Religious and Cultural-Spiritual Attributions of Climate-Driven Changes on Food Production: A Case Study from North Malaita, Solomon Islands

Abstract

Increasing concern exists over the impacts of climate change on food production amongst the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Changing weather patterns are already having effects on soil fertility, pests and diseases, heat stress in plants, soil moisture, saltwater incursion from rising sea levels, and increased damage to agriculture and crops from climate-related extreme events. Although climate-related extreme events such as cyclones, floods, droughts and storm surges are causing damages on food production, farmers in PICs often attribute the occurrences and frequency of climatic hazards to God, spiritual beliefs and cultural practices. This paper evaluates farmers' perceptions of how their food production systems and livelihoods are influenced by religious and cultural-spiritual beliefs, as a proxy for understanding climate impacts. We conducted 98 in-depth, semi-structured one-on-one interviews, a social-demographic survey (n = 98) and personal observations on farmers' behaviours using the snowballing method in the Malu'u and Sikwafata communities on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. We thematically analysed the transcripts placing emphasis on understanding commonalities and differences within and between the study sites. We found that climate impacts on food production are one of the major problems identified by 92.3% of the respondents (29.0% of youths, 25.8% of middle-age, and 37.5% of elderlies) who attribute climate impacts to God's punishment or the fulfilment of a prophecy. Human factors including folklore (cultural behaviours/sorcery) were also factors affecting food production for 76% of the respondents (19.3% of youths, 31.6% of middle-age, and 25.1% of elderlies). We also found that 5.4% of farmers had no knowledge or awareness about climate change and 21.7% claimed that lack of farming equipment (tilling tools and planting materials) was a major problem. More community awareness on climate change and its impacts and further research is needed to enable farmers to make informed decisions about improving their food production systems.

Assessing rural household’s food groups-and-sources and dietary diversity pattern in Malaita Province

“…These were chosen as a means to assess their role in the dietary patterns of the households. Note that the demographic data is based on existing data already published in 29 . It is also important to note that the age was focused only on the interviewee (spouse or household head).…”

Volcanic disaster risk reduction in indigenous communities on Tanna Island, Vanuatu

“…The literature has recognized the necessity to incorporate cultural aspects into "physical assessments, to reduce the risk associated with disasters" [21]; p. 1210). Like some people interpret climate events such as droughts and cyclones based on their religious beliefs [22][23][24][25], those who have long lived on slopes or at the base of a volcano have formed an anthropomorphic belief that they are spiritually connected to a volcano. As a result, volcanic eruptions are interpreted based on an anthropomorphic belief, and every time they survive from volcanic events, they accumulate knowledge and experiences on how and why they survived, which have been passed down from generation to generation as guidance to their livelihood [26][27][28].…”