Climate Crisis and Indigenous Well-being: Ancestral Land, Psychological & Ontological Impact, and Resilience in Fijian Communities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/jisd.v13i1.79230Keywords:
climate crisis, pre-traumatic stress, eco-grief, eco-stress, solastalgia, ancestral lands, ontologyAbstract
This study explores the impacts of the climate crisis (CC) on indigenous Fijians’ ancestral lands and the psychological and ontological elements associated with these impacts. Informed by an indigenous methodology, this study sheds light on the deep relationship between these indigenous communities and their ancestral lands, the extent to which CC has disrupted this bond, and their psychological responses to this disruption. It also explores how CC have disrupted communities’ ontological security and ultimately impacting their collective epistemic identity. This study introduces the concept of CC ‘pre-traumatic stress’ to describe the anxiety and distress individuals of these communities experience when anticipating potential relocation due to CC. Analyses of the data identified that alongside psychological impacts of the climate crisis such as eco-grief, eco-stress and solastalgia, the ontological foundation of these indigenous communities continues to be disrupted. Findings from this study provide important perspectives on climate-related pre-traumatic stresses on CC frontier indigenous communities and the ontological shifts associated with CC. While some of the elements of this study are specific to indigenous Fijians’ contexts, its findings will help develop policies that consider the psychological well-being of frontier indigenous communities, cultural preservation, and indigenous community resilience. Taking this approach will ensure the creation of adaptation strategies that are culturally sensitive, sustainable and equitable and acknowledge the role of Indigenous knowledge in global climate crisis responses. This approach expands the discourse on the climate crisis to include cultural and psychological aspects.
References
Ágoston, C., Csaba, B., Nagy, B., Kőváry, Z., Dúll, A., Rácz, J., & Demetrovics, Z. (2022). Identifying Types of Eco-Anxiety, Eco-Guilt, Eco-Grief, and Eco-Coping in a Climate-Sensitive Population: A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(4), 2461. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042461.
Albrecht, G., Sartore, G., Connor, L., Higginbotham, N., Freeman, S., Kelly, B., Stain, H., Tonna, A., & Pollard, G. (2007). Solastalgia: The Distress Caused by Environmental Change. Australasian Psychiatry, 15, S95 - S98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10398560701701288.
Alcoff, L. M. (2010). Epistemic Identities. Episteme, 7(2), 128–137. https://doi.org/10.3366/epi.2010.0003
Asugeni, J., MacLaren, D., Massey, P. D., & Speare, R. (2015). Mental health issues from rising sea level in a remote coastal region of the Solomon Islands: current and future. Australasian Psychiatry, 23(6), 22–25. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1039856215609767
Berkes, F., Colding, J. & Folke, C. (2000). Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Adaptive Management. Ecological Applications, 10(1), 1251-1262. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1251:ROTEKA]2.0.CO;2
Beyerl, K., Mieg, H. A., & Weber, E. (2018). Comparing perceived effects of climate-related environmental change and adaptation strategies for the Pacific small island states of Tuvalu, Samoa, and Tonga. Island Studies Journal, 13(1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.53
Boillat, S., & Berkes, F. (2013). Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity. Ecology and Society, 18(4), 21. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05894-180421.
Bosher, L., Kim, D., Okubo, T., Chmutina, K., & Jigyasu, R. (2019). Dealing with multiple hazards and threats on cultural heritage sites: an assessment of 80 case studies. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29(1), 109-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-08-2018-0245.
Campbell, J. R. (2019). Climate change, migration and land in Oceania [Policy Brief No. 37]. Toda Peace Institute. https://toda.org/policy-briefs-and-resources/policy-briefs/climate-change-migration-and-land-in-oceania.html
Carothers, C., Brown, C., Moerlein, K. J., Andrés López, J., Andersen, D. B., & Retherford, B. (2014). Measuring perceptions of climate change in northern Alaska: pairing ethnography with cultural consensus analysis. Ecology and Society, 19(4), 27. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06913-190427
Carter, N., Bryant-Lukosius, D., DiCenso, A., Blythe, J., & Neville, A. J. (2014). The use of triangulation in qualitative research. Oncology nursing forum, 41(5), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1188/14.ONF.545-547
Clayton, S. (2020). Climate anxiety: Psychological responses to climate change. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263.
Cobbinah, P. B., & Kwadwo Anane, G. (2015). Climate change adaptation in rural Ghana: indigenous perceptions and strategies. Climate and Development, 8(2), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2015.1034228
Cunsolo, A., & Ellis, N. R. (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change, 8(4), 275-281. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2
Cunsolo-Willox, A., Harper, S. L., Ford, J. D., Edge, V. L., Landman, K., Houle, K., Blake, S., & Wolfrey, C. (2013). Climate change and mental health: An exploratory case study from Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Climatic Change, 121(2), 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0875-4
Devine-Wright, P. (2013). Think global, act local? The relevance of place attachments and place identities in a climate changed world. Global environmental change, 23(1), 61-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.08.003
Farbotko, C. (2019). Climate change displacement: towards ontological security. In C. Klöck & M. Fink (Eds.), Dealing with climate change on small islands: Towards effective and sustainable adaptation (pp. 251–267). Göttingen University Press. https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2019-1219
Gifford, E., & Gifford, R. (2016). The largely unacknowledged impact of climate change on mental health. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 72, 292 - 297. https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2016.1216505.
