In Vanuatu, in the Pacific, a traditional food preservation technique is being revived and promoted as a coping strategy to deal with episodes of food scarcity, which are expected to rise as a result of climate change and the likelihood of the increased incidence of severe cyclones.

The “Mara Technique”, developed by the people of Futuna Island, is a method for preserving unripe banana for over 2 years. On Futuna it is common practice that a small percentage of bananas are preserved for times of cyclone and subsequent food scarcity. The preserved bananas, once carefully drained and buried, can be later mixed with coconut and recooked years later.

The delicacy, which has the consistency of cheese and a distinctly sweet flavour, was documented as part of the SPC-GIZ project Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region (CCCPIR). The project worked closely with Futuna elders to document the Mara technique and develop a Bislama-language guidebook and manual so that anyone in Vanuatu can begin to preserve bananas in anticipation of more severe impacts from cyclones from climate change in the future.