The Impact of Faith-Based Narratives on Climate Change Adaptation in Narikoso, Fiji

Abstract

Most research on climate change in South Pacific island communities has privileged people’s observations of physical environmental change with less attention paid to how people interpret the causes of these changes. Increasingly, more studies are focusing on how communities are receiving messages about environmental degradation, and from whom they are receiving them. This case study draws upon ethnographic research conducted in November 2015 in Narikoso on Ono Island in Fiji’s Kadavu Group. This village was in the process of relocating inland as a response to shoreline erosion and severe coastal flooding. By employing data drawn from interviews with government actors, religious leaders, and residents of Narikoso village along with fieldnotes from participant observation, this paper examines how village residents interpreted coastal flooding and shoreline erosion according to the biblical story of Noah’s Ark alongside a secular narrative of climate change. I conclude by showing the unique challenges these worldviews had on the community’s decision to relocate.

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Anthropological Forum
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The Impact of Faith-Based Narratives on Climate
Change Adaptation in Narikoso, Fiji
Amanda Bertana
To cite this article: Amanda Bertana (2020) The Impact of Faith-Based Narratives on
Climate Change Adaptation in Narikoso, Fiji, Anthropological Forum, 30:3, 254-273, DOI:
10.1080/00664677.2020.1812050
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2020.1812050
Published online: 13 Oct 2020.
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The Impact of Faith-Based Narratives on Climate Change
Adaptation in Narikoso, Fiji
Amanda Bertana
Department of Sociology, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, USA
ABSTRACT
Most research on climate change in South Pacific island
communities has privileged people’s observations of physical
environmental change with less attention paid to how people
interpret the causes of these changes. Increasingly, more studies
are focusing on how communities are receiving messages about
environmental degradation, and from whom they are receiving
them. This case study draws upon ethnographic research
conducted in November 2015 in Narikoso on Ono Island in Fiji’s
Kadavu Group. This village was in the process of relocating inland
as a response to shoreline erosion and severe coastal flooding. By
employing data drawn from interviews with government actors,
religious leaders, and residents of Narikoso village along with
fieldnotes from participant observation, this paper examines how
village residents interpreted coastal flooding and shoreline
erosion according to the biblical story of Noah’s Ark alongside a
secular narrative of climate change. I conclude by showing the
unique challenges these worldviews had on the community’s
decision to relocate.
KEYWORDS
Relocation; religion; climate
change adaptation; sea level
rise; Fiji
Introduction
The adverse effects of climate change –in particular sea level rise and more frequent and
severe storm surges –have significant impacts on South Pacific small island developing
states (SIDS) (Mortreux and Barnett 2009). For example, because of their low-lying geo-
graphic typology, coupled with low levels of economic development, South Pacific SIDS
are particularly vulnerable to any fluctuation in sea level change. Furthermore, sea level
threats are already taking form in many small island coastal communities with sea
water contaminating freshwater resources, coastal flooding damaging infrastructure,
and shoreline erosion literally consuming land (Barnett and Neil Adger 2003; Briguglio
1995; Ciplet, Roberts, and Khan 2015; Kempf 2020; Roberts and Parks 2007).
While climate change’s physical impacts on South Pacific coastal communities is well
documented (Weir, Dovey, and Orcherton 2017), considerably less attention has been
paid to how communities directly experiencing the consequences of climate change inter-
pret ecological changes. Despite this gap in the literature, scholars have long pointed out
that beliefs and perceptions of climate change and associated risks are critical indicators of
© 2020 The University of Western Australia
CONTACT Amanda Bertana bertanaa1@southernct.edu Department of Sociology, Southern Connecticut State
University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 066515, USA
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM
2020, VOL. 30, NO. 3, 254–273
https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2020.1812050

adaptation efforts. Simply stated, how individuals view climate change will either enhance
or inhibit their response to adaptation. Therefore, it is important to study how commu-
nities who are considered to be on the ‘frontlines of climate change’, perceive climate
change (Farbotko and Lazrus 2012). The overall objective of this article is to add to a
growing body of literature that documents and analyses scientific and theological
interpretations of ecological degradation. Through the presentation of ethnographic
material related to coastal erosion in Fiji, I advance inquiries into how science and religion
inform perceptions of ecological changes and adequate responses to its impacts.
Narikoso village on Ono Island in Fiji’s Kadavu Group is an ideal case study to examine
the impacts religion and science have on villager’s perceptions of and responses to ecologi-
cal changes for three primary reasons. First, Narikoso is undergoing visible changes in
tidal conditions. As a predominantly subsistence community, villagers are aware of the
detrimental impacts coastal erosion has on their village, and draw attention to the soil sal-
inisation and shoreline flooding. Second, religious leaders and government actors actively
communicate climate change information to villagers through sermons and government
sponsored awareness campaigns. Some Catholic and Methodist village pastors, for
instance, circulate messages about climatic changes within a Christian worldview, while
government actors and the ecumenical organisation, the Pacific Conference of Churches,
preach a secular narrative of climate change. Third, at the time of my fieldwork, Narikoso
was in the process of a government sponsored relocation scheme, in which the village was
shifting inland as an adaptation to coastal degradation. The amalgamation of the variables
stated above created a complex situation whereby Narikoso villagers interpreted rising
tides
1
according to a secular narrative of climate change and the Christian doctrine of
Noah’s Ark. This ultimately shaped the way in which village residents received relocation
as an appropriate adaptive response to coastal erosion.
In what follows, I provide a brief background of climate change as a conceptualisation
of ecological degradation. Drawing from individual household interviews with Narikoso
villagers, coupled with interviews conducted in Suva with national government workers,
representatives from faith-based organisations, local NGOs, and a Pentecostal minister,
I show that although climate change is privileged as the causal explanation of coastal
erosion, it is not a universal reflection of islanders’worldviews. I illustrate this point by
providing a detailed description of the widely circulating belief that Fiji’s climatic
changes are God’s punishment for what is deemed immoral behaviour. I then discuss
the implications this specific religious messaging has on Narikoso’s relocation efforts.
Finally, I conclude with an analysis of the increasing popularity of theological interpret-
ations of coastal erosion among Fijians as not only a sign of the influential power of reli-
gion, but also as a coping mechanism for villagers in the midst of an uncertain future.
Conceptual Background: Climate Change, Religion, and Discourse
Studies regarding climate change are expanding beyond describing its physical dimensions
to discuss climate change as a conceptual framework. Hulme (2007) identifies climate
change specifically as a measurable scientific and technocratic narrative. Within this per-
spective is the notion that climate change encompasses an objective reality. Independent of
subjective ways of knowing, climate change is thus perceived as the pragmatic way of
explaining ecological change. Despite cases of climate scepticism, consistent publications
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 255

