Small island states (SISs), small island developing states (SIDs), and sub-national island jurisdictions (SNIJs) are all characterized by small size, remoteness and exposure to climate change, such as sea-level rise and extreme events, impacting their economies and societies. The EU-based ECO-Heritages project investigates the role that cultural heritage plays in advancing local economic development and social and environmental resilience in Malta (SIS), Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles (SIDs) and the French island territories of Réunion and Mayotte (SNIJs).
The project will combine anthropology, heritage, environment, development and island studies to integrate institutional heritagization processes and traditional / indigenous knowledge systems in actions for sustainable futures. ECO-Heritages is hosted by the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta - a centre of excellence in islands and small states studies.
Being exposed to negative external shocks (mostly due to their small land size and high ratio of coastal areas over total landmass) small islands and archipelagos became crucial case studies to understand global climate scenarios. While climate change impacts cultural and natural contexts, heritage management and traditional/indigenous knowledge and culture may provide solutions through traditionally established cultural systems. These may result in the integration of ecosystems preservation and social development in a more desirable manner.
While there has been a significant development on island and small states studies and their economic, social and environmental challenges, there is a need to converge these findings with heritage studies and their relevance for social wellbeing, ecological sustainability and economic development in the face of looming climate change scenarios.
Objective
The main objective of this research is to examine the role of heritage and vernacular knowledge systems in economic, environmental and social sustainability, through comparative case-studies, focusing natural and cultural heritagization processes across the chosen sites.
The project develops an innovative interdisciplinary methodology. It contributes, on one hand (with ethnography and cultural studies) to development and sustainability theories and, on the other hand, brings economic and social resilience analyses to heritage and culture studies.
The results of this research are aimed to inform operational programmes in the context of SIS, SIDS and SNIJs, with the objective of promoting the integration of heritagization processes and traditional/indigenous knowledge systems in actions for sustainable futures. Furthermore, this research addresses the pressing challenge, at a European and global level, of developing expertise to promote effective climate change adaptation addressing, among others, social, economic and ecosystem dimensions.
