I S A B E L L A D C H E N G
Gardens of knowledge
Sustaining Life in Vanuatu
KATE STYLES AND ISABELLA CHENG
24 October 2018
Walking through the traditional Lenakel markets here on Tanna, there is an overwhelming sense of sustainability that you just don’t experience in an Australian city. Every vegetable, every fruit, every item for sale is placed on colourful cloth along the ground. Countless potatoes, carrots, and leafy green vegetables are either bound together or sitting in baskets made of pandan leaves. The signs showing the price of each bunch are written on small cardboard signs, signs that have clearly been re-used over and over. There is no plastic. There is no waste. There is simply a reliance on mother nature, on the earth. This reliance is not like that of Australia or many other Western countries; the people of Vanuatu do not take without thinking, without giving back, without protecting the earth as much as possible in their need to utilise its scarce resources. There is no excess here on Tanna. Only what is necessary is used, nothing is wasted.
Vanuatu is our neighbour in the Pacific, only three hours away from home (Brisbane) and is comprised of eighty-three small islands full of amazing parallels. Tanna is one of these beautiful islands that comes with its own rich history; the volcanic plains on its south-eastern side allude to the island’s active volcano, Mount Yasur. A rare and incredible sight to tourists remains an everyday occurrence for the residents living near its base. Mount Yasur covers part of Tanna in volcanic ash, endangering the health of those who live just moments away and causing disruption to the crop availability; a scarce resource already due to the environmental impacts of climate change.
Vanuatu ranks number one as the country most affected by climate change, enduring droughts, tropical cyclones, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Instead of migrating and using foreign aid, the resilient people of Vanuatu continue to use traditional practices to preserve food, build resilient communities, and find shelter in dense Banyon Trees. Vanuatu is home to gardens full of knowledge. There is a clear respect for nature and the environment here in Vanuatu which is scarcely seen in Australia. When people hear the term ‘climate change’ in Australia, the common response is scepticism and hostility; here in Vanuatu they are accepting, resilient, and invested in their livelihoods. It’s their life, their home, and they are not going anywhere.
Children play a traditional game in Louinio. Photo: Kate Styles.
As young children we’re told stories and fables, often told as bedtime stories; we think nothing of them once we close our eyes. In Vanuatu, they’re known as kastom stories; they have faith in the Magic Man to change the weather, and in their ancestors to protect their way of life. ‘Kastom’ refers to Vanuatu’s traditional culture and custom prior contact – before colonisation. These kastom stories are shared between families and friends to teach traditional values and to remind men, women, and children that where they grow up matters. This traditional knowledge is passed from one generation to the next, and not just as a bedtime story; it becomes a way of life. Stories teaching children to value themselves, take pride in where they come from, care for others and the land they live on.
Over breakfast, we gathered together and were greeted by a researcher with a beige hat and a beaming smile. His name is Francis Hickery, researcher and coordinator of the Traditional Resource Management Programme at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre. Francis travels across the country, teaching communities how to build strong canoes by sourcing natural materials. This process is free and sustainable as it does not require petrol – as we know the prices are skyrocketing, imagine the prices in a small island nation.
Francis Hickery builds a canoe from natural resources for local community. Photo: Isabella Cheng.
He describes how there are four primary traditions which combine to sustain livelihood in Vanuatu.
“There’s tenure, the chiefly Kastom; and [traditional] knowledge; and the chiefly systems [governance]. So, tenure, limited access – you own it and control it. There’s governance, the chiefly system;
“The other one is traditional knowledge, where do the fish go, what time do they come – seasonality, lunar phase, different species; when do the crabs come down and shake out their eggs into the sea.
“Same with the bush, how to cut a canoe, all the different wood to use. Gardens full of all that knowledge.”
The traditions and kastom reminiscent of the past are maintained in order to protect the legacy of Vanuatu peoples, such as drinking kava (a root containing a natural relaxant) at a nakamal (a traditional meeting place) to communicate with ancestors. Traditional knowledge and kastom not only play a significant role within the lives of the people of Vanuatu, they create an unwavering respect towards the environment and assist in climate change adaptation. The threat of losing traditional knowledge and kastom, however, looms over the country and its people like the early stages of a tropical cyclone. Kastom schools located across Vanuatu have the sole purpose of teaching and preserving traditional ecological knowledge, building on the ever-present link between the indigenous peoples of Vanuatu and the environment.
Dr Richard Jupuneyo Shing, a researcher, academic, and director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, has led an anthropological study focussing on the valuable role of kastom in Vanuatu. Dr Shing’s study with the Vanuatu Kalijoral Senta fieldworkers aims to preserve and document kastom and traditional knowledge, allowing them to be passed on to younger generations. After beginning in the 1950s and being described as one of the largest anthropological studies ever conducted, it is clear that kastom plays a significant role in the everyday lives of the people in Vanuatu and presents an opportunity for climate change adaptation.
Louinio local demonstrating how to make fire. Photo: Isabella Cheng.
The documentary opens with panning shots of cultural artefacts, buildings, and the fieldworkers. Traditional music accompanies each shot before interviews with the fieldworkers begin.
“My heart is in this work,” one of the fieldworkers notes as she makes tapa, a traditional bark cloth that is used for mats and clothing. She has been making tapa since she was a young girl and is now passing her knowledge and kastom down to her own children. Fieldworkers throughout the documentary note the significance of kastom in terms of the environment, even noting that the kastom stories being collected from this study are helping the Bureau of Meteorology understand climate change.
“I think knowledge is environmentally specific,” notes Dr Shing as the documentary concludes, “with climate change, there is a human understanding…the shift in the hot, cold, rain, and all that affects the growing patterns, how you plant and when to plant.” This knowledge which, according to archaeological evidence, has been held by the people of Vanuatu from as early as 1300 BCE somehow remains an untapped resource in terms of climate change adaptation. Foreign countries and aid organisations who come to Vanuatu to incorporate climate change efforts continue to utilise Western ideals and modern technology instead, to both understand and attempt to combat climate change. While there may not be one answer, there is little to no acknowledgement of kastom and traditional knowledge when forming these efforts for climate change adaptation in the Pacific region. In fact, these core aspects of Vanuatu culture are often not acknowledged at all. The question is, why?
After Tropical Cyclone Pam hit in 2015, many relief organisations came to Vanuatu’s aid. Red Cross and Australian Aid each offered their services to assist Vanuatu after the unforgiving tirade of TC Pam battered the country on an unparalleled scale. The issue with the help received, however, was the idea of ‘This is what you need from us’ took (and often continues to take) precedence over ‘What do you need from us?’. The limits of this top-down approach in the wake of natural disasters, which continue to worsen due to the impacts of climate change, are finally beginning to be understood by organisations like the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). David Loubser, the Vanuatu Country Manager of the Pacific Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) programme at SPREP is one of the key players trying to change that.
“The ‘bottom-up’ approach is going in to a lot of community meetings, a lot of listening to what they’ve got to say and what their issues are,” notes Mr Loubser, “we’ve got an opportunity to document their traditional knowledge…other places where I’ve worked, they’ve already lost that traditional knowledge because the elders who had that knowledge are now gone.”
Louinio women weave bags made from dried pandan leaves. Photo: Kate Styles.
“Here, there’s still an opportunity to build on [traditional knowledge] and I think that’s one of the key foci that we should be looking at,” emphasised Mr Loubser, “we’re very arrogant if we think we’re going to change people.” A poignant point regarding PEBACC’s role here in Vanuatu. It’s not enough, and it hasn’t been enough, to make changes according to Westernised views and expect it to be accepted without hesitation by the people of Vanuatu. There is a wealth of knowledge that has not been utilised to its full potential, and the PEBACC program aims to fix that.
“Working with them, with their traditional knowledge in setting up marine protected areas…we’ve got our reasons that we want to protect the coral reefs, we are seeing it in a holistic, systemic way; they’re seeing it as ‘that fish is my dinner tonight’,” Mr Loubser explains, bringing up a key issue surrounding climate change communication in Vanuatu and the Pacific region more broadly. Although many try, there is no denying climate change. The science behind rising sea levels, increasing earth and sea temperatures, and intense droughts (among others) is well-documented. As a particularly susceptible country to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change, Vanuatu has felt these effects more deeply than countries like Australia. Yet, despite the irrefutable scientific evidence surrounding climate change, the message is lost, ironically, often because of the science itself.
Climate change is not just about science; rising temperatures and sea levels do not often translate well to the majority. If something is not happening now, right in front of our eyes, the overall message fails to hit home for most people. As Dr Shing notes, there is a human understanding of climate change which also means there is a human impact. The focus should not only be placed on how the people of Vanuatu are affected by climate change, it should explore their resilience as well as their efforts to embody a truly sustainable lifestyle.
Three years on from TC Pam, Louinio’s agriculture flourishes. Photo: Kate Styles.
“The severity of cyclones is one…when foods get much bigger, riper, and more abundant…when people see that, they start preparing for cyclones before it even comes,” explains Dr Shing, “sometimes it’s even a week or two when they start getting stuff together, tying down their houses and making sure everything’s secure.” This understanding of the environment, especially in a country susceptible to natural disasters, shows the wealth of knowledge held by the people of Vanuatu.
“People living in that kind of environment will not have much of a problem adapting to it because they have that knowledge,” Dr Shing observes when asked about the role of kastom and traditional knowledge in the face of climate change. Although this traditional knowledge plays such a significant role in understanding the environment, and has the capability to be used in understanding and adapting to climate change, it is currently under-utilised by the majority of foreign aid organisations.
Dr Maria Tanya, a researcher from Monash University, is working on understanding just how diverse Vanuatu is and how the effects of climate change can be managed. She told a story about how droughts affected communities in Kenya and lead to cattle raiding – stealing livestock.