of the IPCC’s Assessment Reports on the impacts, challenges, and practical solutions to
addressing climate change have only enhanced the scientific doctrine’s authority and
credibility (Anshelm and Hultman 2014; Bolin 2008; Rubow and Bird 2016).
Scholars point out that the IPCC constructs knowledge on climate change according to
a‘linear model of expertise’(Beck 2012, 155). Beck (2012)defines this as an asymmetrical
approach that privileges scientific knowledge as the authority on climate change. It con-
sequently stifles the multiple ways in which people experience environmental change.
In this context, tension arises between how climate change is being communicated globally
and how it is interpreted in the local context. Jasanoff(2010, 235) reinforces claims about
the problematic nature of the universality of climate change when it encounters the ‘sub-
jective, situated and normative imaginations of human actors engaging directly with
nature’. Jasanoff(2010, 235) points out that conflict arises because ‘scientific facts
emerge out of detached observation whereas meaning emerges from embedded experi-
ence’. Drawing from Jasanoff’s work, Hulme and Mahoney (2010, 714) emphasise the
importance of political and cultural context in which knowledge claims about climate
change are disseminated: ‘Revealing the local and situated characteristics of climate
change knowledge thus becomes central for understanding both the acceptance and resist-
ance shown towards the knowledge claims of the IPCC.’
As climate change is more widely disseminated through the IPCC’s secular lens, it is
becoming more evident that socio-cultural variables shape people’s perceptions of climate
change (Weber and Stern 2011). This is especially true throughout the South Pacific
Islands. Scholars working within this region have found that changing climatic conditions
are often contextualised within a religious context. Janif et al. (2016)find that some Fijian
islanders adopt secular explanations of climate change while others draw upon their reli-
gious beliefs. Within this work is the assumption that religion is a counter-narrative to
climate change. Rubow (2013) identifies a similar phenomenon in the Cook Islands with
cyclone discussions seeping into religious understandings. However, in this context
science and religion merge to create new eco-theologies. Along this same vein, Fair
(2018)finds that islanders in Vanuatu simultaneously accepted religious and scientific
claims associated with climate change. Fair explains this occurrence through the terminol-
ogy tufala save which translates to ‘double knowledge’signifying the multiple ways in which
individuals make sense of the world. For Fair (2018), the making of religious meaning out of
environmental changes is a way for islanders to execute agency over their future.
These above studies take a nuanced approach to the religion-science schism by making
clear that religion and science are not mutually exclusive ways of knowing. They address
the epistemological basis for religious claims associated with climate change, but Pascht
(2019) calls for a more ontological approach. Doingso,heargues,requires a fundamentally
more complex analysis that takes into consideration the message, the material world, and the
social environments in which people live. When discussing knowledge formation from these
lenses combined, we can better understand how people come to conceive of their reality.
Methodology
Religion and Colonialism in Fiji
Although Fiji gained independence in 1970, the religious remnants of colonialism are
deeply embedded in Fiji’s social structures creating a shadow over all realms of life
256 A. BERTANA

