Integration of indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction: A case study from Baie Martelli, Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Walshe, Rory; Nunn, Patrick D.

doi:10.1007/s13753-012-0019-x

Cited by 97 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Although no suggestion was made during our survey that any traditionally acquired information about environmental hazards, typically communicated orally, was not free for any member of the community to share with any other (typically parent to child), this is the case elsewhere in the Pacific and has been identified as a risk in future disaster response (Walshe and Nunn 2012). However, the same liberty does not apply in our sample villages to other forms of communication, such as songs and dances, some of which die with their composers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study of tsunami awareness among communities in southern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu concluded that, despite government attempts to raise awareness, traditional knowledge about tsunami precursors and response was far more widespread, and accounted for the low number of fatalities during the 1999 tsunami (Walshe and Nunn 2012). A parallel situation was documented for tsunami response within indigenous coastal communities in Indonesia and Solomon Islands (McAdoo et al 2006, Fritz andKalligeris 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Janif¹,

Nunn²,

Geraghty³

et al. 2016

E&S

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108

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ABSTRACT. In the interests of improving engagement with Pacific Island communities to enable development of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change, we looked at how traditional oral narratives in rural/peripheral Fiji communities might be used to inform such strategies. Interviews were undertaken and observations made in 27 communities; because the custodians of traditional knowledge were targeted, most interviewees were 70-79 years old.The view that oral traditions, particularly those referring to environmental history and the observations/precursors of environmental change, were endangered was widespread and regretted. Interviewees' personal experiences of extreme events (natural disasters) were commonplace but no narratives of historical (unwitnessed by interviewees) events were found. In contrast, experiences of previous village relocations attributable (mainly) to environmental change were recorded in five communities while awareness of environmentally driven migration was more common. Questions about climate change elicited views dominated by religious/fatalist beliefs but included some more pragmatic ones; the confusion of climate change with climate variability, which is part of traditional knowledge, was widespread.The erosion of traditional environmental knowledge in the survey communities over recent decades has been severe and is likely to continue apace, which will reduce community self-sufficiency and resilience. Ways of conserving such knowledge and incorporating it into adaptation planning for Pacific Island communities in rural/peripheral locations should be explored.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Janif¹,

Nunn²,

Geraghty³

et al. 2016

E&S

Self Cite

108

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“…For example, isolation and small population size are suggested as indicators of vulnerability due to the danger of a single physical hazard impacting a large proportion of total population, and the prospect of relief or aid being far away, yet community cohesion often develops out of this same characteristic (Gaillard, 2007). Equally high exposure to physical environmental stressors over long periods of time clearly presents vulnerability, yet rich local knowledge can result from long histories of responding to these risks (Mercer et al, 2012;Walshe & Nunn, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small island perspectives on climate change

Walshe¹,

Stancioff²

2018

ISJ

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Islands and islanders are often misrepresented in the climate change discourse, oversimplifying their experiences and interactions with climate change. In reality, islands and islanders have far more complex relationships with climate change. This special thematic section presents eight papers that highlight local responses and localized impacts of climate change on islands, reiterating the importance of considering local community perspectives in small island contexts to overcome simplistic viewpoints. Such perceptions and perspectives are increasingly being recognized as offering a valuable contribution to climate change adaptation, particularly to counter the misrepresentation of small islands as vulnerable or passive, and the disregard for the fact that climate change is a global, as well as continual process. This special thematic section further demonstrates that island research is well placed to address the disproportionate concentration of perspectives and opinions of climate change from the Global North and adds to the calls for increased efforts to give a voice to island communities of all kinds.

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“…Hence, poverty is both cause and consequence of disasters in under-developed or developing countries. Disaster risk reduction is particularly essential for sustaining the achievements of all kinds of development goals since it provides a safety net for the hard-earned development gains of a developing country (Holloway 2003;Birkmann and von Teichman 2010;Walshe and Nunn 2012). In Nepal, it is a great challenge to protect infrastructure and public and individual properties from frequent landslide, flood, and earthquake disasters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster risk reduction knowledge of local people in Nepal

Tuladhar

Yatabe

Dahal

et al. 2015

GEOENVIRON DISASTERS

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Background: Nepal is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. A high proportion of the national GDP is lost every year in landslides, floods, and many other forms of disasters. A high number of human casualties and loss of public and private property in Nepal due to natural disasters may be attributed to inadequate public awareness, lack of disaster preparedness, weak governance, lack of coordination among the concerned government agencies, inadequate financial resources, and inadequate technical knowledge for mitigating the natural disasters. In this context, quite a few awareness and training programs for disaster risk reduction (DRR) have already been initiated in Nepal and their impact assessments are also already documented. However, effectiveness of the various implemented DRR programs is not yet evaluated through an independent study. Results: The work presented in this paper explores local people's knowledge on disaster risk reduction (DRR). Altogether, 124 local people from 18 to 74 years of age from randomly selected 19 districts of Nepal were interviewed focusing on various questions on disaster information, disaster knowledge, disaster readiness, disaster awareness, disaster adaptation, and disaster risk perception. The collected response data were statistically analyzed using histogram and independent sample t-tests to examine the DRR knowledge of people. An independent t-test analysis (Table 1) suggests that there is no statistically significant gender-based difference in disaster knowledge, disaster readiness, disaster awareness, and disaster risk perception of the surveyed people. Disaster adaptation capacity of the local people was evaluated and more than 60 percent of the respondents were determined to adapt state of disaster in the community. Conclusions: Findings of this independent research confirmed that the DRR education initiatives implemented in Nepal are not enough. The questionnaire survey results have pointed out at a few deficiencies in disseminating DRR knowledge in Nepal. We hope these findings will encourage the line agencies working in DRR issues in Nepal to modify their programs targeted for the local communities.

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Integration of indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction: A case study from Baie Martelli, Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Cited by 97 publications

References 30 publications

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

Small island perspectives on climate change

Disaster risk reduction knowledge of local people in Nepal

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