For more than 20 years, climate-change assistance to Pacific Island countries has been predicated on the assumption that the most effective ways to raise preparedness is topdown, largely by influencing national policy and bringing it into line with international agendas. This research project was intended to understand the effectiveness of this approach by learning exactly how decisions regarding the environment and its changes were made. The approach taken was to target representative communities with experience in addressing climate-change linked decisions in representative countries of the Pacific islands region. The project aimed to: understand how environmental decision-making in coastal settlements in peripheral parts of archipelagic Pacific Island countries is undertaken; understand what influences environmental decision-making in such places; understand how communities affected by global change perceive, understand associated problems and evaluate possible solutions; and use this information to inform discussions about role of policy in environmental decision-making in the Pacific Islands, and better focus future capacity-building efforts.