An assessment of Indigenous Environmental Knowledge (IEK) in the Pacific Region to improve resilience to environmental change

Abstract

The Pacific has been aptly described as the last frontier1 for human settlement. Some 25,0002 islands lie scattered over the world's largest ocean whose area, covering about 28% of the global surface, is larger than the total land area of the world3. Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), fall into three sub-regions based on ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences: Melanesia lies to the west of the great ocean, Micronesia is north of Melanesia, and Polynesia is in the central and southeast region bounded by Hawaii in the north, New Zealand in the southwest corner and Easter Island lying thousands of miles to the east.