Changement climatique - Recherche française (avec laboratoires CNRS) - 2010-2015

In this paper we explore how the original inhabitants of New Caledonia, a French Pacific collectivity, view current climate change, explain its causes and predict climate modifications in the coming 10-, 30- or 100-year periods. We start with the presumption that the traditional worldview of indigenous habitants of New Caledonia allows the construction of a holistic view of climate change despite the western teachings based on fundamental analytical thinking in the French school system. Analysis of 61 semi-structured interviews with indigenous adults of New Caledonia demonstrates a universally held systemic view of climate change, in which the circular interaction between activities (including pollution of the air, surface water, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere of the Earth) is life threatening for all human beings.