Reimagining innovation through Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge (IAK): Indigenous innovations and climate crisis resilience in the Pacific

Abstract: This paper examines Indigenous innovation using self-determination for climate resilience within Indigenous communities in the Pacific. Given the Pacific context, communities are vulnerable to the climate crisis, but have adopted climate-resilient strategies and practices. A Pacific research methodological framing and qualitative ethnographic-case study approach was used for the study, which included discussion of some Indigenous enterprises and communitydriven development projects in Fiji. Talanoa method was used to collect data. Three themes unfolded from the three case studies in Fiji: the adoption of Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge as part of their operating model, practical contributions by the enterprises and community-driven projects in response to climate-induced disasters and aiding collective community resilience and well-being through their operations. Indigenous peoples are intimately and holistically connected to their vanua (resources, people and culture) reflected by their environment-related contributions and practices. The paper contributes toward understanding Indigenous innovation centred on indigenous peoples' socio-cultural and spiritual value systems. These are reflected in business operations and community-driven development projects that consider ecological limits and build collective resilience to the climate crisis.