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Indigenous Pacific Approaches to Climate Change
Abstract and Figures
This book explores how Pacific Island communities are responding to the challenges wrought by climate change—most notably fresh water accessibility, the growing threat of disease, and crop failure. The Pacific Island nations are not alone in facing these challenges, but their responses are unique in that they arise from traditional and community-based understandings of climate and disaster. Knowledge sharing, community education, and widespread participation in decision-making have promoted social resilience to such challenges across the Pacific. In this exploration of the Pacific Island countries, Bryant-Tokalau demonstrates that by understanding the inter-relatedness of local expertise, customary resource management, traditional knowledge and practice, as well as the roles of leaders and institutions, local “knowledge-practice-belief systems” can be used to inform adaptation to disasters wherever they occur.
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... Due to the intensification of production across plantrelated sectors and socio-economic changes such as the aging and depopulation of rural societies, traditional knowledge and genetic plant resources are imperiled [1,2]. Sophisticated systems of resource management that local communities have adopted over long periods of time can provide beneficial insights for sustainable societies, particularly as they try to better adapt to uncertain climatic and socio-economic conditions in the future [3,4]. To effectively promote the (re)discovery and use of such systems, it is important to properly delineate the geographical boundaries of biocultural diversity. ...
... The steep terrain and Hōyo Strait, the only sea route between the Uwa Sea and the Iyo-Nada Sea, have historically been geographical barriers, greatly reducing the convenience of transportation for people before motorization. Complex regional variations in folklore, which was hierarchically grouped into three levels (3,4, and 10 groups) (Additional file 1: Fig. S1E-G from [24]), language (Additional file 1: Fig. S1H-J in [20,21]), and agricultural practices (Additional file 1: Fig. S1K from [25]) have been illustrated as maps. The dialect map proposed by Takechi was based on the regional characteristics of grammar, vocabulary, phonemes, and accent [20]. ...
Background
The intensification of production and socio-economic changes have accelerated the loss of local traditional knowledge and plant resources. Understanding the distribution and determinants of such biocultural diversity is essential in planning efficient surveys and conservation efforts. Because the concept of biocultural diversity in socio-ecological adaptive systems comprises biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity, linguistic information should serve as a surrogate for the distribution of local biological and cultural diversity. In this study, we spatio-linguistically evaluated the names of local trees and rice landraces recorded in Ehime Prefecture, southwestern Japan.
Methods
Hierarchical clustering was performed separately for the names of local trees and rice landraces. By considering innate flora differences and species having multiple local names, a novel distance index was adopted for local tree names. For the names of rice landraces, Jaccard distance was adopted. V-measure and factor detector analysis were used to evaluate the spatial association between the isogloss maps of the folk nomenclature derived from the clustering and multiple thematic maps.
Results
Local tree names showed stronger spatial association with geographical factors than rice landrace names. One folk nomenclature group of trees overlapped well with the slash-and-burn cultivation area, suggesting a link between the naming of trees and the traditional production system. In contrast, rice landraces exhibited stronger associations with folklore practices. Moreover, influences of road networks and pilgrimages on rice landraces indicated the importance of human mobility and traditional rituals on rice seed transfer. High homogeneity and low completeness in the V-measure analysis indicated that the names of local trees and rice landraces were mostly homogenous within current municipalities and were shared with a couple of adjacent municipalities. The isogloss maps help to illustrate how the biological and cultural diversity of wild trees and rice landraces are distributed. They also help to identify units for inter-municipal collaboration for effective conservation of traditional knowledge related to those plant resources and traditional rice varieties themselves.
Conclusions
Our spatio-linguistic evaluation indicated that complex geographical and sociological processes influence the formation of plant folk nomenclature groups and implies a promising approach using quantitative lexico-statistical analysis to help to identify areas for biocultural diversity conservation.
... Working closely with nature to create effective human settlements with sustainable water supplies for domestic and productive purposes, coping with climate variability and protection from natural disasters while maintaining healthy ecosystems has been a cornerstone of many ancient civilizations as well as traditional/indigenous communities for millennia. Many indigenous people are known to have rich traditions of land and water management based on nature [9][10][11][12][13]. ...
