UNESCO is expanding efforts to protect living heritage across Small Island Developing States (SIDS), arguing that traditional knowledge systems are increasingly essential to disaster preparedness and climate resilience as island nations face rising environmental threats.

From the Pacific to the Caribbean, communities are using inherited practices such as cyclone-resistant housing, traditional medicine, oral storytelling, food preservation and weaving not only to preserve cultural identity, but also to respond to increasingly severe climate pressures including rising sea levels, volcanic activity, floods, cyclones and displacement.

UNESCO said these practices, often passed down through generations, represent both vulnerable cultural assets and practical tools for survival, particularly in remote communities with limited access to formal infrastructure.

Small Island Developing States account for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet remain among the most exposed to the consequences of climate change because of their geography, dependence on natural resources and vulnerability to extreme weather events.

In response, UNESCO, with financial support from the Government of Japan, launched a regional project involving communities in Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Belize and The Bahamas to strengthen the role of intangible cultural heritage in disaster risk reduction.

The project focused on documenting community practices, supporting transmission of traditional knowledge and connecting local communities with disaster management authorities so cultural knowledge could be integrated into formal resilience planning.

UNESCO said the approach reflects a broader recognition that living heritage can serve as both a safeguard and a response mechanism during emergencies.On Vanuatu’s Tanna Island, for example, community member Warau Frederick described traditional cyclone shelter construction as both cultural preservation and physical protection.

Vanuatu is among the countries most exposed to climate-related disasters in the Pacific, regularly facing cyclones, volcanic eruptions and displacement pressures. Communities there continue to rely on long-established building methods using local materials and inherited techniques to construct shelters capable of withstanding severe weather.

Frederick said he learned the process from his uncle and chose to build a shelter for his family before cyclone season, reflecting how traditional architecture remains embedded in everyday preparedness.Traditional weaving also remains economically significant in the same communities.

Eva Namri, a community member on Tanna Island and a knowledge bearer of traditional weaving, said the practice serves as a financial safety net during periods of hardship.“Weaving brings a great deal of income to my family,” Namri said. “It supports us whenever we face financial difficulties.

The biggest challenge for weaving comes from natural disasters.”UNESCO said such examples show how cultural practices operate simultaneously as economic resilience tools and heritage systems, particularly where formal income opportunities are limited.

Across the Caribbean, communities participating in the project focused on preserving food systems and traditional medicine as part of local resilience strategies.

In Fiji, where flooding and environmental changes increasingly threaten food security, communities relied on traditional fishing, farming methods and collective cooperation to maintain access to food.

In Vanuatu, people facing repeated displacement from volcanic activity and cyclones used early warning knowledge, gardening systems and traditional housing practices to reduce vulnerability.In Tonga, communities displaced by a volcanic eruption and tsunami emphasized the importance of oral traditions and craft practices not only for cultural continuity but also for mental well-being and livelihood recovery after disaster.

UNESCO said the project also created longer-term institutional foundations by identifying community members to serve as Intangible Cultural Heritage ambassadors, responsible for helping sustain and transmit traditional practices beyond the duration of the program.These local ambassadors were tasked with ensuring knowledge transfer, particularly in communities facing relocation or demographic shifts that risk interrupting intergenerational learning.

For many participants, the initiative also had direct economic implications.Feleti Akauola, a community member from Atata in Tonga, said relocation after disaster created uncertainty over how families could rebuild sustainable livelihoods.

He said guidance from Sitiveni Fehoko, a community trainer and intangible cultural heritage ambassador, helped communities think about traditional knowledge not only as preservation, but as a source of income and long-term stability.

“One of the key aspects of the project was that it strengthened me in many ways,” Akauola said. “It explained ways we could earn a living, especially for those of us who had been relocated. This was very encouraging, and it gave me and my wife the idea to start our work and make a living for our family.”UNESCO said this illustrates how cultural safeguarding increasingly intersects with economic adaptation, particularly in island states where environmental shocks can quickly translate into displacement, unemployment and food insecurity

.The agency has argued that disaster planning should not treat heritage solely as something to be protected after crisis, but as an active component of prevention and recovery strategies.As climate risks intensify globally, UNESCO said living heritage offers continuity that extends beyond formal emergency responses, helping communities retain identity while adapting to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

The organization said the project also raised awareness of vulnerable traditions that may otherwise disappear as migration, urbanization and repeated disasters disrupt local transmission systems.Even in cases of displacement, UNESCO found that communities continued practicing oral traditions, crafts and local environmental knowledge, reinforcing the adaptability of living heritage under pressure.

