Prefiguring the Future: Climate Change Adaptation and Youth Diplomacy in Tuvalu

在ESRC博士后奖学金期间，我将以我的博士研究为基础，探索小岛屿国家气候变化的地缘政治。图瓦卢和基里巴斯等地势低洼的环礁国家平均海拔只有几米，面临着因海平面上升而被淹没的危险。然而，尽管它们经常被描述为“下沉的岛屿”，消失是不可避免的，但它们的未来仍然不确定。这些岛屿的环境变化引发了有关其未来主权、地缘政治和身份的问题。气候变化是低洼岛国外交政策的主要关注点，因为它们试图就全球减排进行谈判，并支持其国内适应气候变化。在这项研究中，我将根据在南太平洋六个月的实地考察和在波兰卡托维兹举行的2018年气候变化会议上两周的实地考察，制定和传播成果。采用多地点混合方法，我从56个半结构化访谈中收集了大量定性数据，参加并观察了两次会议的气候谈判，并观察了图瓦卢的研究和适应项目。我将利用这笔奖学金在这项研究的基础上撰写三篇期刊文章，并撰写一本书的提案和两本书的章节。我的第一篇文章，下沉的岛屿？《有争议地貌的垂直地缘政治》将探讨海平面上升如何被理解为对低洼环礁的威胁。我认为，最近关于垂直地缘政治和海洋地理学的文献可以帮助阐明关于岛屿社区未来的知识争议。我关注的是科学的争论，以及岛民如何使用无人机等新技术进行自己的研究。其次，在《执行替代气候未来：外交中的身体和情感》一文中，我将质疑在外交中如何构建不同的拯救地理。虽然岛屿社区经常被假定为需要“拯救”，但我想问的是，什么将被解释为“拯救”环礁岛屿。通过关注情绪，身体和表现之间的关系，我认为学术需要更多地关注身体作为气候外交的关键场所，使气候变化可见。我的第三篇文章题为《会议人种学作为一种方法论》，将借鉴我在2018年联合国气候变化大会和2019年太平洋岛屿论坛上的研究经验。我认为，民族志技术可以为气候变化的地缘政治和外交提供独特的见解。具体而言，会议提供了一个场所，以反映围绕视觉，表现和知识生产的政治地理外交辩论。我还将向RGS-IBG气候变化系列丛书提交一份出书建议，并撰写前两章。书名是《海平面上升和岛屿下沉：图瓦卢和基里巴斯气候变化的地缘政治》。我将在南太平洋停留五个星期，传播我的研究成果，并进行有限的进一步研究。我将在斐济和图瓦卢发表两次公开演讲，邀请主要利益攸关方，并在图瓦卢举办三次以青年外交为重点的讲习班。我将与南太平洋大学的合作伙伴合作，利用这些讲习班探索青年对气候外交的看法，并制作教材，进行气候谈判的模拟练习。基于这一过程，我将与罗西亚尼·拉吉博士共同撰写一篇关于青年参与气候行动主义和外交的文章。通过这个奖学金，我将通过在三个学术会议上发表演讲来扩大我的研究网络，向新的受众传播我的研究。我还将根据我的研究在英国的学校开办六个讲习班，以激励学生追求高等教育和研究事业。

During the ESRC Postdoctoral fellowship, I will build upon my doctoral research which explores the geopolitics of climate change in small island states. Low lying atoll states, such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, are on average on a few metres above sea level and at risk of being inundated from rising sea levels. However, although they are often represented as "sinking islands" whose disappearance is inevitable - their future remains uncertain. Environmental change in these islands raises questions about their future sovereignty, geopolitics, and identity. Climate change is the main concern of the foreign policy of low-lying island states, as they try to negotiate a global reduction in emissions and support for their domestic adaptation. In this fellowship, I will develop and disseminate outputs drawing on six months of fieldwork in the South Pacific and two weeks of fieldwork at the 2018 Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland. Using a multi-site and mixed methods approach, I collected large amounts of qualitative data from 56 semi-structured interviews, attending and observing climate negotiations at two conferences, and observing research and adaptation projects in Tuvalu. I will use this fellowship to write three journal articles based on this research as well as developing a book proposal and writing two book chapters.My first article, Sinking Islands? The Vertical Geopolitics of Contested Geomorphologies will explore how sea level rise is understood as a threat to low-lying atolls. I will argue that recent literature on vertical geopolitics and the geographies of the ocean can help shed light on the knowledge controversy over the future of island communities. I focus on the contestation of science and how islanders are using new technologies, such as drones, to produce their own research. Secondly, in the article Performing Alternative Climate Futures: Bodies and Emotions in Diplomacy, I will question how different geographies of salvation have been constructed within diplomacy. Whilst islands communities are often posited as in need of "saving", I will ask what will construe as the "saving" of atoll islands. Through a focus on the relationship between emotions, bodies and performance I will argue scholarship needs to pay greater attention to the body as a key site in climate diplomacy in making climate change visible. My third article is entitled Conference Ethnography as a Methodology and will draw on my research experiences at the UN Climate Change Conference in 2018 and the Pacific Islands Forum in 2019. I will argue that ethnographic techniques can provide unique insights into the geopolitics and diplomacy of climate change. Specifically, conferences provide a site to reflect on debates on diplomacy in political geography around visuality, performance and knowledge production.I will also submit a book proposal to the RGS-IBG book series on Climate Change and write the first two chapters. The title is Rising Seas and Sinking Islands: The Geopolitics of Climate Change in Tuvalu and Kiribati.I will spend five weeks in the South Pacific, to disseminate my research findings and conduct limited further research. I will deliver two public lectures in Fiji and Tuvalu, inviting key stakeholder and run three workshops focusing on youth diplomacy in Tuvalu. Working with partners from the University of the South Pacific, I will use these workshops to explore youth perceptions of climate diplomacy and create educational materials to run simulation exercises of climate negotiations. Based on this process, I will co-author an article with Dr Rosiani Lagi on youth engagement with climate activism and diplomacy.Through this fellowship, I will grow my research network by presenting at three academic conferences to disseminate my research to new audiences. I will also run six workshops in UK schools based on my research to inspire pupils to pursue higher education and research careers.