Partnering with Indigenous Communities in the Pacific Islands
Explore Indigenous Pacific Islander Research
Find a full list of CASC-funded projects collaborating with Indigenous communities in the Pacific Islands through our Project Explorer.
For millennia, Indigenous Pacific Islanders have stewarded natural resources to sustain their communities, traditional ways of life, and cultural identities. This close relationship with the natural world puts these communities at the forefront of climate change impacts. Drawing upon a strong history of adaptation and innovation, Indigenous communities are key collaborators on adaptation work within the Pacific Islands CASC (PI-CASC). The Pacific Islands CASC partners with Indigenous communities throughout Hawai’i and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands to better understand their specific vulnerability to climate change, to increase or assist with capacity to support adaptation planning, and to identify and address climate science needs.
Assessing Science Needs
Assessing the science needs of Indigenous communities is an important first step in developing and implementing effective climate adaptation strategies. Several PI-CASC projects worked with Indigenous and local practitioner communities to identify their current capacity to adapt to climate impacts and determine what science information is needed to build upon this capacity.
Project Example: Science Needs Assessment to Support Management of Loko Iʻa (Hawaiian Fishpond) Resources and Practices Critical to the Native Hawaiian Community
Summary: Loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishponds) are unique aquaculture systems in Hawaiʻi that are products of sustainable land stewardship and vary in structure given natural patterns in watersheds, nutrient cycles, and fish biology. Found nowhere else in the world, Loko iʻa practices are the result of over a thousand years of intergenerational knowledge, experimentation, and adaptation, and once produced over two million pounds of fish per year throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Yet modern changes in coastal, hydrological, and socio-cultural processes threaten the integrity of the fishponds. A project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC compiled research ideas and needs within Hawai‘i’s community of fishpond managers, landowners, and stewardship organizations to inform their adaptation of fishpond practices and enhance their community resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change.
Building Capacity
The CASCs support and enhance the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change. These efforts include supporting Indigenous land managers and communities in assessing their vulnerability to climate change, providing trainings on climate science and available data resources, and teaching data collection techniques so that Indigenous peoples can further quantify changes occurring on the landscape.
Project Example: Developing an Agroforestry Dashboard for the Marshall Islands
Summary: Agriculture and agroforestry (integrated crop and tree cultivation) are important activities for the Marshall Islands and other small islands to promote food security and human health. However, climate change is posing serious challenges for growers as they struggle to adapt to impacts such as saltwater intrusion, changing temperatures and precipitation patterns, and the spread of invasive species. In a project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC, researchers created a website displaying clear, actionable farming information to provide Marshallese agricultural producers with information and resources to help them adapt growing practices to changing climate conditions. Users can find information in English and Marshallese about seasonal rainfall, winds, and sea level as well as agricultural calendars based on El Niño/La Niña. The website also provides facts on traditional growing practices and timings, crop tolerances, and nutrition. This project was implemented in partnership with the Marshall Islands Ministry of Resources and Development and the College of the Marshall Islands.
Understanding the Effects of Climate Change on Culturally-Important Resources
The natural environment represents a valued source of food, medicine, materials for culturally important items, and connection to cultural identity for many Indigenous peoples. The Pacific Islands CASC partners with Indigenous communities to assess the impacts of climate change on food, water, and other culturally important resources to improve our understanding of how the abundance and distribution of these resources might shift over time and to identify priority management activities.
Project Example: The Future Resiliency of Mangrove Forests to Sea-Level Rise in the Western Pacific: Initiating a National Assessment Approach
Summary: Mangrove forests are a critical resource for local and Indigenous communities across the Pacific Islands, serving as habitat for native species, protection from coastal hazards, and important sources of food, building materials, and firewood. Indigenous, federal, and PI-CASC researchers and managers worked together to model how future sea level rise may affect mangrove forests in the Federated States of Micronesia. They found that healthy mangroves are likely to be resilient to low and moderate rates of sea level rise, but faster changes could result in the eventual loss of many mangrove forests on the islands. As they expand this work to other islands, the authors hope their results will help Micronesian communities identify and preserve mangrove forests resilient to sea-level rise and develop strategies to increase the resilience of mangroves across the islands.
Incorporating Traditional Knowledge into Adaptation Planning
Traditional Ecological Knowledge is accumulated through generations of lived experiences and cultural practices and beliefs created through intimate relationships with the environment. This can provide important information about the natural world that might not otherwise be available through Western science. Several Pacific Islands CASC projects have focused on helping gather and incorporate traditional and local knowledge into local climate adaptation planning.
Summary: Hawai‘i’s isolation, paired with limited water resources, make the archipelago sensitive to droughts and other reductions in water availability. Gaining a better understanding of how original inhabitants of these islands dealt with droughts can provide broad insight into how society can prepare for, adapt to, and mitigate the impacts of drought across sectors. A project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC aims to survey Hawaiian drought knowledge from text information sources, including traditional texts, newspapers, and Hawaiian language chants, to understand how Indigenous communities framed and responded to drought stressors. This work will provide bio-cultural insights for resource managers to consider when building strategies to address drought impacts on the Hawaiian Islands moving forward.
Interested in partnering? Contact us!
<< Back to Pacific Islander Indigenous Communities Topic Page
We love highlighting our collaborations with Pacific Island Indigenous communities in our News section and our bi-weekly newsletter. Browse a selection of our news stories below and sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.
