Relational resilience and ontological shift: climate adaptation as Indigenous heritage practice in Tuvalu and Kiribati

This study argues that in low-lying atoll nations like Tuvalu and Kiribati, climate adaptation constitutes an ontological praxis of heritage. Through an ethnographic lens centred on Tuvalu’s Atua-centric cosmology and Kiribati’s Mauri philosophy, it contrasts community-driven relational adaptation with UNESCO’s heritage-focused preservationist model. The research shows how islanders actively renegotiate connections between humans, ancestors, and more-than-human worlds through ritual innovation, knowledge transmission, and ecological dialogue – a process termed adaptive relational reontologization. Consequently, Indigenous survival ethics are recast as radical heritage practice, centred on sustaining obligations across generations and species. The study concludes that global heritage governance must move beyond material conservation to centre Indigenous relational ontologies, thereby reframing climate adaptation as an ongoing, living practice of heritage-making.