Waterworld: the heritage dimensions of climate change in the Pacific

Abstract

The focus of this paper is particularly on low lying coral islands of the Pacific, such as the outer coral atolls and islands of Chuuk state, in the Federated States of Micronesia. The paper explores the relevance of heritage research to climate science. Questions posed include the following: How is the discourse of global warming being taken up at the local level? What are the experiences, understandings and responses of peoples who live at the ‘front line’ of sea level change? We consider the heritage dimensions of climate change in Chuuk in terms of the notion of ‘loss’ and what it is to feel that one is losing one’s world, as well as the distinction between tangible and intangible heritage. We argue that research on the ‘human dimensions’ of climate change must be expanded from its current socio-economic emphasis to include baseline local level ethnographic studies that enable understanding of non-market impacts and the complex transformative relationship between cosmologies of climate change and heritage values.

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