It's not “too late”: Learning from Pacific Small Island Developing States in a warming world

Abstract

The scale and speed of action required to limit global warming is unprecedented. However, claims that it is “too late” to act or that societal collapse is “inevitable,” must be challenged, particularly in the context of Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS). Here, the serious impacts of sea‐level rise may already be unavoidable, but ongoing global mitigation efforts are essential to avoid further catastrophic impacts. First, narratives of despair reinforce social distancing in ways that make it harder to assert claims of shared responsibility for past climate injustices and mutual obligations in the future. Second, claims that it too late to avoid societal collapse overlook significant adaptation efforts already initiated by PSIDS, particularly those led by women and youth, which are informed by distinctive community values of Vai Nui or Fonofale (interconnected well‐living). These values have sustained PSIDS societies through traumatic histories of colonization, racism, and violence, and are still positioned to support communities suffering now, and when facing future risks. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Governing Climate Change in Communities, Cities, and Regions

Advancing Coral Reef Governance into the Anthropocene

“…Scientists and policy makers are beginning to focus on how such social movements are formed and how views of coral reef dynamics are framed, maintained, and changed through such movements. 71 Other scientists are paying closer attention to multiple distant drivers of change (e.g., reef supply chains to distant markets). 72,73 Some of those scientists are working with so-called keystone actors (e.g., powerful companies, financial institutions, nation states, and/or regional governments) to modify their interactions to mitigate against climate change and reduce proximate stressors through diplomacy, trade, and/or exchange of information and One Earth Perspective technology.…”

Minority Community Resilience and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study of the Gullah Geechee Community

“…In addition to scholars and the Gullah community, various decision makers and policymakers, who determine the management of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor or other similar heritage sites, can benefit from gaining a more comprehensive perspective of understudied minority community resilience and importance of their intangible heritage preservation. In this context, increasing the awareness of the importance of safeguarding intangible heritage (and not just tangible heritage such as historic buildings, archeological sites, and historic landscapes) such as traditional knowledge, skills, and techniques and integrating those with scientific information can support more inclusive, robust, and transparent decision-and policy-making processes [9,10,57,58]. Furthermore, advancing equity and social and climate justice should be integrated into cross-sectoral community resilience and heritage preservation policy responses.…”

“…Previous research (e.g., [54][55][56]) suggested that policies that involve minority or marginalized communities for shared responsibilities and decision-making and have the full ownership of local institutions, such as tourism, are more likely to result in effective policies for heritage preservation and enhancing community resilience. Incorporating the spectrum of people's attitudes and values, traditional knowledge, and socio-cultural practices that are embodied in local community culture and heritage was suggested as a more inclusive and collective approach to disaster management and climate change resilience for the Gullah community as well as for other minority and/or marginalized communities [7,49,53,57,58]. In addition, empathic and emotional engagement with place can create cultural meaning and can embed the pro-environmental behavior in place-oriented norms and institutions [59].…”

Is it too late (to stop dangerous climate change)? An editorial

“…A second line of reasoning from some authors is to foreground the cultural resources available to different groups of people which can be deployed to resist the drivers and impacts of climate change. Hayward, Salili, Tupuana'I, and Tualamali'I () write from a Pacific islands cultural perspective and draw attention to the traditional community values of vai nui or fonofale (i.e., interconnected well‐living). In similar vein, Whyte's () argument from an indigenous people's perspective in North America is to recognize the powerful notion of kinship and the qualities of trust, accountability and reciprocity that have long characterized such cultures.…”