The discourse around ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBSs) is quite recent, but this paper contends that, as knowledge and practice, the notion of NBS is not novel. Indigenous and rural communities are known to work closely with nature to fulfil their water needs, eke out sustainable livelihoods, and cope with climate variability and the impacts of natural disasters. India is a country where NBS has been a tradition for millennia. Water has been sustainably managed here and related societal challenges successfully met through the use of nature, natural systems, or natural processes within rural as well as urban settings. However, despite the merits, in recent times, many of the old NBSs have come to be neglected and degraded, being increasingly replaced by gray infrastructure. These changes are deepening the water crisis in the country, with the rapidly transforming peri-urban locations being an important area of concern. This paper outlines some of the major NBS forms traditionally established and used in different parts of India. Thereafter, using an integrated analytical framework for assessing sustainability of NBS (developed under project NATWIP), the value of the NBS legacy in India will be analyzed. Finally, the paper proposes important lessons as a way forward for enhancing water sustainability in peri-urban India that is based on the adoption and rejuvenation of the disappearing NBS science in the country.
... Tuvalu surprisingly does not feature in Jenny Bryant-Tokalau's Indigenous Pacific Approaches to Climate Change. 11 It does not attract much attention in the work overseen by Eveline Dürr and Arno Pascht on 'ontologies, discourses and practices in Oceania'. Apart from several footnotes Tuvalu is only discussed (briefly) in relation to the role of the Noah story. ...
... There is also ethnographic work in disciplines adjacent to and within geography on the ongoing impacts of colonialism and ecological disasters in frontline communities in the Pacific. 2,3 Ethnographic accounts tell stories that are different from quantitative data collection that seeks to export case studies for broad application. It is interesting to consider research in this domain that places into dialogue quantitative and qualitative sources to see how these sit together, because they can reveal many tensions. ...
... The utility of traditional knowledge for adaptation is increasingly grounded in evidence (Nakashima et al. 2018;Pearce et al. 2015;Nursey-Bray et al. 2020;Bryant-Tokalau 2018;Lebel 2013;Nunn et al. 2014;McNamara et al. 2020;2016a, b), and internationally, there are calls to embrace Indigenous knowledge (IPBES 2019). The use of ILK can enhance scientific knowledge by revealing details within environmental systems and plays a critical role in enabling resilience and facilitating adaptation to climate change Huntington et al. 2017;Plotz et al. 2017). ...
Pacific Islander communities need to maintain traditional knowledge and practice about their water systems, despite the ongoing legacy of colonial impact, in order to adapt to climate change where its impacts will significantly impact water quality and reliability. Without healthy water systems, Pacific communities will become increasingly vulnerable. Traditional knowledge has a role to play in building the adaptive capacity of islanders to water shortages and in adapting to climate impacts over time. While colonization, belief in God, and loss of traditional knowledge are barriers to effective adaptation, Pacific Islanders across the region are using existing traditional knowledge in combination with other knowledge systems to build resilience to climate change and innovative adaptation solutions. Approaches informed by traditional knowledge enable the incorporation of localized, detailed, and historical knowledge, and experience into contemporary management regimes, which then enable the development of tailored and appropriate place-based adaptation. Importantly, the use of traditional knowledge also strengthens community receptivity to adaptation initiatives.
This chapter explores the inherent resilience of small islands in the face of multifaceted challenges and examines the pivotal role of nature-based solutions in securing their sustainable trajectories. Small islands, possessing unique ecosystems and cultural heritages, face heightened vulnerabilities due to their size, geographical isolation, and exposure to various environmental, social, and economic stressors. Amid these challenges, the concept of resilience emerges as a beacon of hope, representing the capacity of these islands to adapt, withstand, and transform.
Drawing upon a comprehensive review of literature and case studies, this chapter investigates the diverse dimensions of resilience exhibited by small islands. It examines the intricate interplay between natural systems and human societies, showcasing how nature-based solutions serve as a catalyst for resilience-building. From leveraging ecosystem services to integrating traditional knowledge and innovative technologies, these solutions offer sustainable pathways that bolster the resilience of small islands.
This chapter highlights the significance of nature-based approaches in mitigating the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities. It sheds light on successful initiatives and best practices, elucidating their contributions to enhancing adaptive capacities and fostering sustainable development in small island contexts.
