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A Report on a Pilot Study Conducted on Moch Island, Mortlock Islands, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia January, 2008
By
Rosita Henry, William Jeffery and Christine Pam
Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology
School of Arts and Social Sciences
James Cook University

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Tracy Meter, the Director of the Chuuk Historic Preservation Office, Doropio Marar (Historical Research Officer, HPO) and Samson Manuel, the Govenor’s Representative for the Mortlocks, for facilitating this Pilot Study and travelling with us to Moch. We wish especially to thank Doropio Marar for introducing us to his home island community and supporting this study through his research assistance. We also thank the community on Moch for hosting our pilot study and especially Doropio’s extended family on Moch for their generous hospitality.


Executive Summary
This study was conducted in order to establish research processes and protocols for the investigation of the impact of climate variability and change on cultural heritage in the coral atoll islands of Micronesia. The study was undertaken with the support of a small grant from the School of Arts and social Sciences, James Cook University, Australia, and in-kind support from the Historic Preservation Office, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.
The research team spent four days on Moch Island in the Mortlocks, conducting formal interviews and participating in informal discussions with people about their experiences of climatic events and the changes they had observed on the island in relation to such events. The geographical location and stories associated with the culturally important places identified by people as being affected by climatic events were recorded and a preliminary map was produced.
The mapping exercise revealed Moch to be a cultural web of places constituting a land/seascape steeped in heritage significance. Analysis of interviews with key research participants demonstrated that people are deeply concerned about the potential loss of their home islands, significant places and place-based knowledge due to climate change. The research team was urged to return to Moch to document, record and safely store cultural knowledge for the sake of future generations. It was concluded that there was a need for a longer term study on Moch. In addition, comparative studies on heritage values in other parts of the State, which are more immediately affected by sea-level rise, are recommended as urgently required.

Introduction
The key aims of the pilot study were to develop research protocols and methods that would enable further research on:
•
The concept of global warming and how it is being taken up and interpreted at the local level by people living on coral islands at the forefront of climate change
•
Local knowledge and empirical experiences of climate variability and climate change
•
The social, cultural and political resources that may be available to small island States, and their residents, in the face of climate change.
The impetus for the study was a short reconnaissance fieldtrip made by Dr Rosita Henry in November 2006, to Weno, the capital of Chuuk State, where she met with Chuukese Government officers and local residents in order to gain an understanding of concerns they may have regarding climate change and its social impacts. Dr Henry met with Mr Tracy Meter, Director, Historic Preservation Office (HPO), Mr Ismael Mikel, Executive Director, Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Mr Joe Konno, former Director of EPA, Mr Eric Paul, Disaster Coordinator, Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA). In addition she conducted interviews with four men from the outer islands of Chuuk state. All expressed deep concern regarding the impacts of climate change on their ways of life and on what the future might bring for them.
Mr Tracy Meter (Director, HPO) expressed interest in facilitating research that would investigate how climate change might impact upon historic sites and on cultural heritage more generally. In this context, Mr Doropio Marar, historical research officer (HPO), suggested that a research team return to Chuuk to conduct such a study on his home island of Moch. As a response to this invitation, it was decided to source some funds for a research team from James Cook University to return to Chuuk to conduct a pilot study on Moch, with the idea of developing research protocols, processes and a plan for research in other parts of Chuuk State and the Federated States of Micronesia more broadly.

Here some information about our island* Moch Island*