This thesis focuses on community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA) in a rural, Pacific islands context. It is informed by a case study of Mota Lava, a small island in northern Vanuatu. Climate change poses particular challenges for Pacific island communities, who, in general, are largely natural resource dependent, coastal dwelling and experience high climate variability and extremes. This thesis responds to the lack of critical attention paid to dominant understandings of how to implement adaptation to climate change in a way that best serves the needs of local people. The research addresses the dearth of Pacific local voices in effective CBA projects and programmes in the region. The features that distinguish effective CBA are that it: reduces vulnerability; is participatory; is based on local knowledge, needs and priorities, and; empowers communities to help themselves in adapting to climate change. Situated in critical human geography, the study examines mainstream international discourses of vulnerability and adaptation, and the implications of these for effective CBA implementation in a Pacific island community context. Qualitative research drawing from participatory and postcolonial theories provides a platform for community voices in Vanuatu. A combination of semi-structured interviews, unstructured interviews, participatory techniques and participant observation were used to investigate the ways in which people construct their vulnerability and adaptation needs in the community of Mota Lava.