(Newland 2004; Tomlinson 2009). Tomlinson (2009, 10) frames the arrival of Christian
missionaries as a ‘rupture’in Pacific history, signifying for converts a transition from
‘darkness’(practices of cannibalism and worshipping ancient gods) to ‘light’. It simul-
taneously represented a decline in Fijian power and a newly introduced political order
that socially reorganised the islands (Tomlinson 2009). The rise of the Methodist Church
and Christian missionaries coincided with a transitional status shift for Fijian Chiefs who
were also prominent village priests. The British administration refused to acknowledge
the Chief’s priestly role, and instead, reified their power through other means. By granting
them control over land and resources, they integrated Chiefly power into a European model
of rule. This eventually created a hybridised model of ‘tradition in the present’(Jolly 1992,
340), which remains present through Fiji’s land tenure system (Newland 2004). In this
unique sense, Christianity became a discontinuous form of continuity that linked the past
to the present by reorganising traditional practices –both political and religious.
The European invasion reorganised the island’s religious fabric in three distinct ways. It
opened up Fiji to a wave of Christian missionaries seeking new converts. It made the
acceptance of Christianity a political statement (Newland 2004; Tomlinson 2009).
When the missionaries converted prominent leaders such as Ratu Seru Apensia
Cakobau, who was referred to as King of Bau by the British administration; self-titled
Tui Viti (King of Fiji) (Parke 2014), they further legitimated Christianity as the
supreme religion. By converting the King of Fiji, they were able to spread Methodism
throughout the islands. At the same time, they systematically eradicated the worship of
Fiji’s ancestral gods by condemning indigenous spirits as sinful and satanic (Ryle 2012).
The Methodist Church eventually became emblematic of tradition while also establishing
itself as the protector of the Fijian people against tradition’s non-Christian spirits who
would punish the people for present wrongdoings (Tomlinson 2009).
To date, Fiji is one of the most religious countries in the world, with less than 1% of the
population not identifying with a religion. As a multi-ethnic society, ethnicity is predictive
of religion, meaning most Fijians of Indian descent are Hindu with an Islamic minority
while most indigenous Fijians are Christian with the majority being Methodist
(Newland 2004). Fiji remains ethnically and religiously segregated between the Indian
and the indigenous Fijian population, with Christianity acting as the cornerstone of indi-
genous Fijian life (Nunn 2017).
Nunn points out: ‘Unless you are cocooned in a tourist bubble, it is hardly possible to
miss God when you visit the Pacific Islands’(2017, 1). Nunn identifies churches on nearly
every city block as physical markers of Christianity’s deep-seated influence over islanders.
Although integral to urban life, it can easily be argued that religion has an even larger role
in the rural areas. Similar to urban spaces, rural areas have tangible markers to indicate the
importance of faith. The church, as the most important structure in the village, is tra-
ditionally located in the centre of the houses (Tomlinson 2009), to visibly show how
life is organised around God.
Not only is Methodism ingrained in Fijian life, it has also continued to be politicised
(Fache and Fair 2020). Fiji has experienced a series of coups since 1987, all of which
have a degree of underlying religious tension. The most notable of which occurred in
1987, with coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka justifying his seizure of
power through religious overtones, with the specific goal of converting Muslims and
Hindus to Christianity (Tomlinson 2013). Fiji’s fourth coup, led by now Prime Minister
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 257

Bainimarama, reversed the harmonious relationship between the government and the
church. As Tomlinson (2013, 82) pointed out, after 2006, ‘For the first time, the Methodist
Church became an overt and consistent opponent of coups.’The Methodist Church publicly
criticised Bainimarama’s military intervention and interim government through Fiji’snews-
papers. While also encouraging people to pray, so the nation would not be met with a curse.
As Tomlinson (2013, 83) emphasises, warnings of curses in Fijian Methodism are not
uncommon. This is especially true when it pertains to the nation being cursed, however,
they are a reflection of the strained relationship between the church and the state.
This brief overview of the politicised nature of Methodism throughout Fiji becomes
important in assessing religious discourses associated with climate change for two
primary reasons. First, religious-political narratives are prevalent throughout the
Oceania (Kempf 2017). Kempf (2017), for instance, finds a similar religious narrative in
Kiribati in which he analyses as a resistance against science and political representation.
The epistemological divides represented at the national manifest on the local level as
resistance against the political status quo. Second, it establishes a precedent in Fiji with
curses being a response to times of transitions. Drawing on curses as a means to
caution people about the uncertainties of the future is not an uncommon response.
Study Area
Narikoso is a coastal village of 28 households and a fluctuating population, between 95
and 105 people at any given time between 2013 and 2015. The village sits on the shore-
line of Ono Island, an outlier of Kadavu, Fiji’s fourth largest island (see Figure 1).
Kadavu, normally thought of as a high-end tourist destination, also has a reputation
of Kadavuans being more traditional. Government workers and islanders from Viti
Levu and Vanua Levu often referred to the outer islanders as having a more religious
mindset with a subsistence lifestyle. What makes most Fijian villages in the Kadavu
Group, Narikoso included, paradoxical is that they are spatially remote and operate
largely outside of the market economy, relying on subsistence fishing, farming, and gath-
ering (Sofer 2015) but are surrounded by high-end resorts owned by wealthy foreigners.
For most Kadavuan villagers, a modest income is earned through the selling of surplus
crops and fish to neighbouring resorts, while a larger cash flow is earned through yaqona
(kava) farming, which is harvested and then sold through markets in the mainland.
Religiously, Narikoso villagers identify as devout Christians. Two churches –Metho-
dist and Catholic –sit in the middle of the village, serving as the epicenter of the com-
munity (see Figure 2) and a reminder that Fijian life revolves around God. Although
there are only two churches in the village, Seventh-Day Adventists and the Pentecostal
Assemblies of God are also represented in the community. While Narikoso villagers,
like most Kadavuans, identify as Christian, the kalou-vu (Fiji’s ancestral spirits) have a
strong presence in the region, more so than in the main island of Viti Levu. Kadavuans,
for instance, speak about neighbouring resort owners making kava offerings to the kalou-
vu in return for wealth. Islanders substantiate these assertions by claiming to have seen
Fiji’s snake god living under the docks of the resorts and hearing rumours from the
snake god himself, who has the ability to transform into a man. The informal gossip
network about the kalou-vu suggests that to Kadavuans, the cosmological world is not
just background noise, but an active presence that shapes how people see the world.
258 A. BERTANA

