Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The Influence of Science Communication on Indigenous Climate Change Perception: Theoretical and Practical Implications

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Citizens receive information on global climate change through both observation of local impacts and reception of climate science. This article presents a quantitative analysis of the interplay of these two sources of information in an indigenous population: residents of Majuro, the capital city of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. While Majuro residents’ reports of local environmental change are partly the result of firsthand observation of changing conditions, survey data robustly demonstrates that environmental change reports are also strongly influenced by awareness of climate science; scientific awareness is a better predictor of environmental change reports than exposure to the environment. This provides a rare quantitative demonstration of the openness of ‘local’ knowledge to foreign scientific information; challenges research methodologies for the study of indigenous climate change perceptions that exclude the role of scientific communication; and suggests a novel, and overlooked, rationale for the dissemination of climate science to frontline communities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 92.1 % of the country’s citizens have entirely Marshallese (indigenous) ancestry, while 5.9 % have mixed Marshallese and non-Marshallese ancestry (CIA World Factbook 2013).

  2. 97 individuals answered this question, with 130 total mentions of information sources.

  3. Names have been changed.

  4. An alternate explanation is that elders report more environmental change not because they have observed more change but because they are more preoccupied, for other reasons, with societal change. But interview and ethnographic evidence, which I do not have the space to review here, would seem to refute this, as young and old are equally convinced of pervasive change. Moreover, if older people were reporting environmental change merely out of a prior conviction in change, one would expect their reports to be resolute, yet scattered and inconsistent; instead, we find that people’s reports are remarkably consistent.

References

  • Agrawal, A. (1995). Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge. Development and Change 26(3): 413–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Government (2011). Current and future climate of the Marshall Islands. International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative/Pacific Climate Change Science Program/Australian AID/Australian Bureau of Meteorology/Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency/CSIRO/Marshall Islands National Weather Service. http://www.cawcr.gov.au/projects/PCCSP/pdf/8_PCCSP_Marshall_Islands_8pp.pdf. Accessed 13 June 2012.

  • Barnett, J., and Adger, W. N. (2003). Climate Dangers and Atoll Countries. Climatic Change 61: 321–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barsh, R. L. (2000). Taking Indigenous Science Seriously. In Bocking, S. (ed.), Biodiversity in Canada: Ecology, Ideas and Action. Broadview, Peterborough, pp. 153–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bravo, M. T. (2009). Voices from the Sea Ice: The Reception of Climate Impact Narratives. Journal of Historical Geography 35(2): 256–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byg, A., and Salick, J. (2009). Local Perspectives on a Global Phenomenon: Climate Change in Eastern Tibetan Villages. Global Environmental Change 19(2): 156–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherrington, M. (2008). Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change. Cultural Survival Quarterly 32(2): 10–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, J. (2003). Losing Ground? Tuvalu, the Greenhouse Effect and the Garbage Can. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 44(2): 89–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crate, S. A. (2008). Gone the Bull of Winter? Grappling with the Cultural Implications of and Anthropology’s Role(s) in Global Climate Change. Current Anthropology 49(4): 569–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crate, S. A., and Nuttall, M. (eds.) (2009). Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, M. (2012). Shoreline Changes on an Urban atoll in the Central Pacific Ocean: Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands. Journal of Coastal Research 279(1): 11–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedom Report (2009). International religious freedom report 2009. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127278.htm. Accessed 14 February 2011.

  • Fulsås, N. (2007). What did the Weather Forecast do to Fishermen, and What did Fishermen do to the Weather Forecast? Acta Borealis 24(1): 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González, L. E., and da Silveira, P. (1997). The People’s Attitudes Towards Global Environmental Phenomena: A Case Study. Climate Research 9: 95–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock, R. K. (2009). From Local to Global: Perceptions and Realities of Environmental Change Among Kalahari San. In Crate, S. A., and Nuttall, M. (eds.), Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 250–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, M. (2009). Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy. Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Iskandar, J., and Ellen, R. (2007). Innovation, ‘Hybrid’ Knowledge and the Conservation of Relict Rainforest in Upland Banten. In Ellen, R. (ed.), Modern Crises and Traditional Strategies: Local Ecological Knowledge in Island Southeast Asia. Berghahn, Oxford, pp. 133–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacka, J. (2009). Global Averages, Local Extremes: The Subtleties and Complexities of Climate Change in Papua New Guinea. In Crate, S. A., and Nuttall, M. (eds.), Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 197–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kench, P., Owen, S., Resture, A., Ford, M., Trevor, D., Fowler, S., Langrine, J., et al. (2011). Improving understanding of local-scale vulnerability in atoll island countries: Developing capacity to improve in-country approaches and research. Final report to the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research. http://www.apn-gcr.org/resources/archive/files/c54841d9632f99c90e37bb8e8fc208e6.pdf. Accessed 24 January 2013.

