Pacific Journalists focus on traditional knowledge in climate change 

07/06/2021 By: Pacific Environment Weekly
Samoa

Journalists from across the Pacific focused on the role of traditional knowledge in reporting on climate change during a Media Masterclass on the sidelines of the Pacific Resilience Meeting 2021. The journalists are taking part in the Media Masterclass hosted by the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS) in partnership with The Pacific Community.

On Monday, two traditional knowledge experts from the Pacific region presented to the group to encourage Pacific media to highlight local and traditional knowledge in their reporting.

Siosina Lui, Traditional Knowledge Officer from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) highlighted the work conducted by her organization on linking traditional knowledge to the science of climate change. “Traditional knowledge is something we all know. We know about it from a very young age, we see and observe, our elders talk to us about and it becomes part of our bedtime stories,” Lui said.
“Combining it with science, we recognize that traditional knowledge, is in fact us speaking the same language as the science, but in a different dialect,” she said.

“It’s not just the Pacific, all over the world, there is global recognition there is potential in local and indigenous knowledge in holding some of the answers to the challenges that we face today.”

The Journalists also heard from Dr. Lucille Apis-Overhoff, Assistant Secretary, Climate Change Division of the Federated States of Micronesia. “

She shared her research and work on traditional knowledge and its connection to modern science and future planning approaches noting a methodology developed to mainstream the application of traditional knowledge in science.

The Journalists from Palau, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Zealand showed their appreciation for the two experts.

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Samoa

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