Furthermore, this chapter emphasizes the need for holistic and participatory approaches, engaging local communities, policymakers, and stakeholders in co-designing and implementing nature-based solutions. It advocates for the integration of indigenous wisdom, community-based management, and innovative strategies aligned with local contexts to amplify resilience efforts.
Ultimately, this chapter aims to underscore the importance of nature-based solutions as indispensable tools in fortifying the resilience of small islands. By recognizing and harnessing the intrinsic capacities of ecosystems, societies, and cultures, it advocates for a paradigm shift toward sustainable futures, where small islands thrive in harmony with nature.
Crisi climatica, (im)mobilità e adattamenti delves into the geographies of climate (im)mobilities in the Republic of Fiji, where internal relocations are slowly becoming a tangible reality. By taking into consideration both state-led and community-led relocation initiatives, this research aims to understand to what extent planned relocation may effectively and sustainably respond to climate change adaptation in a small island context. More broadly, this book contributes to the growing body of critical adaptation, mobilities and island studies, grasping the many facets of a complex, underexplored yet increasingly relevant issue in the realm of current and future global challenges.
The article is about our perception of what culturally relevant social work is in Oceania. Given social work is an emerging profession in the Pacific, we are still at the crossroads of translating policies and practices to guide service delivery in the Pacific.
Over 90 per cent of land in Pacific Islands is held in a range of customary forms of communal ownership, belonging as much to past and future generations as it does to the present. In most cases it cannot be bought or sold although some countries have provisions for long-term leases. Land is a critical component of Pacific Island societies and in most places the people and their land are mutually constituted. One cannot be considered complete without the other. Climate change poses two broad problems in relation to this union. First, it may damage the land so that its ability to support its people is curtailed or even destroyed. This will not only have serious implications for the material security of the affected communities but may also affect their emotional and spiritual wellbeing. It is likely that many people will be induced or forced to leave their ancestral lands and find new homes. Second, relocation and resettlement of individual families, and in some cases whole communities, will require new land to be found, a task that will be made difficult because other communities are unable to sell or give their land away. Where there has been significant in-migration to areas in the region, tensions and conflict have often arisen, frequently with land as a significant underlying issue. Finding durable solutions for climate change migrants is likely to be a critical issue in the future.
In this article we concentrate on the discursive links between climate change, migration, land, and imagined futures. We argue that the large tract of freehold land purchased by Kiribati’s government in Fiji has led citizens in both countries to develop imaginings of migration, which we interpret as building blocks for a cultural construct of the future, in anticipation of projected hazards resulting from climate change and sea level rise. We show that, contrary to official pronouncements that the land had been acquired for reasons of food security, many citizens of Kiribati and Fiji associated the purchase with the option of a future relocation. Thus I-Kiribati have taken to perceiving this property in terms of their concept of land, hoping that, in the event of an existential threat, this new land will allow them to preserve culture, nation, and identity over the long term. Citizens of Fiji, too, rely on their concept of land, as when they see that survival for I-Kiribati will only be possible if they can ground it in a territory of their own. Moreover, the governments of Kiribati and Fiji both engage in a politics of hope that contributed to imaginings of migration. We conclude that the emerging discourses on migration related to the land purchase were fostered by cultural conceptions of land as well as the climate policies of the two Pacific Island states.
Missionaries who attempted to convert Pacific Islanders to Protestant Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries often engaged in public contests meant to demonstrate the power of Jehovah and the weakness of indigenous gods. These ‘power encounters’, as they came to be called, depended on a relationship between wonder and anti-wonder: missionaries were fully invested in the concept of wonder as radical alterity, as the success of their efforts depended on local populations’ willingness and capacity to open up to the previously unimaginable; but to make new encounters with wonder possible, missionaries had to challenge local expectations of spiritual efficacy, denying local sites’ original potential to evoke wonder. In this article, I begin by examining several cases of power encounters in Oceania, including Fiji, Tonga, and Solomon Islands. I then turn specifically to trees as spiritual sites that were prominent in old Fiji – and therefore the target of ax-wielding missionaries – but remain today as sites of a perceived fundamental, indigenous, land-based spiritual efficacy.
