Page 30 - IB July 2021

Resilience

enous and local knowledge in discussions and actions towards their resource management initiatives, most refusing to lift
sustainability and strengthened resilience. tabu-declared areas.
Dr Rosiana Lagi, the Deputy Head of School at the University
Oceania views of the South Pacific shared a video based on her 2019 research
There needs to be widespread recognition of how indig- in Tuvalu on Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Weather
enous traditional knowledge complements climate science or Forecasting Climate Change Mitigation in Tuvalu. One of the
actually provides answers for change-related issues the world outcomes of this work is the publication of 33 books on local
faces today, Siosinamele Lui, a climate traditional knowledge and indigenous knowledge for children.
officer with the Pacific Regional Environment Programme “Yes, climate is changing but these indicators are still avail-
(SPREP) told media covering the Pacific Resilience Meeting. able. The beauty of it is that there is more than one indicator.
“Traditional knowledge has a place in everything and in any- But the danger is we are not documenting, we are not digitis-
thing: it is in innovation; it is in science. In fact, traditional ing, we are not including these in our curriculum so that our
knowledge is a form of science, just not in a scientific lab,” children can learn about them,” Dr Rosi said.
Lui said. “But you can take the Pacific islands (region) and say “Traditional knowledge is the mother of all knowledge. It’s
it is a lab. From the work we are doing in the Pacific with our the first knowledge that children learn to ensure their survival
partners, we recognise traditional knowledge is in fact almost before they enter school. It must continue to be nurtured and
the same as speaking the same language as science, just in a practiced in schools and in the communities. Let’s replicate
different dialect.” the project in Tuvalu, by documenting, digitising, and weaving

“Traditional knowledge is the mother of all knowledge. It’s the first knowledge that children
learn to ensure their survival before they enter school. It must continue to be nurtured
and practiced in schools and in the communities.” - Dr Rosiana Lagi

Lui suggests an end to “looking out” for solutions, and the our knowledge into the school curriculum.
propensity to dismiss local approaches when technology offers “Declaring indigenous rights alone is not enough. We need
an alternative. Lui strongly advocates for an appreciation of to have the political will to put this knowledge into practice,
the value of our traditional knowledge, the wealth and depth so they are valued and passed on for a sustainable and resil-
of information it holds. ient world for our children. As COVID-19 takes over the world,
The PRM panel on Traditional wisdom and practices es- so must we recolonise our thinking and approach with our
sential to resilience included Ron Vave, a researcher who traditional philosophies and epistemologies.”
discussed funerary protected areas (FPAs) in Fiji, which he Maxine Anjiga, executive director of the Papua New Guinea
argues are essential to resilience. Funerary protected areas Centre for Locally Managed Areas said traditional systems
are waters that are declared tabu (taboo) for three months which have existed for thousands of years in the Pacific was
marking the death of a chief. Harvest occurs on the 100th day very important for progress.
in the area and the ensuing memorial feast marks the end of “Yes, we need science but more and more we are stepping
the family’s grieving process. back to understand about traditional systems. We have gone
Fiji has 14 provinces and 189 districts. Vave interviewed back to using our barter system… Pacific people can survive
people from 175 districts and concluded 73 districts continued because we’ve had traditional systems that’s existed for thou-
the practice FPAs. Vave laments the loss of this practice, ex- sands of years.”
pressing disappointment that the Western knowledge system There is a continued debate around the use of traditional
did not include this practice as an important component of knowledge in the modern scientific world, however it is clear
conservation in the region, which in turn dismisses its role in from the documented understanding already captured and the
resilience-building. innate traditional connections communities have relied on for
Teri Tuxson, the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) millennia, that this form of knowledge is in fact scientific. It
Network International assistant co-ordinator spoke of how is the system of capturing the information that undermines its
communities utilised their traditional food and agricultural use and it is up to communities and modern scientists to learn
systems to ensure they had food in the first stages of the CO- from and encompass this knowledge to better understand and
VID-19 pandemic. Communities returned to age-old practices protect our planet for future generations.
like food sharing or solesolevaki in Fiji and bartering in Papua
New Guinea. Most communities, Tuxson said, tried to maintain editor@islandsbusiness.com

30 Islands Business, July 2021