In respect to environmental degradation, Narikoso’s coastline has severely eroded
increasing the frequency of coastal flooding (see Figure 3). Because of these changing eco-
logical conditions, in 2012, customary village leaders purportedly solicited the Fiji govern-
ment for resources to shift the village to higher ground.
2
Within months, Prime Minister
Voreqe Bainimarama sent in the military to begin excavation for a new village site located
approximately 500 feet adjacent to the coastal site (see Figure 4). Since then, government
funding for the construction of the new site has been prematurely depleted and the project
has stalled. Therefore, at the time of my fieldwork, Narikoso had not yet relocated and was
still experiencing severe shoreline erosion.
Methods and Materials
The data for this article was gathered during ethnographic fieldwork that took place in the
Fiji Islands from April 2015 to August 2016. As part of a larger research project, I inter-
viewed over 20 individuals –affiliates of the Pacific Conference of Churches, community
organisers, scholars, individuals who worked with the Secretariat of the Pacific, and Fiji
Figure 1. Map of Kadavu. Source: CIA World Factbook.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 259

government workers, all of whom worked with rural South Pacific communities on
climate related issues including climate change awareness workshops and the implemen-
tation of adaptation projects. Data for this specific analysis also comes from semi-struc-
tured interviews with a Pentecostal pastor in Suva, adult residents of Narikoso, and
Kadavuans from neighbouring islands.
In addition to interviews, I collected fieldnotes from a Catholic Church service,
community events in the village, and talanoa (storytelling) sessions around the
kava bowl. Ethnographic methods, interviews in particular, are well suited for inves-
tigating the cognitive and cultural landscape in which people deal with and
Figure 2. Church in Narikoso. Source: Author.
260 A. BERTANA

comprehend changes in their surrounding environment (Crate 2011; Esterberg 2002).
As the most comprehensive means to understand how local communities frame and
understand ecological disruptions, an ethnographic methodological approach is ideal
for focusing in on how islanders perceive ecological changes and appropriate
responses therein (Crate 2011).
In total, I spent two weeks in November 2015 in Narikoso village. During the first week,
without my prior knowledge, government workers and representatives from Secretariat of
the Pacific (SPC), a regional development organisation, were in Narikoso conducting cost–
benefit assessments for the continuation of the relocation. Consequently, I was able to
gather additional government insights concerning climate change broadly. However,
my interviews with Narikoso villagers began during my second week, when government
and NGO workers returned to Suva.
Interviews with villagers were semi-structured and lasted anywhere from 30 to 60
min. I initially conducted group interviews separated by gender. However, Fijian vil-
lages are hierarchical so rarely do people deviate from comments suggested by the
Chief or village elders. I thus switched to individual interviews, since collective inter-
views were leading to inconsistent responses. Because of language barriers, interviews
were conducted back and forth between English and Fijian. I relied on assistance
from a research assistant, a native Fijian speaker, who translated part of the interviews
during the interview itself. Topic areas included: (1) observations about environmental
changes, (2) knowledge about climate change, (3) the relocation process, and (4)
general concerns about the potential shift inland. Although my larger study did not
Figure 3. Coastal flooding during high tide. Source: Author.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 261

focus on the interpretation of religion in relation to ecological changes, rising tides as
God’s moral retribution emerged as a salient theme across the majority of interviews in
Narikoso.
Environmental Changes in Narikoso
As a predominantly subsistence community, Narikoso villagers are acutely aware of
changes in their environment. Village residents unanimously acknowledged severe shore-
line degradation and coastal inundation, yet there is no consistent timeline identifying
when these changes actually began. Older villagers cite changes in the coast anywhere
from 30 to 50 years ago, with Cyclone Meli in 1979, being the catalysing event as to
when the shoreline started to undergo visible erosion. Younger village residents identify
coastal inundation as occurring more recently, as one woman contended, the sea
started to reach the village in the last 5 or 6 years. Another woman in her 20s stated,
‘Last year [2014] the water level changed.’The inconsistent answers about environmental
transformations are not unique to Narikoso. Unclear timelines are prevalent in many oral
traditions. Even though there may be variation in people’s perception, oral traditions still
provide a more comprehensive picture of environmental deterioration when there is a lack
of written records available (Jacka 2009).
Additionally, villagers’observations coincide with the dynamic nature of nature
itself. This is particularly relevant to Narikoso, which is built on a tombolo connecting
Ono Island to Lanitua Island.
3
Tombolos are build-ups of sediment that link islands.
Figure 4. New village site. Source: Author.
262 A. BERTANA

As sand bodies, they are more prone to sedimentary redistribution making the
coastline more dynamic relative to a true island. Interestingly, the village elders’
observations about Narikoso’s coastline are a reflection of Narikoso being on a
tombolo.
Independent of people’s recollections, village residents identified ecological markers
as indicators of environmental changes. A man in his 50s described the shoreline as
once being lined with trees. The tree stumps now submerged in the ocean serve as a
reminder of what the village used to look like. An elderly woman referred to the trans-
formation of the coconut trees as evidence of soil salinisation. She explained that they
did not fruit like they had in the past, pointing out that they were noticeably sparse and
their coconuts smaller and drier. These observations, although relevant to understand-
ing the physical consequences of sea level rise on coastal communities, do not answer
the question: How do villagers account for the causes of the encroaching sea?
Case Study: Climate Change, Christianity, and Relocation
Climate Change Discourse in Narikoso
Narikoso residents live in a remote area of the Fijian islands with minimal and incon-
sistent access to national newspapers, radio, and television. Thus villagers primarily
receive information about climate change from three key actors –the Fiji government,
the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), and SPC. Seeing it as their responsibility to
protect coastal communities from rising tides and more intense and frequent storm
surges, the national government, prior to COP23 (held in 2017), started arranging
for climate change awareness campaigns throughout Fiji’s rural areas. In Narikoso,
climate change awareness workshops accompany the relocation process with local gov-
ernment officials and the PCC occasionally holding awareness workshops in the village.
In doing so, they present information about sea level rise according to the secular nar-
rative of climate change.
It was unclear exactly how climate change was being conveyed in Narikoso. While I
never received a clear answer concerning the messages that were disseminated in these
workshops, I was able to extrapolate some salient themes that align with the secularisation
of climate change. It is not my intention to rehash the nuances of climate change and its
linkages to sea level rise. My goal instead is to show how the climate change discourse is
being presented in a way that reflects what Hulme (2007) regards as technocratic and
scientific discourse.
There was clear tension between the villagers’perception of sea level rise as a natural
phenomenon and the government’s messaging of rising sea levels as a by-product of
climate change. Within this context is a dispute between two positions: one in which
nature is a dynamic system that is continuously in flux and, the other where humans
have the capacity to modify nature through carbon emissions. According to a local gov-
ernment worker, sea level rise is directly associated with climate change: ‘They [villagers]
know that the sea level is rising but they don’t care. The NGOs and the government inter-
vene to tell them this is climate change and it’s really happening in your village.’Another
local government worker echoed a similar stance: ‘They [government] inform[ed] the
people that it was not a natural process.’In this messaging, the rising tides are directly
linked to climate change. The aforementioned disconnect between people’s observation
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 263

