Case Study Summary

Fiji is a world leader in proactive climate adaptation, being among the first countries to develop national procedures to relocate communities due to climate change-related threats. Climate change-related relocation in Fiji has historically benefited mainly rural Indigenous iTaukei villages—culturally cohesive communities that operate within traditional ownership systems. Unfortunately, a substantial and growing number of Fijians live in informal settlements—makeshift homes which lack basic infrastructure and access to services. Informal settlements have been largely excluded from the country’s climate adaptation dialogues and relocation activities, despite being gravely at risk of climate impacts. Relocating informal settlement communities is highly challenging for a variety of reasons, including insecure land tenure, fragmented governance, and social vulnerability. 

Young people in Fiji stand at the intersection of traditional knowledge systems and globalized, digital flows of information about climate change. While climate change learning in Fiji is provided through school curricula, for young Fijians in informal settlements, the quality, relevance, and accessibility of climate learning is uneven. This means they may be more likely to learn about climate change through alternative pathways such as NGO programmes, digital media, family knowledge, and community discussions. 

This case study features arts- and dialogue-based methodologies of Indigenous Fijians, which privilege embodied, emotional, and visual ways of knowing. A series of workshops will be held with young people (aged 15 to 30 years) from Fiji’s informal settlements who have participated in climate change learning programmes offered by the Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding. The young people will be invited to create art that reflects their understandings, experiences, and future visions of climate change and (im)mobility. Each workshop will include Talanoa, a traditional Pacific method of open, relational storytelling and collective dialogue. The artworks, which will serve as primary data, will also be curated into a public exhibition that doubles as a dissemination tool and policy engagement strategy.

Through an analysis of visual art, Talanoa dialogues, participant observation, and interviews, the case study explores the participants’ lived experiences with climate change, and collaboratively envisioned futures. Co-constructed meanings of climate change, adaptation, and mobility will also be examined.

The research not only responds to urgent gaps in climate relocation and adaptation planning in Fiji. The case study findings are expected to have applicability to coastal cities worldwide, particularly those grappling with urban growth, climate-related migration, and informal settlements.