Naan ne am Dede

"Your mommy, daddy, bubu, jimma, your country, and your President too -- we will all fight." 

Those are just some of the words still reverberating around the world from poet/activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner who opened the UN Climate Summit on behalf of all of the civil sector including the non-profit she and her cousins and friends founded in the Marshall Islands called JoJiKuM. 

Kathy addresses the UN Climate Summit, Sept. 23, 2014 on YouTube

Kathy's poem "Dear Matafele Peinam" to her daughter on YouTube

Statement and poem by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner at Climate Change Summit 2014

Milañ Loeak, daughter of the Marshall Islands

Earlier this month a group of Pacific island warriors paddled traditional canoes into the world's largest coal port in a blockade. One of the protesters was quietly spoken Milañ Loeak, daughter of the president of the Marshall Islands.

Facing a grim reality with confidence and not with despair

Also available here

Marshallese are the descendants of seafarers who seized the climatic opportunity some 2000 years ago–when sea levels dipped to present position–to entrench a civilization with distinct customs and life skills suited for human habitation in what is now called the Republic of the Marshal Islands (RMI). Looking towards the future with 0.6 – 1.2 meters of sea level rise projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by the end of this century, Marshallese face increasingly frequent threats of submergence, coastal flooding, and coastal erosion that will progressively render atoll environments uninhabitable.

This grim reality is quietly but notably alluded to in the United States 3rd National Climate Assessment released last May. It comes in the assessment’s 23rd chapter, in the form of a ‘key message’ to the 100,000 or so atoll inhabitants within the US-affiliated Pacific islands region. As foretold: Mounting threats to food and water security, infrastructure, and public health and safety are expected to lead to increasing human migration from low to high elevation islands and continental sites.

Work is now underway to better understand and anticipate the timing and spatial sequence of climate-induced migration, particularly given the exacerbating impacts of tropical cyclones and drought. This type of information will help not only Marshallese prepare for climate change, but also the host communities that are likeliest to receive them as climate migrants, so that collectively we can confront the tides of climate change with confidence and not with despair.

Homeowners Guides, Landowners Guides, and Atoll-Wide Frameworks, oh my!

Came across a 1990s Marshallese homeowners guide for new buildings to strengthen against wind damage during tropical cyclones. Maybe old news, but new to me! It is written in Marshallese with FEMA funding and Office of the Chief Secretary support. From what I can tell it covers wood framed buildings, emphasizes brackets at all joints, and use of high quality nailing work especially with aluminum sheeting.

It reminded me of a hazards community guide in development, courtesy of UH Sea Grant Program that "will cover specific topic areas, such as how to protect oneself in an emergency through disaster preparedness (i.e., evacuation planning and maintaining emergency supply kits), guidelines for identifying and mobilizing local assets, and best practices for developing ‘adaptation coalitions’ to facilitate locally-led, long-term, and flexible strategies for community resilience." Stay tuned!

This hazards community guide in turn also reminded me of the Landowners Shoreline Protection Guide released in 2013. It was prepared by UH Sea Grant with USAID/NOAA funding, and I think UNDP/OEPPC supported with funds as well. This Landowners Guide was largely translated by CMI Land Grant Program and at Marshallese Language Commission, and reformatted as a oral slideshow. The presentation was then tested in August 2013 by Karl with translation and logistical support by the Djarrot community resource management committee, and later presented to the Mayors Association in November 2013. 

And of course, to complete the circle of reminders, these self-help guides reminded me of another guide available to Marshallese seeking to build their resilience to climate impacts. It is the Reimaanlok Framework released in 2008. This guide targets municipal governments rather than homeowners/communities, and is accompanied by financing support, which all means that it requires facilitators to help implement.

So from the 1990s to the present day, some good guides and in culturally-sensitive formats people can absorb, kommol nan ro raar kobooj melele rot kein elap aer jiban armej in Majol. It would be great to see all these existing resources downloaded and shared widely, and even greater if presented orally (i.e. bwebwenato) via one-on-one or group discussions.

WE'RE NOT DROWNING, WE'RE FIGHTING

"...our island is who we are."

September 25, 2013 @ Columbia University in New York City

"In ways that the English language can not fully convey, our island is who we are. It is not just our culture, but our personal identity."
- His Excellency Christopher Jorebon Loeak, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

"[Migration] is an admittance of defeat, before we are actually defeated... To move us from our home is tantamount to asking us to eliminate a society from the face of the Earth. We're talking about the elimination of language, a way of life..."
- Honorable Tony deBrum, Minister-in-Assistance of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Intro to 2014

It is 2014, nearly 1 year after my last post. What a difference a year can make!

I am grateful for the opportunity to study this year with top climate researchers at Columbia University. Among many things, this is an opportunity to visit our embassy at the U.N. Mission and I look forward to that especially. Meanwhile, H.E. President Christopher J. Loeak and his delegation have already made their mark in the Big Apple... the subject of my next post.

Case study of Rita Reimaanlok

Western representations of "disappearing island nations" are often characterized by unhelpful alarmism and assumptions of inevitable resettlement. In recent years, climate vulnerability researchers in the Marshall Islands have devised communication strategies that present their findings while avoiding the negative connotations. In the community of Rita the residents have enacted an ambitious climate change resilience program to demonstrate the necessity and feasibility of culturally sensitive, community-based approaches to meeting the environmental challenges of the 21st century.