A team of international researchers, led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), has announced the initial findings of a project to address the loss of cultures by measuring the impact that climate change has on communities. One finding from the joint project, titled Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss, or 3CL, is the practice of recognizing and including Indigenous customs in a country’s law, such as those of the Māori people of New Zealand.
The group of researchers, which features collaborators from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Arizona State University, Italy’s ISIA Urbino, and the University of French Polynesia, noted that the legislation is not only effective in protecting the Māori culture, but it also protects the environment, particularly the Whanganui River and Te Urewera National Park.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, other fading local cultural practices, such as the rāhui in French Polynesia, which is a traditional conservation practice that involves banning access to a space, or prohibiting the taking of a natural resource, in order to promote regeneration for the benefit of an entire community, are being integrated into contemporary legal frameworks in response to challenges brought on by the climate crisis. Supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Award Academic Research Fund, 3CL’s initial findings, which also covers countries in Southeast Asia, were published recently in the scientific peer-reviewed Comparative Law Journal of the Pacific in March. The study also aims to discuss how to safeguard communities worldwide against cultural loss from climate change, applying an approach that combines scientific, humanities, and legal studies with exhibition-making, data visualization, film, and photography.
“The project marks an important milestone in the emerging field of artistic research as a means of knowledge production. The topic of cultural loss and climate change is not entirely new, but understanding its full extent remains challenging. “The primary goal of 3CL is to tackle this lack of clarity using innovative and interdisciplinary scientific and artistic approaches. While it may not provide all the answers to these issues, it serves as a bridge to enhance our understanding and acknowledgment of the deeply interwoven connections between culture and climate change. In times of global uncertainty, it is crucial to seek common ground between the arts and the hard sciences that benefit both urban areas and remote territories.”
Their collaboration places, side-by-side, ground testimonies and cultural imprints left by the disaster, and satellite image maps of cyclone damage produced by Assoc Prof Yun. This novel composition of findings, leveling disparate but complementary layers of disaster response, will be presented as a mixed-media installation in a group exhibition to be held at the end of the three-year study, alongside other sub-inquiries of the project.
The project also includes mapping carried out by researchers at EOS, using satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise.
The project also includes mapping carried out by researchers at EOS, using satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise.