Relational ontologies and weaving of knowledge to cope with climate change in Melanesia?
Tracks
Tully 2
| Monday, July 27, 2026 |
| 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM |
Speaker
Dr Catherine Sabinot
Permanent Researcher In Ethnoecology
IRD
Relational ontologies and weaving of knowledge to cope with climate change in Melanesia?
ISE Congress 2026 Abstract
This paper examines how communities, particularly farmers in the Pacific, rely on the ‘Time-Environment’ diptych to organise agricultural activities and share practices and knowledge in a changing climate. Drawing on the concept of relational ontologies, the paper aims to demonstrate that seasonal markers and the way local communities rely on fauna, flora, lunar cycles, winds and ocean currents to organise food production are not only bioindicators but also valuable/strong nodes of connection between humans, non-humans and places – often referred to as ‘signs’ in vernacular languages.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, the presentation will analyse how biocultural signs guide agricultural decisions (choice of varieties, planting, maintenance and harvesting periods), while ensuring the circulation of practices and knowledge on land and at sea between generations through situated learning, narratives, gestures and ways of ‘reading’ the environment.
Nowadays, climate change is disrupting these arrangements with shifts in rainfall patterns, changes in phenology and increased unpredictability. The presentation will examine how stakeholders are adapting by combining or renegotiating/reorienting their schedules and combining local innovations and scientific contributions such as weather forecasts, participatory mechanisms. It will also explore recent changes in certain public policies that address these dynamics.
In line with the general theme of ISE 2026 ‘Indigenous and Local Knowledge Connections: Honouring Heritage and Innovation’ and the sub-themes “Two-Way Science – Rangers and Researchers Projects” (Climate Change, Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge in Natural Resource Management) and “Social” (Health and Well-Being) this paper argues that biocultural calendars are both tools for resource management and spaces for transmitting relational values. It will also discuss that the potential of integrating this evolving knowledge into adaptation policies to stimulate transformative change involving shifts in values, practices, and structures.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, the presentation will analyse how biocultural signs guide agricultural decisions (choice of varieties, planting, maintenance and harvesting periods), while ensuring the circulation of practices and knowledge on land and at sea between generations through situated learning, narratives, gestures and ways of ‘reading’ the environment.
Nowadays, climate change is disrupting these arrangements with shifts in rainfall patterns, changes in phenology and increased unpredictability. The presentation will examine how stakeholders are adapting by combining or renegotiating/reorienting their schedules and combining local innovations and scientific contributions such as weather forecasts, participatory mechanisms. It will also explore recent changes in certain public policies that address these dynamics.
In line with the general theme of ISE 2026 ‘Indigenous and Local Knowledge Connections: Honouring Heritage and Innovation’ and the sub-themes “Two-Way Science – Rangers and Researchers Projects” (Climate Change, Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge in Natural Resource Management) and “Social” (Health and Well-Being) this paper argues that biocultural calendars are both tools for resource management and spaces for transmitting relational values. It will also discuss that the potential of integrating this evolving knowledge into adaptation policies to stimulate transformative change involving shifts in values, practices, and structures.
Biography
Catherine Sabinot is a marine anthropologist and ethnoecologist who has worked at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development in Noumea for 13 years. Her work focuses on the evolution of indigenous and local knowledge, practices and norms, and their relationship with scientific knowledge in the production of environmental policies. For the past four years, she has been an expert at the IPBES, participating as a lead author in the assessment on transformative change.
