Forgesson, Sarah Louise; (2024) Future of island heritage in the face of the climate crisis: the challenges and opportunities of heritage management in the South Pacific. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

	Text Forgesson-S-16125732-Thesis-Future of Island Heritage in the face of the climate crisis.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 March 2025. Download (30MB)
	Text Forgesson-S-16125732-Thesis Appendices.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 March 2025. Download (164MB)

Abstract

rightly dominate discourse across sectors, with the heritage discipline not only grappling with increasing impacts on heritage landscapes, but also how to best advocate for its integral role in mobilising effective climate mitigation and adaption strategies. However, amongst this rise of interest, little recognition or resources have been focused in helping facilitate a voice of resilience, or platform of response for Māori and the wider Indigenous community in the South Pacific. This is despite Indigenous being used as the poster child for environmental impact and climate urgency, heralding a unique and often victimising narrative that focuses predominately on loss. This thesis is therefore a direct response to this clear research gap, exploring the impact of the climate crisis on Indigenous heritage landscapes with collaborative work undertaken alongside three coastal iwi across Aotearoa/New Zealand. Their associated heritage landscapes were analysed in detail, utilising a combination of literature reviews and fieldwork to develop the most appropriate and representative management strategies. Critically, this research engages with Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies to ensure that Te Ao Māori worldviews, knowledge, practices, and values play a critical part in framing the research approach and outputs. Through the case studies it works through ideas of resilience, adaptation, and connection, specifically finding means to retain, re-establish and re-think heritage connection and management. The research also raises significant longstanding tension and lack of dialogue between heritage bodies, governmental bodies, and local communities, with a fundamental misrepresentation and mismanagement of local values and community aspirations. Much of this is also hindered through a complex history brought about by colonisation, with the climate crisis often seen as secondary in light of more pressing threats, yielding a critical look at the entangled complexity of climate responses and realities. The outcome of the research highlights how current approaches to heritage management during the climate crisis need to consider more critically how inclusive sustainable heritage management strategies can and should be achieved. Specifically it suggests that the greatest opportunities for successful climate related heritage management can come from rich and coordinated collaborations with nature-based solutions and projects. It is also suggested that narratives of inevitable loss and extensive damage are more dangerous than motivating for Indigenous communities, who show a greater level of resilience and adaptation than currently presented in the global media. Instead, their heritage plays an important role in helping mobilise new, creative and collaborative means of rethinking and reimagining our future climate legacies and heritage management.

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