and inaction is attributed to villagers’perceptions of changes in tidal conditions as a
natural process, a phenomenon occurring independently of human interference. From
this view, fluctuations in sea level were not a by-product of carbon emissions, but
rather a natural process whereby the tides ebb and flow. This notion was exemplified in
interviews wherein villagers suggested that nature is continuously changing.
Paralleling the above, climate science stresses that human influence is ‘extremely
likely’to have caused climate warming (IPCC 2018). With respect to the unequal
nature of climate change this point draws attention to an interesting paradox: although
Fiji contributes minimally to carbon emissions, they are disproportionately vulnerable to
sea level rise (Ciplet, Roberts, and Khan 2015; Roberts and Parks 2007). Couched in this
message is a lack of control over the sea. Government and NGO workers noted the impor-
tance of explaining to communities that they were not responsible for the rising tides;
therefore, islanders had no way to make them stop rising. In many of my conversations
with villagers, this theme would emerge, whereby locals would say it was people like me
(Americans) with our airplanes, cars, and buying that were threatening the fate of their
islands. These comments illustrate an awareness of the scientifically identified causes of
climate change, however, they were often coupled with contradictory religious claims of
God punishing people for immoral behaviour. The inconsistencies in villager’s
responses regarding blame for sea level rise in Narikoso is a conundrum, one that anthro-
pologist Rudiak-Gould (2014) describes as universal-cum-self-blame challenging the notion
that victim of and culprit in contributing to climate change are mutually exclusive terms.
The climate change discourse brought to Narikoso by the government is presented in a
way that focuses predominately on the need to always be prepared. As other scholars have
pointed out, terms such as ‘management’,‘risk’, and ‘preparedness’are often integral to
climate change messaging (Cox et al. 2018, 383). Yet, this language is also often delivered
according to a fear-based warning system. A local government worker addressed villagers
about climate change awareness in this way: ‘If you’re not careful, it [rising sea levels] will
bring this …. If you’re not prepared enough this will happen.’Though motivated by the
best of intentions, these comments were met with resentment. As one villager articulated
to me: ‘You bring your science and you bring your fear.’He went on to emphasise that we
[Fijians] have been living like this [along the coast] for centuries. This interviewee’s
response indicates that the external climate change discourse is actually interrupting Nar-
ikoso villagers’lives more than the changing tides themselves. To him, the environment
continuously changes and people adapt accordingly. The fear embedded in climate
change messaging is disrupting how people perceive and interact with their surrounding
environment.
Although Narikoso villagers continuously referenced climate change as the culprit of
the rising tides, there were inconsistencies in how people interpreted climate change. In
most cases it was used as a ‘catch-all-phrase’to describe daily weather patterns. Rain,
wind, sunshine, and rusty tin roofs were all considered products of climate change. In
some circumstances, conversations would end abruptly when I asked people to elaborate
on what they meant by climate change. In other interviews, however, people would sim-
ultaneously reference climate change and religion as causal explanations for rising tides.
This was most prevalent in the notion of responsibility, wherein people identified
carbon emissions from affluent lifestyles while still maintaining the idea that God con-
trolled the weather.
264 A. BERTANA

