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K. McKenna and L. T. Yakam
across four geographically distinct regions: Islands, Momase, Southern, and Highlands. PNG is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world with over 800
indigenous languages. Madang Province, where this study was based, is the country’s
most linguistically diverse (Sullivan et al. 2003).
For some decades, PNG has been experiencing numerous environmental variations attributable to a changing climate. Since 1943 and 1962 respectively, annual
and half-year air temperatures at Port Moresby and Kavieng have been warming
(BOM and CSIRO 2014). Since 1993, the sea level around the islands of PNG has
risen by approximately 7 mm per year, around double the global average (Becker
et al. 2012). Due to sea level rise and other climate related pressures, communities
in small atolls, such as in the Carteret Islands of Bougainville, have commenced outmigration (Luetz and Havea 2018). Climate model projections for PNG also suggest
the continuation of El Niño and La Niña events, rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, and sea-level rise (BOM and
CSIRO 2014).
In spite of increased international attention to the ways in which climate change
is affecting Pacific Island Countries (Leal Filho et al. 2020), critics rightly argue
that “indigenous peoples are either scarcely mentioned or completely absent from
any discussions regarding their perspectives and knowledge of climate change”
(Jacka 2009, p. 197). One consequence of this exclusion is the side-lining of ontological frameworks that differ from western scientific knowledge systems (Foale
2004) which “has given rise to a plethora of ineffective and unsustainable adaptation
responses…” (Luetz and Nunn 2020, p. 297). Ethnographic studies among specific
language groups in PNG, for example, illustrate variations in conceptions of the environment, as well as explanations for environmental change that differ from those
regarded as global/universal in many western contexts (Jacka 2009, 2010; Lipset
2011). Similar conclusions have come from studies looking at culturally-grounded
concepts of climate change in Micronesia (Rudiak-Gould 2014).
Less is known about interpretations of climate change in urban centres in Pacific
Island nations, places that can bring together communities with contrasting worldviews in one space, such as marketplaces. This chapter reports the results of an
innovative study that attempted to record and analyse syncretic views of this kind,
motivated by the likelihood that such views will increasingly become those that
dominate in the future in many Pacific Island Countries. In an attempt to engage with
perspectives and understand knowledge of climate change in a town setting in PNG,
the researchers conducted qualitative interviews with market sellers at the Madang
Town Market, Madang Province. Market sellers are prioritized in this analysis as they
represent a segment of the population likely to experience negative impacts of climate
change arising from their dependence on ecosystem services for their livelihood.
Three research questions guided the analysis:
• What changes have market sellers at the Madang Town Market observed in the
environment?
• How do market sellers believe these changes are impacting fruit and vegetable
production?
K. McKenna and L. T. Yakam
across four geographically distinct regions: Islands, Momase, Southern, and Highlands. PNG is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world with over 800
indigenous languages. Madang Province, where this study was based, is the country’s
most linguistically diverse (Sullivan et al. 2003).
For some decades, PNG has been experiencing numerous environmental variations attributable to a changing climate. Since 1943 and 1962 respectively, annual
and half-year air temperatures at Port Moresby and Kavieng have been warming
(BOM and CSIRO 2014). Since 1993, the sea level around the islands of PNG has
risen by approximately 7 mm per year, around double the global average (Becker
et al. 2012). Due to sea level rise and other climate related pressures, communities
in small atolls, such as in the Carteret Islands of Bougainville, have commenced outmigration (Luetz and Havea 2018). Climate model projections for PNG also suggest
the continuation of El Niño and La Niña events, rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, and sea-level rise (BOM and
CSIRO 2014).
In spite of increased international attention to the ways in which climate change
is affecting Pacific Island Countries (Leal Filho et al. 2020), critics rightly argue
that “indigenous peoples are either scarcely mentioned or completely absent from
any discussions regarding their perspectives and knowledge of climate change”
(Jacka 2009, p. 197). One consequence of this exclusion is the side-lining of ontological frameworks that differ from western scientific knowledge systems (Foale
2004) which “has given rise to a plethora of ineffective and unsustainable adaptation
responses…” (Luetz and Nunn 2020, p. 297). Ethnographic studies among specific
language groups in PNG, for example, illustrate variations in conceptions of the environment, as well as explanations for environmental change that differ from those
regarded as global/universal in many western contexts (Jacka 2009, 2010; Lipset
2011). Similar conclusions have come from studies looking at culturally-grounded
concepts of climate change in Micronesia (Rudiak-Gould 2014).
Less is known about interpretations of climate change in urban centres in Pacific
Island nations, places that can bring together communities with contrasting worldviews in one space, such as marketplaces. This chapter reports the results of an
innovative study that attempted to record and analyse syncretic views of this kind,
motivated by the likelihood that such views will increasingly become those that
dominate in the future in many Pacific Island Countries. In an attempt to engage with
perspectives and understand knowledge of climate change in a town setting in PNG,
the researchers conducted qualitative interviews with market sellers at the Madang
Town Market, Madang Province. Market sellers are prioritized in this analysis as they
represent a segment of the population likely to experience negative impacts of climate
change arising from their dependence on ecosystem services for their livelihood.
Three research questions guided the analysis:
• What changes have market sellers at the Madang Town Market observed in the
environment?
• How do market sellers believe these changes are impacting fruit and vegetable
production?