Hawkins, R., & Maurer, K. (2011). 'You fix my community, you have fixed my life': the disruption and rebuilding of ontological security in New Orleans. Disasters, 35(1), 143-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01197.x.
Hayes, K., Blashki, G., Wiseman, J., Burke, S., & Reifels, L. (2018). Climate change and mental health: risks, impacts and priority actions. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0210-6
Ingty, T., & Bawa, K. S. (2012). Climate change and indigenous people. In M. L. Arrawatia & S. Tambe (Eds.), Climate change in Sikkim: Patterns, impacts, and initiatives (pp. 275-290). Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Sikkim. http://www.sikkimforest.gov.in/climate-change-in-sikkim/17-Chapter_Climate%20Change%20and%20Indigenous%20people.pdf
Kelman, I. (2018). Islandness within climate change narratives of small island developing states (SIDS). Island Studies Journal, 13(1), 149–166. https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.52
Lagi, R.K. (2015). Na Bu: An Explanatory Study of Indigenous Knowledge of Climate Change Education in Ovalau, Fiji. [PhD Thesis, The University of the South Pacific]. USP Library Thesis Portal. https://librarycat.usp.ac.fj/client/en_GB/search/asset/5064/0
Martyr-Koller, R., Thomas, A., Schleussner, C., Nauels, A., & Lissner, T. (2021). Loss and damage implications of sea-level rise on Small Island Developing States. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 50, 245-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.COSUST.2021.05.001.
McNamara, K. E., & Gibson, C. (2009). ‘We do not want to leave our land’: Pacific ambassadors at the United Nations resist the category of ‘climate refugees.’ Geoforum, 40(3), 475–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.03.006
McNamara, K., & Combes, H. (2015). Planning for Community Relocations Due to Climate Change in Fiji. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 6, 315-319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-015-0065-2.
Nabobo-Baba, U. (2008). Decolonising framings in Pacific research: Indigenous Fijian Vanua research framework as an organic response. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 4(2), 140-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/117718010800400210.
Nunn, P. D., Kumar, R., Barrowman, H. M., Chambers, L., Fifita, L., Gegeo, D., Gomese, C., McGree, S., Rarai, A., Cheer, K., Esau, D., Fa'anunu, '., Fong, T., Fong Lomavatu, M., Geraghty, P., Heorake, T., Kekeubata, E., Korovulavula, I., Kubunavanua, E., ... Waiwai, M. (2024). Traditional knowledge for climate resilience in the Pacific Islands. WIREs Climate Change, 15(4), e882. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.882
Osbeck, L.M. & Nersessian, N.J. (2017). Epistemic Identities in Interdisciplinary Science. Perspectives on Science, 25(2), 226–260. https://doi.org/10.1162/POSC_a_00242
Perkins, R. M., & Krause, S. M. (2018). Adapting to climate change impacts in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia: the importance of environmental conditions and intangible cultural heritage. Island Studies Journal, 13(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.51
Perumal, N. (2018). “The place where I live is where I belong”: community perspectives on climate change and climate-related migration in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Island Studies Journal, 13(1), 45–64. https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.50
Petzold, J., & Magnan, A. (2019). Climate change: thinking small islands beyond Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Climatic Change, 152, 145-165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2363-3.
Pileggi, S., & Lamia, S. (2020). Climate Change TimeLine: An Ontology to Tell the Story so Far. IEEE Access, 8, 65294-65312. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2985112.
Raisele, K. (2021). Revitalizing Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) For Inclusive Social Development in Itaukei communities: The concept of Solesolevaki [Masters Thesis, The University of the South Pacific]. USP Library Thesis Portal. https://librarycat.usp.ac.fj/client/en_GB/search/asset/5483/0
Raisele, K., and Lagi, R. (2023). Indigenous Knowledge systems’ role in addressing sea level rise and dried water source: A Fijian case study. Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 76(1): 332-353. http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/14347.
Tauli-Corpuz, V. (2016). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on her mission to Brazil. United Nations. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/847079
Thomas, A., Baptiste, A., Martyr-Koller, R., Pringle, P., & Rhiney, K. (2020). Climate Change and Small Island Developing States. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 45(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355.
Vunibola, S., Leweniqila, I., & Raisele, K. (2024). Reimagining innovation through Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge (IAK): Indigenous innovations and climate crisis resilience in the Pacific, Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 8(1), 483-502. https://doi.org/10.26021/15184
Whyte, K. P. (2017). The recognition dimensions of environmental justice in Indian country. Environmental Justice, 4(4), 199-205. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1855591
Xu, J., & Rana, M. (2005). Living In the Mountains. In T. Jeggle, (Ed.), Know risk (pp.196–199). U. N. Interagency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. https://lib.icimod.org/record/11853.
