Vanuatu’s Traditional Knowledge in Use for Climate Forecasting and Adaptation
17 November 2012
The Republic of Vanuatu is leading the way in the Pacific with its national approach to using traditional knowledge for improved climate seasonal forecasting and adaptation to climate change. The approach involves hybridizing seasonal forecasting based on meteorological science with long term seasonal forecasting based on traditional observations of local animal behavior, plant flowering and fruiting, and cloud and sky indicators.
This week, the Government of Vanuatu trialed a new in field data collection approach and hosted major summit with official agencies, cultural institutions, civil society and development partners to define a long-term collaborative approach on traditional knowledge, climate change and disaster risk reduction.
Climate change is critically impacting Vanuatu’s development, its people and our livelihoods. Changes in rainfall and extreme storm events are now contributing to secondary impacts like new pest and disease outbreaks in agriculture, water insecurity and declining health in rural communities. The government of the Republic of Vanuatu has already placed climate change as a top national policy priority, with adaptation and disaster risk reduction two key national objectives. Unsurprisingly, adaptation and disaster risk reduction can be expensive and difficult to implement in places like Vanuatu where the cost of imported technologies and lack of scientific capacity are prohibitive.
Traditional knowledge about weather, climate related hazards and extreme events is one of Vanuatu’s best and most affordable solutions to climate change. Since humans first arrived in Vanuatu over 2500 years ago its people have been exposed to cyclones, floods, droughts, and storm sea surges and have developed simple and locally appropriate ways of coping and surviving. While climate change is intensifying and worsening the hazards of the past, ensuring that traditional coping mechanisms are collected, shared and used will help to enable our people to better deal with future climate change.
In preparation for the national summit, members from the Vanuatu Cultural Center, the Department of Meteorology & Geohazards, the National Disaster Management Office, the Department of Agriculture and the SPC-GIZ Climate Change Programme travelled to Tanna Island to pre-test a one-team approach to traditional knowledge and climate change initiatives. In the remote communities surrounding Port Resolution, the team held a series of discussions with chiefs and area leaders about a future partnership between the government and custodians of traditional climate and weather knowledge. The first step was to share a meteorological science perspective on weather, climate and climate change. Then expert traditional Tanna weathermen showed the government team their own methods for forecasting, specifically how they use local signs and indicators to foretell a coming dry season, intense cyclone or prolonged rainy period. For example, certain behaviors of the oceanic Petrel flying close to the islands indicate an upcoming period of strong wind. A shift in the flowering times of a coastal tree species accurately foretells a long dry season. In all, over 100 traditional indicators of weather and climate were documented by the field team, and will be used in a first trial of a hybrid forecasting system.
The government team found that traditional Tanna weathermen and leaders were glad to share this knowledge with the rest of Vanuatu so that it is not lost, and future generations can use it to keep themselves safe. Local communities place great trust in the Government and the Vanuatu Cultural Center to ensure that their knowledge is not exploited, but rather used for the climate and disaster resilience of the people of the nation. In response, participants at this week’s national summit resolved to develop a national framework on the collection and use of traditional weather and climate information that places the Vanuatu Cultural Center at its heart and ensures that any agency or civil society group engaged in traditional climate initiatives will adhere to the protocols and approaches it sets out.
To close the summit, Marcelin Ambong, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Center stated that “now is the time to work together to share knowledge and find ways for all to adapt to climate change” and Meteorology Director Jotham Napat responded that “utilizing the wealth of traditional knowledge on climate and disasters will improve seasonal forecasts and help Vanuatu’s people better prepare for extreme events and climate variability. Vanuatu has set a regional precedent in this regard, bringing our tradition, custom and culture to the cutting edge of climate change adaptation.”
Work on Vanuatu’s framework for traditional knowledge on climate and disasters is being supported by the government of Vanuatu, the German funded SPC-GIZ Climate Change Program and the Australian funded Climate and Ocean Support Program for the Pacific.
For more information on Vanuatu and Climate Change, contact SPC-GIZ Climate Change Vanuatu at VanuatuClimateChange@gmail.com or visit the NAB online Portal www.nab.vu.
