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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY – VANUATUmen and women and between urban and rural areas. There are specific issues relatingto the increased migration from rural to urban areas, with the unemployed poorand squatter settlements of urban areas also facing problems of inadequate housing,poor infrastructure and lack of access to water and sanitation services.Vanuatu’s Melanesian society does not have hereditary leadership with theresult that the position a person attains is more closely linked to how successfulthey are in accumulating wealth and prestige. While this system is consideredegalitarian, it does not necessarily engender an egalitarian society. It is also clearthat while some women have achieved success in both the private and publicsectors, there remain many cultural and social constraints to gender equality inthe family, employment and decision making (UN, 2002).The legal system recognizes and enforces private rights where those rights aregranted under title or agreement. However, difficulties arise when the ownershipof the property or right is either communal or uncertain. In these cases, it can bedifficult to obtain and enforce rights and use.THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR IN VANUATUThe economy of Vanuatu is comprised of a large smallholder subsistence agriculturesector and a small monetized sector. Small-scale agriculture provides for over65 percent of the population while fishing, off-shore financial services andtourism also contribute to government revenues. In 2003, the national grossdomestic product (GDP) was estimated at US$580 million with per capita GDPat US$2 900. As a proportion of GDP, agriculture accounted for 14.9 percent,industry 8.5 percent and the service sector 76.6 percent. Real GDP per capita isstill lower than in the early 1980s due largely to the lack of long-term growth inthe agriculture and fisheries sectors. Since 2003, the agriculture sector has grown atan annual rate of 3.3 percent compared to the 2.8 percent growth for the economyand average population growth rate of 2.6 percent (NACCC, 2005).Immediately following independence in 1980, smallholders were encouragedto satisfy the demands of the export market with commodities such as copra,cocoa, coffee and meat and the promotion of these commodities was the focusof agricultural policies at that time. Market prices for all these commodities have37