Uncertainty about South Pacific Islanders’actual belief in climate change as a causal
explanation of ecological changes is well cited (Lata and Nunn 2012; Janif et al. 2016). Cur-
iously, government and NGO workers in Fiji are also universally aware that most villagers
throughout the islands are sceptical about the nuances of the scientific reasoning for rising
sea levels. For instance, I spoke to an NGO worker who frequently held climate change
awareness workshops in Narikoso and other rural villages. I asked if she thought villagers
believed the secular discourse. She said, ‘They [villagers] don’t know.’From this NGO
worker’s perspective, climate change was minimally understood throughout rural Fijian
villages. She went on to compare Narikoso to Vunidogoloa (another village that had relo-
cated because of coastal erosion): ‘In Vunidogoloa there was climate change awareness.
They knew of the impacts. Even though the awareness of climate change was inaccurate,
they knew of it.’
Because of the perceived knowledge gap that existed in the village, government workers
discussed the need for more climate change education workshops. As one interviewee
stated, ‘More consultation by the government and those people [NGOs]. In the village,
they don’t have that mindset …. I think more consultation and awareness by the govern-
ment and other NGOs can help the people.’Evident in these responses are stereotypes of
rural peoples. Phrases such as ‘they think differently’, or merely describing rural people as
‘they’, signifies an ‘us and them’dichotomy in which the other occupies the inferior role
(Kempf 2017). Embedded in this statement is also the insinuation that more climate
change awareness will undo the theological interpretations of the rising tides (Kempf
2017), which are interpreted by the NGOs and government workers as a misunderstand-
ing of climate change causes and impacts.
Noah’s Ark in Narikoso
In contrast to the secular narrative of climate change in Fiji, theological interpretations
of ecological degradation are actively disseminated to Christian congregations throughout
the islands. It is important to emphasise that not all religious leaders preach a theological
understanding of rising tides, identifying rising sea levels not as a by-product of carbon
emissions, but rather God’s disapproval of immoral beliefs and practices (Leduc 2010).
While in Suva, I spoke to pastors from different denominations, one was a representa-
tive of the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal church in Fiji. Although Methodism
remains the dominant religion, it is important to note that Pentecostalism is growing at a
rapid speed because its more unorthodox approach to Christianity attracts the youth (Cox
et al. 2018). In my discussion with the minister he spoke about how his church uses the
pulpit to preach about climate change. When I inquired about his sermons, he asked
me, ‘Tell me, do you think we can stop the sea from rising’? Without answering the ques-
tion, I simply asked, ‘Do you think we can stop the sea from rising’? He responded ‘Yes’.
And went on to quote Genesis 1:26:
Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over
the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the
small animals that scurry along the ground’.
The preacher’s rationalisation aligns with White’s(1967) thesis of Judeo-Christian
scripture teaching that humans have authority over the environment. The minister
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interpreted this biblical quote literally and used it as evidence to suggest that God gave
humankind control over nature. He interpreted this to mean that people have the
power to request nature to behave in certain ways, including asking the sea to stop rising.
The Pentecostal preacher went on to provide a common conception found throughout
the Pacific: the belief that the sea is rising because God is punishing people for their sins
(Rubow and Bird 2016). He went on to explain in more detail the story of the rising tides,
using the biblical story of Noah’s Ark in which God flooded the Earth because,
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that
every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord had
regretted that he made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the
Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created-and with them
the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground- for I regret that I have
made them.’(Genesis 6:5-7)
4
In the story of Noah’s Ark, God spared Noah because he was a faithful and righteous
person, but punished the rest of the world with a flood. The preacher’s literal biblical
interpretations were being used to rationalise two key ideas: (1) humans can indirectly
control nature through their moral behaviour and (2) Fiji and other Pacific Islands will
be spared.
Curiously, God’s covenant with Noah in which he promises to never flood the Earth
again, provides a rationale for why the islands will eventually be safe from sea level rise,
but it does not explain why the tides are currently rising. The pastor went on to describe
the rising tides, explaining that God holds containers of water one in the sky and one in the
ocean,
When we sin too much He releases the water as a way to punish us. If we pray and ask the sea
to stop where it is, it [the sea] will listen. If we don’t pray and repent for our sins then the sea
will continue to rise.
The preacher believed that people will eventually repent, and this will cause the sea to
retreat. He went on to emphasise the implications this has for relocation efforts through-
out Fiji:
We ask them: Do you want to move to the hill? If you don’t want to move you need to ask the
sea to stop. You need to go to church. You need to pray. You need to do confession. If you
don’t, the sea will continue to rise and you will have to move away.
The preacher’s response indicates that he obviously encounters resistance from com-
munities that are at risk of being relocated.
This preacher’s religious understanding is pervasive throughout Narikoso, independent
of villagers’denomination. Interestingly, unlike other studies that identify age, education,
and interaction with environmental NGOs as deterministic variables of resistance to the
scientific climate change discourse (Rhoades, Rios, and Ochoa 2008), in Narikoso men
and women, youth and the elderly, all reported immoral behaviours as the cause for the
rising tides. In fact, despite continuous interactions with groups that bring the scientific
climate change information into the village, villagers still adhere to a religious worldview
of rising tides. As an elderly woman in her 60s stated in reference to the rising tides: ‘If
we’re not faithful, the tides will continue to rise up to the new site …. Be faithful, or
don’t ask what’s wrong.’A husband and wife in their late 20s also related the rising
266 A. BERTANA

tides to God’s retribution for immoral behaviour. The wife explained what she and her
husband believed was happening in the village, ‘If you disobey God’s laws you will be pun-
ished.’To the villagers it was not just faithfulness in going to church that caused the sea to
rise; this also included what they perceived to be the immoral behaviour of their neigh-
bours. Thus, they blamed each other for the rising tides.
Many people validated their claims of God punishing Narikoso through their obser-
vations. In one case, an elderly woman pointed out that Narikoso was the only village
on Ono Island experiencing the rising tides. She went on to argue that neighbouring vil-
lages were being spared because they were ‘faithful’. In other instances, people referenced
the power of God in the wake of natural disasters. A young man in his late 20s, for
example, observed that the preacher’s house and the church were the only two structures
unharmed after Cyclone Tomas in 2010. He used the lack of damage to these structures, as
evidence of God’s ability to protect people against nature
Consequences for Adaptation and Relocation Efforts in Narikoso
Government workers routinely expressed frustration about faith-based organisations
entering villages to preach theological explanations of climate change. While concerned
about what was often referred to as misinformation, the government has no authority
over these groups or the messages they choose to disseminate. Surprisingly, government
and NGO workers alike never identified the religious discourse itself as problematic,
rather, they were primarily concerned with how the message undermined adaptive
capacity within the villages. In general, government workers cited God’s promise to
Noah after the flood: ‘Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of the flood’
(Genesis 9:11), as a deterrent for islanders to seek adequate adaptation efforts as precau-
tionary measures. This trend was pervasive throughout Narikoso.
Some village residents described themselves as ‘holy’and therefore invincible to
dangerous environmental conditions. Household interviews revealed that residents had a
sense of security believing God would protect them because they lived their lives according
to Christian values, a perspective found throughout the Pacific Islands (Rubow and Bird
2016). When explaining Cyclone Tomas in 2010, a couple living within a few feet of the
shoreline, described how they stayed in their house and prayed as the storm passed:
‘They [government workers] told us to move up the hill, but we stayed here. We prayed.
We said no, God will protect us.’Clearly disregarding the government’s guidance,
the woman and her husband refused to take any precautionary measures during the
storm surge.
There is a disconnect between the belief that God controls the weather and relocation as
an adaptive strategy. In the context of Narikoso, the goal of relocation is to remove people
from imminent danger posed by the rising tides. However, village residents’worldview
that the Christian God is punishing them for immoral behaviour does not accurately
identify relocation as a solution, as an elderly woman contended, ‘The relocation is
good but if we continue our ways, the waves will chase us up the hill.’The phrase, ‘the
waves will chase us up the hill’was echoed by village residents, implicit in the
comment is the suggestion that relocation will not provide protection for the community.
Only through penance and a shift in lifestyle can people stop the rising tides, as a Narikoso
villager stated, ‘Be faithful to God or don’t ask what’s wrong.’The comments above
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 267