For millennia, Indigenous Pacific Islanders have stewarded natural resources to sustain their communities, traditional ways of life, and cultural identities. This close relationship with the natural world puts these communities at the forefront of climate change impacts. Drawing upon a strong history of adaptation and innovation, Indigenous communities are key collaborators on adaptation work within the Pacific Islands CASC (PI-CASC). The Pacific Islands CASC partners with Indigenous communities throughout Hawai’i and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands to better understand their specific vulnerability to climate change, to increase or assist with capacity to support adaptation planning, and to identify and address climate science needs.
Assessing Science Needs
Assessing the science needs of Indigenous communities is an important first step in developing and implementing effective climate adaptation strategies. Several PI-CASC projects worked with Indigenous and local practitioner communities to identify their current capacity to adapt to climate impacts and determine what science information is needed to build upon this capacity.
Project Example: Science Needs Assessment to Support Management of Loko Iʻa (Hawaiian Fishpond) Resources and Practices Critical to the Native Hawaiian Community
Summary: Loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishponds) are unique aquaculture systems in Hawaiʻi that are products of sustainable land stewardship and vary in structure given natural patterns in watersheds, nutrient cycles, and fish biology. Found nowhere else in the world, Loko iʻa practices are the result of over a thousand years of intergenerational knowledge, experimentation, and adaptation, and once produced over two million pounds of fish per year throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Yet modern changes in coastal, hydrological, and socio-cultural processes threaten the integrity of the fishponds. A project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC compiled research ideas and needs within Hawai‘i’s community of fishpond managers, landowners, and stewardship organizations to inform their adaptation of fishpond practices and enhance their community resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change.
Building Capacity
The CASCs support and enhance the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change. These efforts include supporting Indigenous land managers and communities in assessing their vulnerability to climate change, providing trainings on climate science and available data resources, and teaching data collection techniques so that Indigenous peoples can further quantify changes occurring on the landscape.
Project Example: Developing an Agroforestry Dashboard for the Marshall Islands
Summary: Agriculture and agroforestry (integrated crop and tree cultivation) are important activities for the Marshall Islands and other small islands to promote food security and human health. However, climate change is posing serious challenges for growers as they struggle to adapt to impacts such as saltwater intrusion, changing temperatures and precipitation patterns, and the spread of invasive species. In a project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC, researchers created a website displaying clear, actionable farming information to provide Marshallese agricultural producers with information and resources to help them adapt growing practices to changing climate conditions. Users can find information in English and Marshallese about seasonal rainfall, winds, and sea level as well as agricultural calendars based on El Niño/La Niña. The website also provides facts on traditional growing practices and timings, crop tolerances, and nutrition. This project was implemented in partnership with the Marshall Islands Ministry of Resources and Development and the College of the Marshall Islands.
Understanding the Effects of Climate Change on Culturally-Important Resources
The natural environment represents a valued source of food, medicine, materials for culturally important items, and connection to cultural identity for many Indigenous peoples. The Pacific Islands CASC partners with Indigenous communities to assess the impacts of climate change on food, water, and other culturally important resources to improve our understanding of how the abundance and distribution of these resources might shift over time and to identify priority management activities.
Project Example: The Future Resiliency of Mangrove Forests to Sea-Level Rise in the Western Pacific: Initiating a National Assessment Approach
Summary: Mangrove forests are a critical resource for local and Indigenous communities across the Pacific Islands, serving as habitat for native species, protection from coastal hazards, and important sources of food, building materials, and firewood. Indigenous, federal, and PI-CASC researchers and managers worked together to model how future sea level rise may affect mangrove forests in the Federated States of Micronesia. They found that healthy mangroves are likely to be resilient to low and moderate rates of sea level rise, but faster changes could result in the eventual loss of many mangrove forests on the islands. As they expand this work to other islands, the authors hope their results will help Micronesian communities identify and preserve mangrove forests resilient to sea-level rise and develop strategies to increase the resilience of mangroves across the islands.
Incorporating Traditional Knowledge into Adaptation Planning
Traditional Ecological Knowledge is accumulated through generations of lived experiences and cultural practices and beliefs created through intimate relationships with the environment. This can provide important information about the natural world that might not otherwise be available through Western science. Several Pacific Islands CASC projects have focused on helping gather and incorporate traditional and local knowledge into local climate adaptation planning.
Summary: Hawai‘i’s isolation, paired with limited water resources, make the archipelago sensitive to droughts and other reductions in water availability. Gaining a better understanding of how original inhabitants of these islands dealt with droughts can provide broad insight into how society can prepare for, adapt to, and mitigate the impacts of drought across sectors. A project supported by the Pacific Islands CASC aims to survey Hawaiian drought knowledge from text information sources, including traditional texts, newspapers, and Hawaiian language chants, to understand how Indigenous communities framed and responded to drought stressors. This work will provide bio-cultural insights for resource managers to consider when building strategies to address drought impacts on the Hawaiian Islands moving forward.
Interested in partnering? Contact us!
<< Back to Pacific Islander Indigenous Communities Topic Page
We love highlighting our collaborations with Pacific Island Indigenous communities in our News section and our bi-weekly newsletter. Browse a selection of our news stories below and sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.