The role of culture in sustainable communities: the case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile)

Mischen, Pamela A.; Lipo, Carl P.

doi:10.1007/s43545-021-00124-7

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…While in recent years, most aspects of this "extreme" collapse narrative have been debunked, many continue to argue for some form of environmentally-induced largescale crisis in demography, land use, and/or cultural practices in pre-contact Rapa Nui (e.g., [30][31][32][33]). Emerging evidence, however, demonstrates that Rapa Nui communities were sustainable in several respects and continued their lifeways and traditions despite the changing ecological conditions and inherent environmental constraints imposed by their marginal island (e.g., [18,19,26,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]). Here, we review current evidence for Rapa Nui community practices within the context of ecological economics research on sustainable management of common-pool resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

2021

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The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

2021

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‘Detritus of a Coming World’: The Colonization of Islands as Microcosms for Human Impacts on an Interplanetary Scale

Fitzpatrick

2022

Speciesism in Biology and Culture

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The ability of humans to colonize islands in the ancient past required centuries of innovation in boat construction and the development of increasingly sophisticated seafaring technologies and wayfinding strategies. Nowhere is this more evident than in the vast expanse of the Pacific, where around 3000 years ago, Micronesian and Polynesian voyagers colonized what were arguably the most remote and difficult places to reach on Earth. Because the biota on these islands evolved for thousands, or even millions of years, high rates of endemism in these environments also made them ecologically fragile. The first arrival of Homo sapiens—the ultimate adaptive omnivore—caused a wide variety of impacts that were amplified by an order of magnitude with Euro-American incursion. In this sense, as aquatically bounded places, islands serve as model systems and microcosms for how humans have affected the earth’s biosphere in the modern age. In this chapter, I document how the first island colonizers caused certain levels of ecological destruction, using Hawaiian and New Zealand birds as primary case studies. However, I take this concept further, suggesting that the processes involved in the prehistoric colonization and settlement of islands is also a corollary for how we can view the earth and future efforts to colonize other planets. Humanity is at a global tipping point, with unsustainably high human population impacts, habitat destruction, climate change, and recent pandemics. As the possibility of extraplanetary migration becomes an increasing reality—perhaps a necessity to ensure our survival—what lessons can be learned from the anthropological and archaeological study of islands as we seek new lives beyond terra firma? What are the possible consequences for our lineage and extraterrestrial life on this planet and beyond?

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The role of culture in sustainable communities: the case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile)

Cited by 2 publications

References 40 publications

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

‘Detritus of a Coming World’: The Colonization of Islands as Microcosms for Human Impacts on an Interplanetary Scale

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