Pacific-German Regional Programme on
Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Vanuatu’s Traditional Knowledge in Use for Climate Forecasting and Adaptation
17 November 2012
The Republic of Vanuatu is leading the way in the Pacific with its national approach to using traditional knowledge for improved climate seasonal forecasting and adaptation to climate change. The approach involves hybridizing seasonal forecasting based on meteorological science with long term seasonal forecasting based on traditional observations of local animal behavior, plant flowering and fruiting, and cloud and sky indicators.
This week, the Government of Vanuatu trialed a new in field data collection approach and hosted major summit with official agencies, cultural institutions, civil society and development partners to define a long-term collaborative approach on traditional knowledge, climate change and disaster risk reduction.
Climate change is critically impacting Vanuatu’s development, its people and our livelihoods. Changes in rainfall and extreme storm events are now contributing to secondary impacts like new pest and disease outbreaks in agriculture, water insecurity and declining health in rural communities. The government of the Republic of Vanuatu has already placed climate change as a top national policy priority, with adaptation and disaster risk reduction two key national objectives. Unsurprisingly, adaptation and disaster risk reduction can be expensive and difficult to implement in places like Vanuatu where the cost of imported technologies and lack of scientific capacity are prohibitive.
Traditional knowledge about weather, climate related hazards and extreme events is one of Vanuatu’s best and most affordable solutions to climate change. Since humans first arrived in Vanuatu over 2500 years ago its people have been exposed to cyclones, floods, droughts, and storm sea surges and have developed simple and locally appropriate ways of coping and surviving. While climate change is intensifying and worsening the hazards of the past, ensuring that traditional coping mechanisms are collected, shared and used will help to enable our people to better deal with future climate change.
In preparation for the national summit, members from the Vanuatu Cultural Center, the Department of Meteorology & Geohazards, the National Disaster Management Office, the Department of Agriculture and the SPC-GIZ Climate Change Programme travelled to Tanna Island to pre-test a one-team approach to traditional knowledge and climate change initiatives. In the remote communities surrounding Port Resolution, the team held a series of discussions with chiefs and area leaders about a future partnership between the government and custodians of traditional climate and weather knowledge. The first step was to share a meteorological science perspective on weather, climate and climate change. Then expert traditional Tanna weathermen showed the government team their own methods for forecasting, specifically how they use local signs and indicators to foretell a coming dry season, intense cyclone or prolonged rainy period. For example, certain behaviors of the oceanic Petrel flying close to the islands indicate an upcoming period of strong wind. A shift in the flowering times of a coastal tree species accurately foretells a long dry season. In all, over 100 traditional indicators of weather and climate were documented by the field team, and will be used in a first trial of a hybrid forecasting system.
The government team found that traditional Tanna weathermen and leaders were glad to share this knowledge with the rest of Vanuatu so that it is not lost, and future generations can use it to keep themselves safe. Local communities place great trust in the Government and the Vanuatu Cultural Center to ensure that their knowledge is not exploited, but rather used for the climate and disaster resilience of the people of the nation. In response, participants at this week’s national summit resolved to develop a national framework on the collection and use of traditional weather and climate information that places the Vanuatu Cultural Center at its heart and ensures that any agency or civil society group engaged in traditional climate initiatives will adhere to the protocols and approaches it sets out.
To close the summit, Marcelin Ambong, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Center stated that “now is the time to work together to share knowledge and find ways for all to adapt to climate change” and Meteorology Director Jotham Napat responded that “utilizing the wealth of traditional knowledge on climate and disasters will improve seasonal forecasts and help Vanuatu’s people better prepare for extreme events and climate variability. Vanuatu has set a regional precedent in this regard, bringing our tradition, custom and culture to the cutting edge of climate change adaptation.”
Work on Vanuatu’s framework for traditional knowledge on climate and disasters is being supported by the government of Vanuatu, the German funded SPC-GIZ Climate Change Program and the Australian funded Climate and Ocean Support Program for the Pacific.
For more information on Vanuatu and Climate Change, contact SPC-GIZ Climate Change Vanuatu at VanuatuClimateChange@gmail.com or visit the NAB online Portal www.nab.vu.