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The legend of Maui who fished the atoll of Manihiki is a popular folklore that the people of Manihiki like to depic t, sing and dance about as a reminder of their beginnings. The people of Rakahanga and Mani hiki tell stories when Rakahanga was the main settlement and people travelled to and fro between the two islands mainly to forage for food on Manihiki. However, this practice was discouraged by the missionaries because canoes were getting lost at sea, and so they encouraged the people to settle permanently on the two islands.

Climate change has been the topic of much research in the last few decades, however information on its impacts — particularly on remote small island nations — remain scant. Yet, through centuries of observation of their natural environment, Pacific islanders hold a wealth of knowledge of the sky, land, and sea. Sadly, with a shift towards a more western lifestyle on some of these islands in recent decades, this local knowledge is at risk of being lost because it is not passed down to younger generations; recognizing this, Climate Change Cook Islands of the Office of the Prime Minister conducted a questionnaire survey on most of the Cook Islands from January to April 2014. The aim of the survey was to collect information on changes in various biological and physical systems over people’s lifetimes to understand climate variability in this region.

A video presented at the 4th Multipartite Review (MPR) Meeting and Technical and Operational Workshop for the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project in Nadi, Fiji on 12 - 16 Aug 2013

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