Climate change is posing a serious threat to Pacific Islands, as they are extremely vulnerable to its effects. However, in the Pacific for hundreds of years the knowledge systems are rich in information regarding adapting to climate change. That knowledge has grown during the last decade on the vulnerabilities of Pacific Island countries to the effects of climate change. For many centuries, people have survived on their islands. A Tongan concept of valuing children mentioned above” Reefs of today is an island of tomorrow” is essential to the culture and tradition of Tongan for a brighter and better Tonga. Pacific education ministries perceived that students in years 7 and 8 are an appropriate time to introduce to the science of Climate Change. (SCP,2013).
In the context of climate change education, indigenous traditional knowledge plays an important role. Children can be taught at young age however, the can be found boring in the classroom as it is new to their knowledge. The government can intervene here and create an interesting ways to approach this issue to make it more interesting hence cultural and traditional oriented. For instance, in the past years the Ministry of Tourism in Tonga have been hosted a competition for the Primary and Secondary Schools in terms of arts, poetry, traditional dancing and singing completion with a theme of ‘How to combat climate change’. The prices were very attractive as it was in thousands Tongan Pa’anga (dollar). This competition was very effective as the entire primary and secondary schools in Tonga participated. The objectives and learning outcomes of this competition was achieved as it was to broaden the awareness of climate change in Tonga especially young children.
Reference:
SPC (2013). Learning about climate change in the Pacific way A guide for Pacific teachers Tonga. Retrieved from https://www.spc.int/sites/default/files/wordpresscontent/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tonga.compressed.pdf