Paper short abstract:

Integrating local and academic knowledge for developing place-based (embedded) and culturally relevant (embodied) adaptation to climate change impacts requires new theoretical frameworks and methods. Are academic researchers ready for transdisciplinary research for local climate change adaptation?

Paper long abstract:

This paper critically reflects upon the skills academic researchers and universities need for transdisciplinary climate change adaptation research. Considering that effective local adaptation to climate change impacts must be place-based (embedded, geography) and relevant to the local community (culturally embodied, anthropology), climate change adaptation research requires collaboration between people dwelling in the place and academic researchers. The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (2019) strongly argues for the integration of local and indigenous knowledge in academic research in transformative adaptation. The methodological challenges, however, are non-trivial. What are the challenges academic researchers working on local climate change adaptation projects encounter? The practices of the University of the South Pacific with the studentship of island communities most vulnerable to climatic changes offer important insights. The paper draws on a case study of language documentation of indigenous knowledge of oceanic voyaging in Fiji and its relevance to local climate change adaptation initiatives: Uto ni Yalo Trust and other similar initiatives. It takes as a starting point a shared experience of an action, re-learning to sail, and experiments with techniques that capture tacit learning and the externalisation of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Data includes audio and video recordings, still images and written reflexive accounts, as well as interviews with Uto ni Yalo members, and the navigation training materials. This paper presents methodological suggestions on how to ensure a constructive start in transdisciplinary research that facilitates joint explicit articulation of shared concerns and research questions.