provoke an important question: If the community does not perceive relocation as a viable
adaptation, why are households shifting inland?
In the context of Narikoso, the impetus for villagers to relocate is to alleviate the
financial burden associated with housing. As a relatively cash-poor community ‘it is unli-
kely the community would be able to fund large-scale adaptation efforts, even if it is in
their own interests’(Jolliffe2016, 6). From an economics viewpoint the village simply
does not have an abundance of financial means or disposable income. In the Narikoso
relocation, the Fiji government assumes the cost of the project and will provide full
funding for individual houses. In this context, though, relocation equates to new housing.
I do not want to give the illusion that there was 100% consensus to relocate, on the con-
trary, there was contention regarding the shift inland. Some people were opposed to
moving altogether and stated that they had no intention of leaving their house. Contrary
to other studies that cite access to revenue from tourism and ecosystem services as reasons
for why ‘some Fijian communities may consider relocation in the name of climate change
a far worse option than “dealing with disasters”’ (Nolet 2018, 62), Narikoso villagers that
did not want to relocate merely because they wanted to stay in the home that they built.
Among those who did not oppose moving, people uniformly stated that the relocation was
‘good’because it meant that each nuclear family would receive a new house. One woman
remarked, ‘I like it. We get a new house with two rooms, a kitchen, a toilet.’An adult man
living with his extended family cited, ‘I will get my own house.’This sentiment was reiter-
ated by numerous families who had their adult children living with them. A woman who
was more financially well offthan others in the village stated, ‘It’s good. There’s some
people in the village that wouldn’t be able to build their own house.’A young couple
living by the shoreline discussed the financial burden of continuously repairing their
house because of water damage: ‘It cost us 300 dollars for concrete to rebuild the
bottom of our house. If the government assists it will make it easier.’The community’s
emphasis on housing over adaptive strategy suggest a clear decoupling between the Fiji
government’s intent of relocation as an adaptation to the challenges of coastal erosion
and the villagers’reception of it.
This disconnect can be potentially problematic. Paralleling people’s resistance to evac-
uate to higher ground during storm surges, the belief in God’s covenant with Noah pro-
vides villagers with the belief in safety. This clearly prevented households from accepting
relocation as an adaptation. Thus, people were choosing not to move under the presump-
tion that the waves will chase them up the hill so long as the community continues to sin.
Others were implementing their own solutions to the rising tides, as explained by a Nar-
ikoso resident, ‘We have been fasting and doing prayer as a community to get people to
change their ways.’Already, the project outcome raised concerns because people had no
intention of moving. There are foreseeable consequences for the relocation scheme with
the most obvious being the community abandoning the new village site and moving
back to the coast.
Complimentary Religion and ScientificKnowledge
Recognising that Christianity is integral to Fijian life, some organisers invoke spiritual
language into climate change messaging (Nunn 2017). In contrast to the purely secular
narrative of climate change, NGO workers were Christianising their climate
268 A. BERTANA

