Page 36 - IB June July 2024

Opinion

WOKBAOT WETEM KALJA: CULTURE AND

DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN VANUATU

By Anna Naupa, Vanessa Organo and Elise Huffer

“Climate displacement of populations is the main
feature of our future. We have to be ready for it and
plan for it now.” So said Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate
Change, Ralph Regenvanu, when he took office in
2022.
The reality of any relocation in Vanuatu is that
it is mostly carried out in the context of kastom
(community-based culture), as 97% of land in Vanuatu
is under customary tenure. The state’s role in
managing disaster-induced displacement is nuanced
owing to its overlap with customary institutions serving
a similar function. Cultural systems must therefore be
effectively integrated if disaster risk management is to Ambae evacuation. Photo: IOM
be successful.
In Vanuatu, one of the nations most vulnerable which commits the Vanuatu Government to promote respect
to natural disasters, displacement is increasing as tropical for custom and traditional environmental knowledge.
cyclones get stronger and extreme rainfall events become The project identified the following key strategic areas that
more common. Volcanic eruptions also cause displacement. enhance the positive use of culture and kastom in disaster risk
For example, owing to the eruptions of the Manaro volcano and displacement management strategies.
between 2017 and 2019, the entire population of Ambae island First, customary institutions must be empowered to lead
was evacuated twice. On Ambrym and Tanna islands, volcanic discussions and cultural negotiations to host displaced
ashfalls have forced communities to migrate to commercial persons, including to support inter-generational recognition
centres or neighbouring islands. of assigned customary authority to incoming community
Communities’ responses to natural hazards were developed members. In Vanuatu’s context, while state commitment
over generations and are woven into cultural knowledge and to work with chiefs is well-received and maintained, there
practices. However, this traditional environmental knowledge is still considerable work to be done to maintain public
is now under duress owing to the increasing severity and understanding of the role of customary institutions in disaster-
frequency of weather events. The Chief Executive Officer related contexts, and therefore build inter-generational
of the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs (MNCC), respect for these approaches to humanitarian response and
Chief Jean-Pierre Tom, notes: “There is an urgency to peacemaking.
document traditional knowledge as it relates to disaster Second, greater public awareness and appreciation for
risk management. This also extends to issues of traditional traditional environmental knowledge and cultural systems is
architecture, food preservation techniques, inter-community essential to ride the tide of rapid cultural change. Embedding
food sharing, temporary relocation sites based on family traditional environmental knowledge across the school
networks, and anything that enhances community resilience in curriculum maximises exposure to traditional knowledge
times of disaster.” systems that underpin community resilience in times of
From 2021 to 2024, the International Organization for disaster and relocation.
Migration (IOM), in partnership with the MNCC and the Vanuatu Targeted socialisation programs with key policymakers build
Cultural Centre, delivered an applied research project called a deeper, more comprehensive appreciation of the value of
Wokbaot Wetem Kalja (moving with culture) to help Vanuatu cultural systems for the implementation of state activities,
Government stakeholders better understand culture-centric where sensitive management and leadership enables space
strategies in displacement management. With a focus on the for cultural knowledge holders to work in tandem with state
experiences of the double evacuations of Ambae island, the policymakers.
project identified ways for government and humanitarian Third, the government must play an enabling role for
agencies to support and promote the role of customary cultural mapping and incentivise relocation away from
institutions so as to foster culturally sensitive approaches hazardous areas.
that maintain social cohesion and traditional environmental Cultural mapping underpins any role that the state plays
knowledge even when communities are relocated away from in displacement to ensure that selected responses are
their ancestral lands. This work expands on the 2018 National
Climate Change and Disaster-Induced Displacement Policy, Continued on page 39

36 Islands Business, June/July 2024