How Pacifika Arts Reveal Interconnected Losses for People and Place in a Changing Climate

Rachel Clissold, Ellie Furlong, Karen E. McNamara (), Ross Westoby and Anita Latai-Niusulu
Additional contact information
Rachel Clissold: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Ellie Furlong: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Karen E. McNamara: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Ross Westoby: Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane 4222, Australia
Anita Latai-Niusulu: Department of Social Sciences, National University of Samoa, Apia P.O. Box 2279, Samoa

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: The loss and damage transpiring because of anthropogenic climate change is a confronting reality, especially for frontline communities of the Pacific Islands. Understandings and assessments of loss and damage often fall short on coverage of intangible and noneconomic dimensions, such as losses to culture, place, Indigenous knowledge, and biodiversity, among others. In responding to this knowledge deficit, this paper turns its attention to the burgeoning Pacifika arts community because creative and cultural expressions have been critical avenues for sharing experiences, navigating loss, and exploring grief throughout history, including in the context of climate-driven loss. We analyse a series of Pacifika spoken, written, and visual items ( n = 44), including visual art, poetry, song, film, documentary, and theatre, to identify the key categories and themes of noneconomic loss and damage (NELD) that emerge, better understand their nature, indicate their levels of prominence, reflect on them in relation to existing NELD frameworks and categories, and identify strategies for processing and coping. Our findings add to existing understandings of losses to territory, cultural heritage, human mobility, and health while also putting forward identity and agency as additional prominent NELD types. We emphasise that loss occurs within an interconnected and complex system that is centred on the critical relationships between people and their land, and greater attention must be paid to this interconnectivity as the foundation of identity and wellbeing. These perspectives enable stakeholders to better integrate experiences of NELD into future planning efforts so that they are not skewed (i.e., considering only economic loss and damage) or discounting people’s experiences. This will be critical for holistically building greater resilience and for communication in international fora and climate negotiations.

Keywords: agency; arts; climate change; healing; identity; noneconomic loss and damage; Pacific Islands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/4/925/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/4/925/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:4:p:925-:d:1128289

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().