Climate and Conflict in the South Pacific

by Solange-Renée Puryear Thompson

For the majority of the world, when the South Pacific is discussed, what enters their minds is the thought of the populations that live in countries south of the Equator. For the communities that live in these countries, the South Pacific references the ethnographic regions of Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia and the Indigenous populations that inhabit them. These populations are among the most vulnerable to the devastation caused by climate change, in fact, many of the consequences they experience are much worse than in other regions of the world despite their minuscule contributions to the greenhouse gases that have been and continue to pollute the globe.

According to “Climate Change and Indigenous People in the South Pacific,” an article written by Dr. Eric L. Kwa, an Environmental Lawyer and current Attorney General of Papua New Guinea, in the South Pacific, there were approximately 9.5 million Indigenous people in 2008. (Kwa, 1) While Indigenous people throughout the world have a long history of defending their land and people against those who attempt to disrupt their equilibrium, climate change is an enemy they cannot fight. Indigenous communities rely heavily on the biodiversity of their environment for survival, and many of the solutions to the various issues involved in climate change do not prioritize Indigenous South Pacific communities and their connections to their environments. The biodiversity of these regions is unparalleled, and as of 2020, they have faced at least a 20% decrease in that biodiversity since 1990. (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) Among islands in the South Pacific, there is an adage that is as follows, “land is life, without land there is no life.” This adage is a crucial component of Indigenous communities, it is an ideal that underlies the culture and lifestyle of these populations. There is an understanding among Indigenous people, especially in the South Pacific, that land does not belong to anyone and it is a privilege to interact with and experience the land around them.

Despite this, throughout the South Pacific, Indigenous communities have not been properly considered in the attempts to repair the damage done by climate change. While there has been some consideration of Indigenous populations and their rights to their ways of life, there has also been a failure to ensure that these populations will be able to preserve their lifestyles and historical interdependence with the environments they and their ancestors have inhabited for millennia. Much of the solution-oriented thinking surrounding climate change and its effects involves a determination that the only option for the populace of the South Pacific is relocation. Climate change is a novel and wildly complex issue faced by the entire world in different ways — novel problems require novel solutions. As stated by Kwa, “National climate change policies and laws which must be holistic in character are also imperative to protect indigenous people, their land, economies and cultures.” (Kwa, 13)

These solutions, unlike those for some other nations, must properly evaluate the cultural beliefs and practices of the Indigenous populations of the South Pacific and implement strategies to aid in their preservation. This requires an alteration of the legal and political frameworks of these countries.  Many of these communities have already come up with solutions, utilizing ecosystem-based adaptations (EBA). Ecosystem-based adaptations can be defined as, “combining biodiversity and ecosystem services into an adaptation and development strategy that increases the resilience of ecosystems and communities to climate change through the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems.” (Mcleod, Elizabeth, et. al., 2) Despite their hard work, much of their work has been ignored in scholarly works.

Jupiter, Stacy, et. al. ‘Conservation of Biodiversity in the Pacific Islands of Oceania: Challenges and Opportunities Pacific’. Pacific Conservation Biology 20 (08 2014): 206–220. Web.

Kwa, Eric L. ‘Climate change and indigenous peoples in the South Pacific: The need for regional and local strategies’. Climate Law and Developing Countries: Legal and Policy Challenges for the World Economy (01 2009): 102–124. Print.

Mcleod, Elizabeth, et. al. ‘Lessons From the Pacific Islands – Adapting to Climate Change by Supporting Social and Ecological Resilience’. Frontiers in Marine Science 6 (2019): n. pag. Web.

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. “Pacific Islands to Help Halt Biodiversity Loss.” Pacific Environment, 6 Feb. 2020, https://www.sprep.org/news/pacific-islands-to-help-halt-biodiversity-loss.

The Climate Reality Project. “Trouble in Paradise: How Does Climate Change Affect Pacific Island Nations?” Climate Reality, 14 Mar. 2019, https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/trouble-paradise-how-does-climate-change-affect-pacific-island-nations.

By Emily McGhee

Science alone will not solve the climate crisis. To appropriately manage and address climate change and impending natural disasters in the South Pacific, policy makers, scientists, and indigenous leaders must bridge the gap between hard science, its solutions, and traditional indigenous knowledge.

Islands in the South Pacific are in a particularly vulnerable position. They are already feeling the effects of climate change. Adaptions are already taking place for people to be able to deal with the changes that come with climate change and climate disasters happening in the region. Policymakers turn to hard science to “answer questions of how communities should deal with climate challenges” (Finucane 1). However, effective risk management enacted by indigenous communities in response to climate change and natural disasters has already taken place for centuries. Indigenous knowledge remains a largely untapped source of knowledge for dealing with climate change in the South Pacific.

The IPCC cites that environmental conditions will worsen in the South Pacific. Rising sea levels will worsen a variety of environmental factors such as flooding, storm surge, erosion, coastal hazards, etc. These factors are compounded by the issues that pacific island nations face due to the nature of their existence and locations. Their small sizes, disaster risk, isolation, low adaptive capacity, and the cost of adaptation relative to GDP all make for incredible difficulties in implementing exclusively scientifically based adaptation strategies in the region.

Scientific models are not the whole picture when it comes to looking at risk. When climate scientists analyze risk they tend to look at it mainly from the scientific perspective analyzing temperature, water availability, crop yields, etc. This however ignores the considerable social risks tied to climate change and the associated responses from society. In the Pacific, factors such as the movement of outer island rural communities to population centers, low income, unemployment, high national debt, and poor infrastructure compound the problem.

To add to this issue, climate models of the south pacific tend to not be detailed enough which causes problems for local actors to make decisions based on them. When decision makers are unable to use scientific data properly in policy making it erodes trust in the institutions and also in the science itself. Distrust also occurs in the difference between science and what is observed. Such distrust is more common in those of lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Historically, Pacific island countries have adapted to harsh weather conditions. Generations of traditional knowledge about the local environment and how to deal with the conditions have allowed people to thrive in the region with little intervention from western scientific ideas. Many pacific cultures use oral tradition, storytelling, and local observation to understand climate patterns and signs. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric in New Zealand has begun documenting traditional environmental and climate knowledge from Maori and Samoan peoples. Connecting traditional and modern knowledge to explain traditional phenomena in terms of science helps to fill the gaps in modern science while allowing for better communication about the issues that climate change and disasters present.

Ultimately, policymakers must address risk management by looking at strategies that involve indigenous, local, and cultural components to ensure widespread and effective implementation. Advocacy, in this sense, to not just create short-term solutions but also address long-term problems is challenging but involves combining both local and traditional approaches from actors on both sides, and works to fully tackle the human-climate relationship in the south pacific.

 

FINUCANE, MELISSA L. Why Science Alone Won’t Solve the Climate Crisis: Managing Climate Risks in the Pacific. East-West Center, 2009, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16011. Accessed 08 May 2022.