communication to rural villages. A Tuvaluan scholar from the University of the South
Pacific who frequently held climate change workshops in Tuvalu discussed the pervasive-
ness of Noah’s covenant with God illustrating the salience of the messaging across island
nations (Fair 2018; Rubow and Bird 2016). Echoing concerns similar to government
workers, the interviewee did not find the theological message controversial, rather, she
expressed apprehension about the notion that it gave people a false sense of security. In
order to mitigate this outcome, she localised the larger discourse of climate change into
a Christian worldview that more clearly resonates with villagers’religious identities. In
her messaging, she articulates adaptation strategies as a ‘gift from God’:
They always say God promised to never flood the Earth again. I tell them the story about an
Australian man whose house was flooded from a storm. He’s on the first floor of his house
and a boat comes to save him from drowning. The man refuses to get on the boat and says,
‘No, my God will save me.’The first floor gets flooded, so he goes to the second floor, and the
boat comes trying to save him again. Again, he replies, ‘My God will save me.’The second
floor gets flooded, so he goes to the third, and again the boat comes to save him. He gives
the same response, and has nowhere left to go but the roof. When he’s on the roof, the
clouds part, God comes out, and says to the man, ‘Stupid man I sent a boat three times to
save you.’
Similar to Fair’s(2018,7)findings in Vanuatu, the messaging described above is indicative
of an emergent hybridised discourse that identifies ‘the provision of scientific knowledge
as a beneficent act of God’. The logic is relatively straightforward, God gave people knowl-
edge and skills to build things that will keep them safe. Reflected in this messaging is the
idea that religion and science do not have to be mutually exclusive, instead, the two dis-
courses can be used in tandem. By doing so, neither discourse is being undermined by the
other, giving both science and religion equal weight in climate change messaging. However
the interviewee, in her parable, reveals a distinction between her messaging and that of the
pastor in Suva and the Fiji government; she is less concerned with how people understand
climate change but wants to ensure that people adequately understand climate risk and
respond in a way that ensures their safety.
Discussion and Conclusion
In this paper, I have discussed the theological and scientific perceptions of climate change
among Narikoso villagers. The core implication of this research is that religious messages
shape people’s perception of climate change risks and consequently influence adaptation
responses (Fache and Fair 2020; Jacka 2009; Lata and Nunn 2012; Orlove 2009; Rubow
and Bird 2016; Rudiak-Gould 2011,2013). Thus, it should be no surprise that adaptation
projects will fail, without consideration of socio-cultural perceptions of environmental
transformation (Crate and Nuttall 2009; Walshe et al. 2018). Despite this well-known
fact, research on climate change and adaptation has largely dismissed the effect religious
worldviews have on risk perception and sustainable adaptation strategies.
The literature on climate change risk perception itself is far from scarce, however, it
often makes a simplistic assumption: people’s inability to comprehend climate science
is the single largest predictor for climate change risk perception (Farbotko 2010; Weir,
Dovey, and Orcherton 2017). Known as the knowledge deficit model, this framework
suggests that the public lacks scientific knowledge and therefore cannot evaluate climate
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORUM 269

risk properly, which eventually leads to people rejecting adaptation measures. The knowl-
edge deficit model thus identifies more climate education as the solution to heightening
risk perceptions (Tabara, St. Clair, and Hermansen 2017). However, the Narikoso case
study reveals some of the limitations to the knowledge deficit model by revealing that
climate change messaging can have major effects on how people view climate change
and appropriate responses. While the knowledge deficit model continues to dominate
mainstream climate-policy interactions (Tabara, St. Clair, and Hermansen 2017), some
promising research is emerging to address the critical interface between climate change,
adaptation, and worldviews (Fair 2018; Rubow and Bird 2016).
This research emerges against the backdrop of a rapidly changing climate change policy
landscape, as many national governments and international NGOs are raising local aware-
ness on climate change impacts and risks. In the domain of information campaigns,
Sweden and Fiji, to name a few, have all implemented national campaigns that engage
local communities on climate change risks and awareness. While communication cam-
paigns are integral in shaping how people respond to the impacts of climate change
merely providing people with more information will not automatically translate to
people accepting climate change as a causal explanation of ecological change. This
research provides substantial support for climate change information to be situated
within local contexts. My research clearly supports the idea that asymmetrical top-
down flows of information are ineffective if they operate outside of the cultural and
social landscape. Moreover, findings from the Narikoso relocation provide a glimpse
into the potential consequences of adaptation efforts that do not take into consideration
people’s worldviews.
In addition, my findings contribute to an analysis of the nature of climate change mes-
saging. In general, the global climate change narrative is presented as a doomsday scenario,
as illustrated in the IPCC report. As emissions continue to rise, the latest IPCC (2018)
report predicts global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next 11 years leading to
‘substantial consequences’. IPCC’sfindings immediately went viral with apocalyptic scen-
arios suggesting global catastrophe and the disappearance of small island developing
states. When expressed in such a way, individuals are left powerless to the whims of
nature (Stephens et al. 2012). For villagers, scientific predictions as such translates to,
‘the rising tides will displace you’. From this view, rejecting the apocalyptic message associ-
ated with climate change serves as an example of what sociologist Norgaard (2011) refers
to as socially organised denial. It is not that people are saying, ‘I do not believe in climate
change’, but rather, ‘I do not want to believe in climate change.’The driving force to reject
the secular narrative for coastal degradation is a form of emotional self-preservation. From
another perspective it is a postcolonial, counterhegemonic response that reclaims power
over the ‘canary in the coalmine of climate change’portrayal of SIDS, which is ultimately
a patronising view of Pacific Island populations (Rudiak-Gould 2014; Farbotko 2010). In
other words, by assuming responsibility for the rising tides, Narikoso villagers are also able
to be part of the solution.
In the context of Narikoso, the parable of Noah’s Ark invokes a sense of hope, control,
and meaning in an increasingly unpredictable and chaotic environment (Hoijer 2010;
Rubow and Bird 2016; Stephens et al. 2012). God made a promise to Noah to never
again destroy the Earth; implicit in this belief system is the idea that Narikoso villagers
can prevent relocation. In the religious understanding of the rising tides held by residents
270 A. BERTANA

of Narikoso, the villagers can continue to live in the way they have been living for centu-
ries. By being faithful and engaging in moral behaviour, the community aims to prevent
potential relocation and continue living their lives with business-as-usual.
Notes
1. Villagers identified rising tides as the singular cause of Narikoso’s shoreline degradation, but
oceanographic reports have determined that the current seawall which buffers the village
from the ocean has further contributed to coastal sediment loss (Jolliffe2016).
2. According to villagers, Prime Minister Bainimarama suggested the village relocate, however,
media depictions and interviews with government workers claim that villagers solicited relo-
cation assistance from the government.
3. This finding comes from an interview with an oceanographer commissioned to do work on
Narikoso.
4. All biblical quotes come from The Holy Bible, King James.
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the Residents of Narikoso Village and the School of Geography, Earth
Science & Environment at the University of the South Pacific.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This case study is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Disser-
tation Research Improvement Grant under Grant #1519218.
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