Susana Taua’a

Understanding popular attitudes to climate change can be important in developing effective climate adaptation responses. However, in the Pacific region, which is at the forefront of impacts of a changing climate, little attention has been given to popular perceptions of climate change. This paper presents the findings of a climate change module in the first Pacific Attitudes Survey (PAS), conducted in Samoa from December 2020 to January 2021. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of Samoans of voting age (n = 1319), the PAS gauges the views of ordinary Samoans towards climate change, including perceptions of the urgency of climate change action, perceptions of the effects of climate change in Samoa, and of individual or institutional capacity to act on climate change. Findings reveal that while most respondents believe that climate change was an urgent problem that needs to be addressed, a significant minority thought it will “never be necessary” to address climate change. This study also found level of education to be a significant factor in climate beliefs. Respondents who had higher education levels were more likely to rate climate change as an urgent problem. Those identifying climate change as an urgent problem that needs to be addressed were significantly more likely to agree that climate change was affecting Samoa in general and their own personal lives. We also found a significant association between perceptions that climate change was an “urgent problem that needs to be addressed”, and willingness to permanently migrate for work.

This study explores the impact of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) on households in Samoa, particularly those households that invested in the TVET qualification and certification of at least one member of their household. Significant benefits accrue to households through productive employment of the TVET‐certified household member, and this study is one of a kind designed to gather some base line socio‐economic data from 15 case study households to validate these claims. The study is framed within the sustainable livelihoods approach and capabilities approach. Improved skills of TVET persons provide a sustainable livelihood for their households and enabled strengthening of people's capabilities to make significant contributions to their families, community and national development agenda. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were methods engaged to answer the study question on the socio‐economic impacts of TVET‐certified members on their households. The results substantiated what we have always observed and believed, that the households with at least one TVET‐certified member is able to make positive physical and social contributions towards improving the livelihood of the entire household.