Chapter 5
Gods, Spirits and Natural Hazards:
Ontologies and Epistemologies of Natural
Hazards and Climate Change in Kiribati
and Papua New Guinea
Guy Jackson and Annah Piggott-McKellar
Abstract Pacific Island countries are already experiencing severe impacts from
climate change and these will likely increase in the future. In response, a plethora
of climate change adaptation projects have been implemented across the region with
the aim of assisting those most affected. Yet these projects have largely failed to
reduce vulnerability to climate change in a meaningful way. This chapter addresses a
commonly overlooked, but argued here to be crucial, reason for failure: how religion
shapes local perspectives of climate change, and the lack of acknowledgement with
these by external actors. We address this gap through exploring the changing ontological and epistemological understandings of climate change and hazards among
two distinct cultural groups from the Pacific Islands—the Bedamuni of Western
Province, Papua New Guinea and the I-Kiribati. To structure our diachronic investigation, we explore the drivers of socio-cultural change across three periods: precontact, colonial and missionary, and contemporary. A complex story of interaction
with exogenous ideas and syncretism is portrayed within both societies. Yet today
we find the Bedamuni continuing to draw heavily from traditional belief systems,
especially the presence and influence of spirits, to explain hazards while simultaneously being devout Christians. Despite noting changes in weather and seasonality, Bedamuni people have had little exposure to global climate change discourses.
Conversely, the I-Kiribati, as the occupants of one of the countries most exposed
to climate change, have had relatively high exposure to scientific climate change
discourses. Notwithstanding this, I-Kiribati mostly draw from Christian beliefs to
explain natural phenomena while maintaining traditional beliefs in gods, spirits and
magic. Like others in the Pacific, these cultures have unique histories, ontologies
and epistemologies so, for climate change adaptation to be successful in the region,
governments, agencies, and NGOs must acknowledge that no two places are alike
G. Jackson (B)
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD,
Australia
e-mail: guy.jackson@LUCSUS.lu.se
Lund University Center for Sustainability Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
A. Piggott-McKellar
School of Geography, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_5
81
Gods, Spirits and Natural Hazards:
Ontologies and Epistemologies of Natural
Hazards and Climate Change in Kiribati
and Papua New Guinea
Guy Jackson and Annah Piggott-McKellar
Abstract Pacific Island countries are already experiencing severe impacts from
climate change and these will likely increase in the future. In response, a plethora
of climate change adaptation projects have been implemented across the region with
the aim of assisting those most affected. Yet these projects have largely failed to
reduce vulnerability to climate change in a meaningful way. This chapter addresses a
commonly overlooked, but argued here to be crucial, reason for failure: how religion
shapes local perspectives of climate change, and the lack of acknowledgement with
these by external actors. We address this gap through exploring the changing ontological and epistemological understandings of climate change and hazards among
two distinct cultural groups from the Pacific Islands—the Bedamuni of Western
Province, Papua New Guinea and the I-Kiribati. To structure our diachronic investigation, we explore the drivers of socio-cultural change across three periods: precontact, colonial and missionary, and contemporary. A complex story of interaction
with exogenous ideas and syncretism is portrayed within both societies. Yet today
we find the Bedamuni continuing to draw heavily from traditional belief systems,
especially the presence and influence of spirits, to explain hazards while simultaneously being devout Christians. Despite noting changes in weather and seasonality, Bedamuni people have had little exposure to global climate change discourses.
Conversely, the I-Kiribati, as the occupants of one of the countries most exposed
to climate change, have had relatively high exposure to scientific climate change
discourses. Notwithstanding this, I-Kiribati mostly draw from Christian beliefs to
explain natural phenomena while maintaining traditional beliefs in gods, spirits and
magic. Like others in the Pacific, these cultures have unique histories, ontologies
and epistemologies so, for climate change adaptation to be successful in the region,
governments, agencies, and NGOs must acknowledge that no two places are alike
G. Jackson (B)
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD,
Australia
e-mail: guy.jackson@LUCSUS.lu.se
Lund University Center for Sustainability Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
A. Piggott-McKellar
School of Geography, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_5
81