Canberra

The challenge of guaranteeing sustainable livelihood in small isolated Pacific island communities remains a contested issue. Rising poverty within some of the Pacific island countries (PICs) gives urgency to considerations of sustainable livelihood. The increasing reliance on donor support for provision of basic public services in a number of the PICs raises serious doubts on the sustainability of the status quo. This paper assesses the seriousness of the sustainability-challenge and provides avenues to addressing this challenge. We observe that rapid population growth with limited natural resources renders subsistence as a dwindling source of livelihood in many of the PICs. Increased labour mobility for the region as a whole, thus, has considerable merit. * Helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper from Carla Adami is gratefully acknowledged though views expressed are those of the author alone. What Pacific islanders need is a source of sustainable livelihood. Subsistence agriculture has historically served this purpose, but population pressures on limited natural resources make