By Kate Morioka, Research Project Manager
Indigenous knowledge of the weather is very important in determining the beginning of new seasons so people know when to prepare, plant and harvest their gardens. In Solomon Islands, people use seasonal calendars passed on from their parents and grandparents to predict cyclones, wind changes and start of dry and wet seasons.
However the seasonal calendars which people in the Solomons have used for generations are proving to be no longer effective due to the changes in weather patterns caused by climate change. ActionAid’s research in Siarana on the island of Ghella Pile in Central Province and Aisko in Central Malaita indicated that women and men are puzzled as to why the weather is so different to what their parents and grandparents have taught them.
In Siarana, women and men recalled how their parents used to tell them about the timing of Ara (easterly wind ) and Koburu (westerly wind). The Ara usually began around the month of June and the Koburu in December. “But now the winds come at any time,” one person explained.
Another person in Siarana told us about how people in the village used to sing songs about the weather to help them remember the timing of new seasons. However today the songs no longer match what is happening to the climate.
Similarly in Aisiko, people are confused as to why the weather is so different to the seasonal calendar used by their parents and why they are no longer able to tell the timing of the correct seasons.
“Our seasonal calendar dependeds on everything from the fruiting of nuts and flowers to animal activity, the moon, the wind, the rain and the sun. But now the seasons are all mixed up and we can no longer rely on our seasonal calendar,” as one man from Aisiko explained.
“I don’t teach my own children about the seasonal calendar because it is not reliable anymore. It can no longer tell the weather because it is unpredictable.”
