There are stalls in the middle undercover with a few people walking around. The ground is very wet and the rain comes pouring down from the roof. — Extreme weather usually hits Vanuatu during the wet season from November to April [Catherine Wilson/Al Jazeera]

Vanuatu is located west of Fiji in the Southwest Pacific Ocean and on the volcanically active “Pacific Ring of Fire”. It faces a 56.8 percent risk of natural disaster every year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Nine years ago Vanuatu was hit by Cyclone Lusi and the following year by Cyclone Pam, causing economic losses of US$449 million. Subsequently, Category 5 Cyclone Harold in 2020 caused private sector losses of 7.58 billion vatu ($64 million) and reduced economic growth that year from 3.4 to 0.6 percent.

The government reports that the combined economic losses from COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold amounted to 54 percent of the country’s GDP.

A short distance from the waterfront is a large covered market with about 24 craft entrepreneurs. Here, 38-year-old Dalida Borlasa started her company, Yumi Up Upcycling Solutions, designing fashion accessories with recycled plastic a year ago.

During the cyclones, “the market building was damaged, the market tables and displays were broken and boxes of our products were thrown all over the floor,” Borlasa told Al Jazeera.

“My tears fell as I saw everything we had all worked hard for, all destroyed in three days.”

Borlasa has since conducted a study into the effect of the cyclones on its fellow vendors and submitted it to the Ministry of Industry.

The IMF warned in 2018 that extreme climate events posed a growing threat to fiscal stability, trade balances and economic growth in Pacific Island countries. It also warned that damage to key economic sectors, such as agriculture and tourism, could lead to a loss of government revenue and exports as demand for government spending on reconstruction increased.

Climate damage also threatened to divert public finances away from national development, the IMF added.

The warnings have not gone unnoticed in Vanuatu, which graduated from the United Nations’ list of least developed countries (LDCs) in 2020.

It has pursued hopes of climate justice through its ICJ initiative, which aims to explore how international law can be used to protect climate-sensitive countries through the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The international campaign, now supported by 132 other countries, took a major step forward on March 29 when the UN voted to task the ICJ with identifying countries’ climate action commitments and clarifying the consequences if they are not met.

Cyclones Judy and Kevin hit the country five months after a groundbreaking agreement on a global loss and damage fund was announced at COP27 last year. But details on how the fund will operate are not expected to be announced until the next UN climate change conference in Dubai later this year.

A floating pontoon and three U Power Adventures boats on the Port Vila waterfront. There is a large banner on the roof advertising the company. Life jackets hang up. The sky is cloudy — Mark Philips’ U Power Sea Adventures is gearing up for the return of the international tourists vital to his business [Catherine Wilson/Al Jazeera]

While Vanuatu waits, the government is left alone with the huge cleaning bill

It has introduced financial and tax relief measures for local businesses after the disaster, but most are counting on a quick return of tourists to help the country weather the storm.

“We need the tourists to come back now. We’re open, we’re ready, come on in, because that’s what we need right now. Nobody wants handouts,” Philips said.