NEWS

02/03/2017

Reconnaissance Survey in Marshall Islands for IRCI’s project on natural disasters (February 2017)

IRCI’s research team comprised of Yoko Nojima (Associate Fellow, IRCI) and Huy Nguyen (Technical specialist, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition – Vietnam) visited Majuro, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands during 13-17 February 2017 for its project “Preliminary Research on ICH Safeguarding and Disaster-Risk Management in the Asia-Pacific Region.”

For this project, IRCI has extended its geographical focus to the Pacific islands, and the team’s visit to the Marshall Islands follows earlier reconnaissance in Vanuatu and Fiji. The Marshall Islands have suffered from a severe drought situation caused by the ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscillation) until recently, and has been also experiencing coastal erosion and inundation, affecting people’s livelihood. The IRCI team had fruitful discussions with related government sections and NGOs based in Majuro regarding the recent disaster events, current situation of disaster-risk management, and the potential roles of intangible cultural heritage in this context.

Contact Yoko Nojima (IRCI) for further inquiries.

 

  • Visit to the Historic Preservation Office (HPO)

  • Traditional pit-cultivation of taro utilising underground freshwater susceptible to drought and storm surge (Laura, Majuro Atoll)

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