The initiative aligns with broader United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to climate resilience, cultural sustainability and inclusive development, particularly in regions where environmental vulnerability and cultural preservation are closely linked.UNESCO said future efforts will continue to focus on integrating heritage protection into national disaster reduction policies while supporting local ownership of cultural safeguarding.

For Small Island Developing States, the agency said, resilience increasingly depends not only on infrastructure and funding, but also on whether communities can retain the knowledge systems that have helped them survive for generations.

The quake was at a depth of 8 km (4.97 miles), EMSC said.

Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry

Wellington (AP) — Fiji’s leader indicated Wednesday his nation is reconsidering its security ties with China at a time that geopolitical tensions in the Pacific are rising.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Fiji was reviewing a contentious police cooperation agreement it signed with China in 2011 that has allowed Chinese police officers to be stationed in Fiji.

At one point during a news conference in Wellington with his New Zealand counterpart Chris Hipkins, Rabuka appeared to go one step further by referring to Fiji’s “discontinuation” of the agreement.

“If our systems and our values differ, what cooperation can we get from them?” Rabuka said, referring to China.

“We need to look at that again before we decide whether we go back to it, or if we continue the way that we have in the past by cooperating with those who have similar democratic values and systems.”

Rabuka said Fiji was finalizing a defense agreement with New Zealand, which it expected to complete next week. He said the new agreement would allow Fiji’s military to build its capacity and skill and be exposed to new technologies.

He said there has been a lot of geopolitical focus on the region, but that Pacific countries only worry about militarization “when diplomacy and common neighborly discussions fail.”

Fiji expanded its policing agreement with China in 2013 to include some military cooperation, but Rabuka on Wednesday didn’t directly address that arrangement.

China has previously said the security agreements have benefited Fiji and it hopes to continue the collaboration.

Rabuka won a tense election in December over Frank Bainimarama, who had held power in Fiji for 16 years. Rabuka has moved since then to distance himself from some of Bainimarama’s policies, including moves to forge closer ties with China.

Meanwhile, Bainimarama and former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho, who oversaw the China policing agreement, now face criminal charges of abusing their power, as does former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who was widely seen as Bainimarama’s right-hand man.

China and the U.S. have increased their competition for influence in the Pacific in recent years.

Last month the U.S. signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea, which is strategically located just north of Australia. The U.S. has also opened embassies in Solomon Islands and Tonga, and revived Peace Corps volunteer efforts.

Last year, Solomon Islands signed its own security pact with China, a move that raised alarm throughout the Pacific.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake Friday was near the Loyalty Islands. It was 37 kilometers (23 miles) deep.

That is southwest of Fiji, north of New Zealand and east of Australia.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) above tides were possible for Vanuatu.

Smaller waves were possible for Fiji, New Caledonia, Kiribati and New Zealand.

Debt has spiralled since 2019, as the tourism-dependent economy was hit by border closures against COVID-19 and tropical storms that lashed the Pacific island nation.

Despite authorities’ spending restraint during the pandemic, however, the sharp contraction in output drove up public spending as a share of GDP, the bank said in a report.

“Levels of (debt at) around 90% (of GDP) leave the country with limited buffers to address future shocks and highlight the scale and urgency of the fiscal consolidation required,” the bank said.

The comment came in a statement released along with the World Bank’s Fiji Public Expenditure Report 2023, sought by the government.

“This situation, combined with emerging global economic risks, threatens Fiji’s macro-fiscal stability, an essential foundation for sustainable economic and social development,” the report said.

Fiji’s government says its biggest lenders are the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, though it has outstanding loans from Chinese, Japanese and European Union lending institutions.

The World Bank report comes just as Fiji’s new government strives to get it back on a path of fiscal sustainability, said Finance Minister Biman Prasad, who is also deputy prime minister.

“The findings … will serve as an important consideration and input in this entire process of fiscal consolidation,” he said.

Sovereign debt is in focus after a renewed push to overcome the logjams followed a “roundtable” at the recent IMF spring meetings in Washington.

That prompted pledges from the Fund and World Bank to share assessments of countries’ troubles more quickly, provide more low-interest and grant funding, and set stricter timeframes on restructurings.