Pacific Island nations, often depicted as “innocent victims” of climate change facing inevitable displacement, have demonstrated leadership that has garnered them little attention or credit among their peers in the Global North.1 Politicians and environmental activists in the region are playing a major role in driving the global climate action conversation and agenda. Research conducted by Dr. Stuart Kirsch, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, and published in the journal American Anthropologist looks at how three Pacific Island nations–the Marshall Islands, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands–have each contributed to the international climate change gatherings, agenda, and practices.
The Marshall Islands in Micronesia, for example, was responsible for the ambitious limit on greenhouse emissions agreed upon in the Paris Agreement, an international treaty whereby 195 nations set their commitments to combat climate change. The late Marshallese politician and government minister, Tony deBrum, established a coalition of nations at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference seeking comprehensive and rapid climate action. DeBrum and his coalition convinced the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to set the average global temperature increase to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as opposed to the initially proposed 2 degrees Celcius. Independent research would later support deBrum’s recommendation and indicate substantive social, economic, and environmental damage stemming from a 2 degrees Celcius increase in greenhouse emissions. deBrum was also a staunch opponent of nuclear proliferation in the Pacific Islands, a region with a long history of nuclear testing by Global North powers.
Southwest of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands are encouraging the use of local knowledge and history rather than imported technology and models to help mitigate the effects of climate change. Dr. Kirsch explains that “traveling models,” or scientific blueprints, are brought from the Global North and imposed onto local contexts. While these traveling models adapt to local contexts, they leave no room for traditional knowledge about environmental stewardship and conservation. The Solomon Islands, however, are disrupting this pattern. The work of Moses More, the former Solomon Islands ambassador to the European Union, pushed the International Maritime Organization to reduce its fossil fuel consumption. He even introduced the organization to traditional canoe and sail designs to help their efforts. With More’s efforts, the organization eventually reduced its greenhouse emissions by fifty percent.
The third example included in the published research is Fiji. In 2017, two years after the Paris Agreement was established, Fiji introduced the traditional talanoa at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) to help implement the vision of the Paris Agreement. Talanoa is a form of speech based in storytelling and used in a variety of ways throughout the Pacific. It encourages inclusivity, transparency, and aims to be “constructive, facilitative, and solutions-oriented” (Kirsch 2020: 831).
Most importantly for the international convention, talanoa suspends existing political frameworks and hierarchies so nations of different cultural and socioeconomic contexts can come together more equitably. Talanoa was so successful at the COP that the United Nations established the Talanoa Dialogues as a permanent event for international talks about climate change mitigation. The dialogues ultimately changed the nature of conversations at the United Nations from being top-down to inclusive and democratic.
Several nations shared success stories on the climate action front, including progress on decarbonization in Europe, coalition-building in Brazil and the United States between different sectors and communities, and desalination of water in Vanuatu with international help. These conversations helped move the needle towards more creative, comprehensive, and time-sensitive climate action.
This is not to say that all Pacific Islanders agree with their politicians or that they do not have conflicting views on climate change. Some Pacific Islanders consider the effects of climate change to be part of God’s will and some countries disagree with the approach the Pacific Islands have taken during the United Nations talks. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize the successful changes the Pacific Island nations have brought to the fight against climate change. For a region with a long history of forced displacement due to nuclear testing, extractive economies (mining), and migrant labor, the island nations are not giving in to the stereotype of “faraway lands” dependant on their wealthier neighbors or to defeatist narratives regarding climate change destruction. Instead, they harness their pride as historically seafaring peoples and embrace a Pan-Pacific vision of interconnected nations to help fight the biggest battle of our time.
Note:
- The Global North is an umbrella term for wealthier nations which are almost all located north of the equator (Australia and New Zealand are the exceptions). Conversely, the Global South is a term typically describing ‘developing’ nations located in the Southern Hemisphere, namely Latin American, African, and several Asian countries. Check out the Royal Geographic Society’s guide to the Global North/South Divide here.
Reference:
- Kirsch, Stuart. “Why Pacific Islanders Stopped Worrying about the Apocalypse and Started Fighting Climate Change.” American Anthropologist 122, no. 4 (2020): 827-839. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13471
- Melissa Denchak, “Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know,” NRDC, February 19, 2021. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know
- Natalie Sauer, “The Talanoa Dialogue Explained,” Climate Home News, October 12, 2018. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/12/10/talanoa-dialogue-explained/