  • Krupnik, I., and Jolly, D. (eds). (2002). The Earth is Faster Now: Indigenous Observations of Arctic Environmental Change. Arctic Research Consortium of the United States & Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution.

  • Kupperman, K. (1982). The Puzzle of the American Climate in the Early Colonial Period. The American Historical Review 87(5): 1262–1289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lahsen, M. (2007). Trust through Participation? Problems of Knowledge in Climate Decision-Making. In Pettenger, M. E. (ed.), The Social Construction of Climate Change: Power, Knowledge, Norms, Discourses. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 173–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leduc, T. B. (2011). Climate, Culture, Change: Inuit and Western Dialogues with a Warming North. University of Ottawa Press.

  • Marin, A., and Berkes, F. (2013). Local people’s Accounts of Climate Change: To What Extent are They Influenced by the Media? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 4(1): 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marino, E., and Schweitzer, P. (2009). Talking and Not Talking About Climate Change in Northwestern Alaska. In Crate, S. A., and Nuttall, M. (eds.), Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 209–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, S., Weber, E. U., Orlove, B., Leiserowitz, A., Krantz, D., Roncoli, C., and Phillips, J. (2007). Communication and Mental Processes: Experiential and Analytic Processing of Uncertain Climate Information. Global Environmental Change 17(1): 47–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortreux, C., and Barnett, J. (2009). Climate Change, Migration and Adaptation in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Global Environmental Change 19(1): 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moser, S. C. (2010). Communicating Climate Change: History, Challenges, Process and Future Directions. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 1: 31–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuttall, M. (2009). Living in a World of Movement: Human Resilience to Environmental Instability in Greenland. In Crate, S. A., and Nuttall, M. (eds.), Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 292–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petheram, L., Zander, K. K., Campbell, B. M., High, C., and Stacey, N. (2010). ‘Strange changes’: Indigenous Perspectives of Climate Change and Adaptation in NE Arnhem Land (Australia). Global Environmental Change 20(4): 681–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudiak-Gould, P. (2011). Climate Change and Anthropology: The Importance of Reception Studies. Anthropology Today 27(2): 9–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spennemann, D. H. R. (1996). Non-Traditional Settlement Patterns and Typhoon Hazard on Contemporary Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Environmental Management 20(3): 337–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez, P., and Patt, A. G. (2004). Caution, Cognition, and Credibility: The Risks of Climate Forecast Application. Risk Decision and Policy 9: 75–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swim, J., Clayton, S., Doherty, T., Gifford, R., Howard, G., Reser, J., Stern, P., and Weber, E. U. (2009). Psychology and global climate change: Addressing a multi-faceted phenomenon and set of challenges. http://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-change-booklet.pdf. Accessed 29 February 2012.

  • Weber, E. U. (1997). Perception and Expectation of Climate Change: Precondition for Economic and Technological Adaptation. In Bazerman, M. H. (ed.), Environment, Ethics, and Behavior: The Psychology of Environmental Valuation and Degradation. New Lexington Press, San Francisco, pp. 314–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, C. T., and Vásquez-León, M. (2003). Testing farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Variability: A Case Study from the Sulphur Springs Valley, Arizona. In Orlove, B., and Strauss, S. (eds.), Weather, Climate, Culture: Building Anthropological Bridges from Past to Future. Berg, Oxford, pp. 233–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • CIA World Factbook (2013). Marshall Islands. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rm.html. Accessed 18 February 2013.

  • BBC World Service Trust (2010). Africa Talks Climate research report: Executive summary. http://africatalksclimate.com/sites/default/files/01-Executive%20Summary.pdf. Accessed 23 February 2011.

  • Xue, C. (2001). Coastal Erosion and Management of Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands. Journal of Coastal Research 17(4): 909–918.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges Josepha Maddison and Iroij Mike Kabua for granting fieldwork permission; the many Marshall Islanders who agreed to participate; and Vahid Ravaghi and Nassim Mojaverian for assistance with quantitative analysis. Various phases of research were supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Dr. Alun Hughes; Oxford University; All Souls College, Oxford; St. Hugh’s College, Oxford; Jesus College, Oxford; and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Rudiak-Gould.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rudiak-Gould, P. The Influence of Science Communication on Indigenous Climate Change Perception: Theoretical and Practical Implications. Hum Ecol 42, 75–86 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9605-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9605-9

Keywords

Navigation