Climate change – scoping the issues

(vii) Pacific
Adaptive capacity and resilience in the Pacific is hampered by limited resources and lack of access to technology. However, the application of traditional knowledge and past experiences have been strengthened in various ways such as the implementation of traditional marine social institutions, as exemplified in the Ra’ui in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This is an effective conservation management tool and is improving coral reef health. Indigenous peoples’ ecological knowledge and customary sea tenure may is also integrated with marine and social science to conserve the bumphead parrotfish in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Changes in sea tenure, back to more traditional roles, have also occurred in Kiribati.³³

Traditional knowledge and practices are important to sustaining and managing the environment. In a coastal village on Vanua Levu, Fiji, the philosophy of vanua (which refers to the connection of people with the land through their ancestors and guardian spirits) has served as a guiding principle for the management and sustainable use of the rainforest, mangrove forest, coral reefs, and village gardens. Traditional knowledge serves as an important management framework in developing the skills for adaptive capacity in small island states. In other parts of the Pacific, indigenous peoples have built seawalls, provided a water drainage system and water tanks as well as banned tree clearing However, it is recognized in the Pacific that enhancing adaptative capacity involves more than local options which will only be successful if it is integrated with other strategies such as disaster preparation, land-use planning, environmental conservation and national plans for sustainable development³⁴

4. Normative Framework:


(i) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was an outcome of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The Convention on Climate Change sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Convention entered into force on 21 March 1994 and has been ratified by 191 countries.

Under the Convention, governments:

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  gather and share information on greenhouse gas emissions, national policies and best practices
  
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  launch national strategies for addressing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to expected impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries
  
• 
  cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change³⁵