“Disillusions for climate change cannot be about making things accessible but it has to be ready with peace building mechanisms for communities and how they manage resource when there is a drought,” Dr Tanya explains. The people of Vanuatu have consistently shown their resilience in the face of climate change; from their commitment as the first country to ban plastic bags to their readiness when TC Pam tore through the country in 2015, kastom and traditional knowledge have played a key role in climate change adaptation already. Vanuatu’s traditional kastom has also created a circular economy in the process; banana, coconut, and pandan leaves can be used in many ways to preserve food in times of natural disaster, stalks can be used as straws, and plants for medicinal purposes.
University of the South Pacific (USP) is owned by twelve universities and hosts multiple programs towards developing sustainable lifestyles like those we see in the communities throughout Vanuatu. This progressive thinking of developing education programs to benefit the community and not oneself is astounding. When we spoke with one of USP’s students studying biochemistry and researching different plants and their practicality, he explained his determination came from his desire to help his country’s people.
“I’m researching different plants around Port Vila and what they do to benefit the community,” he explains.
Families in Vanuatu unite to build a bungalow out of natural resources. Photo: Isabella Cheng.
Beyond the city centre and university, there are small communities surrounding the land. These communities were all impacted by TC Pam and have worked tirelessly together, growing their own crops to feed their families and trading yams for coconuts. Most people live in bungalows made from natural resources and share the workload between men and women. There are many positives of people coming together to mobilize and support one another.
Vanuatu continues to be a leading example of how islands and communities with strong values can move mountains; collective individual action empowers people and gives them purpose, all while reducing carbon emissions to reduces our risks of catastrophic weather events. When we spoke with former Secretary General of Torba, Ketty Napwatt, she discussed her beliefs surrounding traditional values and how they teach people about legacy.
“They’ve told us how to survive in different situations during natural disasters, during social disasters, everything,” explains Ms Napwatt.
Discussing Climate Change with Ketty Napwatt.
The relationship between human activity and climate change has been confirmed and extensively studied by multiple scholars and researchers, yet many Australians continues to live in ignorance, divided by socio-political views. Our reluctance to positively progress by decreasing our consumption of fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal are putting not just Australia at risk but the world.
Ms Napwatt saw the damaging effects that inaction has on the environment, primarily from Australia’s reluctance to change their relationship with fossil fuels, when she visited Brisbane years ago. Queensland produces 35.8 million tonnes of carbon from deforestation alone, making our state the highest emitters of carbon emissions in Australia. Not only does this contribute to increasing earth’s temperature, it significantly impacts Queensland’s biodiversity which contributes to the reproductive success of fish. This affects Australian farmers who are at the front lines of climate change, experiencing extreme weather challenges such as drought. If Queensland continues to ignore the reality of climate change, the effects will be costly and hurt Australia as a whole, especially farmers and people living along the coastal areas.
“Some of the things I saw [in Brisbane] made my heart really sore. I was really happy [to] live where I live. It made me more determined to say in advance, ‘we don’t have to become like this,” notes an emotional Ms Napwatt. Sadly, in Vanuatu’s mainland, the Port Vila Harbour has banned all swimming and fishing due to bacteria from poor waste management and high levels of acidification following TC Pam.
Ketty Napwatt discusses climate change with journalist Isabella Cheng. Photo: Cathy Ross.
When reporting on climate change impacts throughout the Pacific region from an Australian perspective, the science often takes over and the human element is lost. Kastom and traditional ecological knowledge is not only under-utilised in this climate change communication, it is often lost all together. Journalists in Vanuatu face a tough choice; do they report on the effects of climate change consistently and run the risk of losing their audience? Or do they report on climate change sporadically when severe weather events such as TC Pam impact the country on an extraordinary scale?
Despite the importance of kastom and traditional knowledge throughout Vanuatu, its role in climate change communication is scarce for a reason. As a journalist for the Daily Post, Fern Napwatt is unnerved by the way in which kastom and traditional knowledge are rarely explored when it comes to reporting on climate change.
“We’re becoming more westernised now…climate change stories are mostly from SPREP or the UN. It’s more concentrated on the bigger organisations’ perspective…to actually sit down and find out about traditional knowledge on weather patterns – no,” Ms Napwatt explains. As such an important aspect of everyday life in Vanuatu, Ms Napwatt also believes kastom plays an important role in climate change adaptation.
“That’s what I believe in, I have to make time for my kids and for myself to go back and learn our tradition and culture…our kastom and tradition is losing at a very fast rate so we need to take measures to keep that all or we’ll just lose it,” Ms Napwatt notes.
It is clear that kastom and traditional knowledge have a valuable role in understanding and adapting to climate change. The Westernised focus of climate change will hopefully cease to be the norm, allowing our Pacific neighbours to showcase their resilience, their strength, their power.
