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F. Gelves-Gómez and S. Brincat
of which continues to exist in socio-cultural and politico-legal forms, albeit now
cross-fertilised with other more recently introduced metaphysical ideas. Pre-colonial
iTaukei practices gave the highest respect to Nature that was linked across its
cosmology: in material terms of flora/fauna and the physicality of land and sea;
in social terms, such as ancestors, customs, morality, and the community itself; and
to spirits, theological principles, and creation stories. The primary examples are the
Fijian myths, especially of Dakuwaqa and Degei, that reveal the prominence of Nature
across this cosmology, including origin stories, ancestral migrations, and ongoing
protections of the community (Reed and Hames 1997). These are not just mythical
stories of the past but remain lived metaphysical traditions within community norms,
customs, and morality—despite colonisation, Christianisation, and modernisation.
For the iTaukei, as across most of Melanesia generally, there is no separation between
Nature and society, nor are either of these realms separate from spirit (Foale 2006).
The social realm does not have control or authority over the natural world either in
terms of its power or in normative or spiritual senses. Instead, the iTaukei are nested in
relations across and between humans and spirits and Nature. This relational ontology
as Poirier (2008) describes it, is fundamental for any effective climate change policy
and climate change action.
This relational ontology is exemplified in the lived concept of vanua that is clearly
visible in all daily practices of iTaukei from the structure of the community, to
agricultural cultivation, to storytelling. Whilst sometimes reduced in translation to
‘land’, vanua is at its core a metaphysical postulate. For Ravuvu (1987), it includes
common values and beliefs about life in the natural and spiritual worlds. For Kaplama
(2016, p. 161), it is at once cultural and philosophical, physical and metaphysical,
an “idea-object” that “constitutes not only the physical land on which Fijians live,
eat, dwell and regenerate but also their particular worldview” (Weltanschauung).
He summarises vanua as “the representation of the unity of earthly-physical and
spiritual-metaphysical life as well as the unity of all members of the vanua” (2016,
pp. 160–162). This encompasses socio-ecological environments (e.g. lands, oceans,
rivers) and the realms of spirits and life forces (e.g. spirits of the ancestors, deities)
“who are believed to have the power to affect, direct and sustain life in earthly realm”
(Kaplama 2016 pp. 160–162).
One of the keys to unveiling—and leveraging—the complexity of relations
between metaphysics, vanua and climate change policy and action, lies in acknowledging the interconnectedness of this cosmology. As Parke (2014, p. 35) explains,
there is no disjunction “between the realm of people and the realm of spirits. Spirits
and people shared a common world, of which the geographical component included
places with which both people and spirits were closely and directly associated.”
This is affirmed also by Nabobo-Baba (2006, p. 88) who observes that “the spiritual and the material worlds are interconnected; respect for people, resources, the
ancestors, and God, govern all important behaviours and values.” There is neither a
duality between realms, nor is either realm autonomous. At the metaphysical level
these form an interconnected whole. This cosmology includes relations of dependency and mutual recognition with Nature. That is, within the relational cosmology
of vanua is intersubjectivity and not just between human-human within bonds of
F. Gelves-Gómez and S. Brincat
of which continues to exist in socio-cultural and politico-legal forms, albeit now
cross-fertilised with other more recently introduced metaphysical ideas. Pre-colonial
iTaukei practices gave the highest respect to Nature that was linked across its
cosmology: in material terms of flora/fauna and the physicality of land and sea;
in social terms, such as ancestors, customs, morality, and the community itself; and
to spirits, theological principles, and creation stories. The primary examples are the
Fijian myths, especially of Dakuwaqa and Degei, that reveal the prominence of Nature
across this cosmology, including origin stories, ancestral migrations, and ongoing
protections of the community (Reed and Hames 1997). These are not just mythical
stories of the past but remain lived metaphysical traditions within community norms,
customs, and morality—despite colonisation, Christianisation, and modernisation.
For the iTaukei, as across most of Melanesia generally, there is no separation between
Nature and society, nor are either of these realms separate from spirit (Foale 2006).
The social realm does not have control or authority over the natural world either in
terms of its power or in normative or spiritual senses. Instead, the iTaukei are nested in
relations across and between humans and spirits and Nature. This relational ontology
as Poirier (2008) describes it, is fundamental for any effective climate change policy
and climate change action.
This relational ontology is exemplified in the lived concept of vanua that is clearly
visible in all daily practices of iTaukei from the structure of the community, to
agricultural cultivation, to storytelling. Whilst sometimes reduced in translation to
‘land’, vanua is at its core a metaphysical postulate. For Ravuvu (1987), it includes
common values and beliefs about life in the natural and spiritual worlds. For Kaplama
(2016, p. 161), it is at once cultural and philosophical, physical and metaphysical,
an “idea-object” that “constitutes not only the physical land on which Fijians live,
eat, dwell and regenerate but also their particular worldview” (Weltanschauung).
He summarises vanua as “the representation of the unity of earthly-physical and
spiritual-metaphysical life as well as the unity of all members of the vanua” (2016,
pp. 160–162). This encompasses socio-ecological environments (e.g. lands, oceans,
rivers) and the realms of spirits and life forces (e.g. spirits of the ancestors, deities)
“who are believed to have the power to affect, direct and sustain life in earthly realm”
(Kaplama 2016 pp. 160–162).
One of the keys to unveiling—and leveraging—the complexity of relations
between metaphysics, vanua and climate change policy and action, lies in acknowledging the interconnectedness of this cosmology. As Parke (2014, p. 35) explains,
there is no disjunction “between the realm of people and the realm of spirits. Spirits
and people shared a common world, of which the geographical component included
places with which both people and spirits were closely and directly associated.”
This is affirmed also by Nabobo-Baba (2006, p. 88) who observes that “the spiritual and the material worlds are interconnected; respect for people, resources, the
ancestors, and God, govern all important behaviours and values.” There is neither a
duality between realms, nor is either realm autonomous. At the metaphysical level
these form an interconnected whole. This cosmology includes relations of dependency and mutual recognition with Nature. That is, within the relational cosmology
of vanua is intersubjectivity and not just between human-human within bonds of