Impact of climate change on spirituality

Abstract

The Pacific is known as the most sensitive region to the impact of climate change on spirituality due to high Christian rates per capita. Using an explanatory design, here we studied 36 cases (n=36) of Fijians aged 25 to 55+ from 17 communities in Vitilevu, Fiji, and found that 50% (18) were affected, with which 22.2% (8) were negatively affected, 11.1% (4) were neither affected and 16.6% (6) were positively affected. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test shows that these differences were statistically significant: X2(5) = 29.000, p < 0.01. A Kendall’s tau-b shows, there is a strong positive correlation between climate change and impact on spirituality (τb = .747, p < 0.01). The same factors were explored qualitatively using an in-depth interview (n=3) and informant interview (n=1) and found spirituality to affect negatively and positively. These results inform further research and policy on the spiritual dimension of adaptation to climate change.