Navigating Matriliny, Fishing and Societal Change: Community-Based Resource Management in Isabel, Solomon Islands

Matrilineal and patrilineal descent systems create different gender relations surrounding the use, ownership, and decision-making about land and sea resources. Given the need for scaling community-based resource management (CBRM) across the Pacific, it is essential to consider how CBRM should be implemented in matrilineal and patrilineal contexts, such as found in Solomon Islands. This study used interviews and focus groups to investigate use and management of land and sea areas by communities with matrilineal descent systems. Themes explored include benefits and risks to matrilineal practices, and preferred approaches of community members for outsiders to engage with matrilineal societies. While matrilineal practices were valued, they are also undermined, particularly regarding women’s voice in natural resource management in areas with extractive industry development. Fisheries, conservation and development actors need to engage in ways that support matriliny and women’s voice, and a set of approaches is presented to guide such work in future.