8 Signs of “The End Times”: Perspectives on Climate …
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drought and severe frosts in the Highlands (Bourke et al. 2016). The drought and
frost led to widespread crop failure and affected water availability (Bourke et al.
2016), causing a food crisis and loss of income (Gwatirisa et al. 2017). Interspersed
with El Niño induced drought, many parts of PNG have experienced extreme rainfall
events linked to La Niña events contributing to landslides and flooding (Cobon et al.
2016).
Understandings of Environmental Change in PNG
As mentioned above, PNG is extraordinarily diverse, linguistically, culturally, and
environmentally. Critics of international climate change discourse argue that engagement with this diversity, especially with cultural diversity, is lacking (Jacka 2009;
Bryant-Tokalau 2018). This can marginalise ontological frameworks that differ from
western scientific knowledge systems (Jupiter 2017; Foale 2004).
A key ontological difference noted in the literature on Melanesian conceptions
of the environment, is “the Melanesian perception of humans as part of nature
versus western views of people apart from nature, termed the nature-culture dualism” (Jupiter 2017, p. 139), something noted in other studies (Nunn et al. 2016).
In contrast to “this dualistic opposition, which allows people to see themselves as
separate from and thereby able to control (and protect) the natural world” (Foale
2006, p. 131), the Melanesian worldview is described “as holistic…in relationship
between the natural world, living creatures and persons; with illness seen as a disruption of the harmony of these relationships…” (Vallance 2012, p. 4). While climate
change discourse “makes claims about the consequences of industrial capitalism on
processes of various kinds in nature” (Lipset 2011, p. 20), traditional belief systems
in Melanesian societies are more likely to attribute “the health and abundance of
natural resources to the spirit realm” (Foale 2004, pp. 2–3). For example, an ethnographic study among Porgerans in the highlands of PNG reveal understandings of
the cause of climate change as “not due to their own impacts on the environment, or
the global increase of greenhouse gases, but rather as a societal breakdown between
themselves and the rituals oriented toward powerful spirits that control the cosmos”
(Jacka 2009, p. 206). Differences in worldview can thus lead to dissimilar emphases
on the contribution of human activities to environmental degradation, as well as the
efficacy of human interventions (Foale 2004; Nunn and Kumar 2019).
The most recent PNG census data available shows that the majority of citizens
identify as Christians
1 (96%) (National Statistics Office 2011). Given the influence
of religious narratives in contemporary PNG society (Gibbs 2005), a number of
anthropologists have sought to document the ways in which Christianity is now
“integrating with traditional resource management practices” (Jacka 2010, p. 24).
For example, in an ethnographic study among the Urapmin in the West Sepik of
1 Major denominations include, Roman Catholic (26%), Evangelical Lutheran (18%), and Seventh
Day Adventist (National Statistical Office 2011, p. 33).
143
drought and severe frosts in the Highlands (Bourke et al. 2016). The drought and
frost led to widespread crop failure and affected water availability (Bourke et al.
2016), causing a food crisis and loss of income (Gwatirisa et al. 2017). Interspersed
with El Niño induced drought, many parts of PNG have experienced extreme rainfall
events linked to La Niña events contributing to landslides and flooding (Cobon et al.
2016).
Understandings of Environmental Change in PNG
As mentioned above, PNG is extraordinarily diverse, linguistically, culturally, and
environmentally. Critics of international climate change discourse argue that engagement with this diversity, especially with cultural diversity, is lacking (Jacka 2009;
Bryant-Tokalau 2018). This can marginalise ontological frameworks that differ from
western scientific knowledge systems (Jupiter 2017; Foale 2004).
A key ontological difference noted in the literature on Melanesian conceptions
of the environment, is “the Melanesian perception of humans as part of nature
versus western views of people apart from nature, termed the nature-culture dualism” (Jupiter 2017, p. 139), something noted in other studies (Nunn et al. 2016).
In contrast to “this dualistic opposition, which allows people to see themselves as
separate from and thereby able to control (and protect) the natural world” (Foale
2006, p. 131), the Melanesian worldview is described “as holistic…in relationship
between the natural world, living creatures and persons; with illness seen as a disruption of the harmony of these relationships…” (Vallance 2012, p. 4). While climate
change discourse “makes claims about the consequences of industrial capitalism on
processes of various kinds in nature” (Lipset 2011, p. 20), traditional belief systems
in Melanesian societies are more likely to attribute “the health and abundance of
natural resources to the spirit realm” (Foale 2004, pp. 2–3). For example, an ethnographic study among Porgerans in the highlands of PNG reveal understandings of
the cause of climate change as “not due to their own impacts on the environment, or
the global increase of greenhouse gases, but rather as a societal breakdown between
themselves and the rituals oriented toward powerful spirits that control the cosmos”
(Jacka 2009, p. 206). Differences in worldview can thus lead to dissimilar emphases
on the contribution of human activities to environmental degradation, as well as the
efficacy of human interventions (Foale 2004; Nunn and Kumar 2019).
The most recent PNG census data available shows that the majority of citizens
identify as Christians
1 (96%) (National Statistics Office 2011). Given the influence
of religious narratives in contemporary PNG society (Gibbs 2005), a number of
anthropologists have sought to document the ways in which Christianity is now
“integrating with traditional resource management practices” (Jacka 2010, p. 24).
For example, in an ethnographic study among the Urapmin in the West Sepik of
1 Major denominations include, Roman Catholic (26%), Evangelical Lutheran (18%), and Seventh
Day Adventist (National Statistical Office 2011, p. 33).