Climate change adaptation planning in the Pacific Island countries: problematizing locally based knowledge and “community”
2025
Nakamura, Naohiro | Kanemasu, Yoko | Addaney, M. | Cobbinah, P.
Climate change adaptation is an urgent challenge for Pacific Island countries (PICs). Over the past decade, PIC climate change literature has increasingly argued that climate change adaptation needs to be community based and employ locally based knowledge, in response to critiques of top-down policy implementation. However, this dominant discourse presumes the availability of locally based knowledge and communities willing and able to utilize such knowledge. Recent case studies show that some Pacific Islanders are finding locally based knowledge less reliable under the current climate change and prefer modern technologies to cope with climate change impacts. Those who are unfamiliar with, or do not value locally based knowledge, may explore the possibility of an alternative (and non-conventional) way of adaptation. Based on three PIC case studies, this chapter critically examines climate change “adaptation” methods to identify what is happening on the ground and how local communities are “adapting”, using (or not using) locally based knowledge.
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