Climate change impacts disproportionately low-income, coastal populations, and Pacific Small Island States (PSIS) are among the most vulnerable populations. Culture also plays a significant role in vulnerability and response to climate change. However, due to focus on agricultural and aquacultural impacts, the feminine voice is absent in most discussions of climate change adaptation. Currently, little is known about gender- and role-specific understanding of climate change. There is an urgent need to hear from women representing different roles within society, to understand their vulnerabilities to forecast changes, and their ideas of how communities and families can adapt. We hypothesized that perceptions of and adaptations to climate change would vary significantly by gender role.
Understanding vulnerability is an interdisciplinary issue, connecting biological, social, and physical sciences. Such an understanding requires an alignment between quantitative hazards, forecasting, ecosystem understanding, and qualitative social and psychological structures. To represent the female voice of PSIS, we conducted 30 long-form interviews in Savaii, Samoa of 15 men and 15 women that represented roles such as high chiefs, healers, fishermen, farmers, and women’s committee members. We asked each person about the changes they perceived in the environment, what they believed had caused them, and how each change was affecting their personal roles in the village. The interviews were recorded on video cameras and translated by students in our lab.
Results/Conclusions
Beyond the strong cultural influence of Christianity, we observed strong gender- and role-based understanding of the impacts of climate change. Men were primarily concerned with marine management, while women mentioned the decline of medicinal plants, reflecting roles of the respondents: fishing is a predominantly male role, and traditional healers are female. Storms/related dangers and financial hardship were important to both women and men, but with unique perspectives: reduced agricultural productivity was mentioned by farmers, as they observed in their fields, but also by women who worked as housekeepers or traditional healers, who observed it in their gardens or while gathering wild plants.
Responses to environmental changes also varied by role. Only the chiefs mentioned raising public awareness, reflecting their role as community leaders. Only men mentioned marine and coastal management. Only women responded that climate change was the will of God, that the village should do nothing to prevent it. These results highlighted the strong connection between gender, societal roles, and perceptions of climate change. Understanding these differences will inform research and shape policy in the Pacific region.