IRN HOPE

Habitability of Pacific Environments

The aim of the HOPE project is to establish and develop an international program of social and human sciences research on the problems of access to resources, their management and sustainability in the island worlds of the Pacific.

The aim of the HOPE was conceived on the initiative of research teams from some of the most prestigious universities and research centres in the field of Oceanist research in order to address this issue (CNRS, Aix-Marseille, Bordeaux, Polynésie française, Vérone, Rome, Oslo, Halle, Vienne). It mobilizes a group of Pacific specialists, including professors and research fellows with extensive field experience in Pacific island environments, as well as post-doctoral and doctoral researchers who are already scientifically engaged, if not experienced, in environmental research.

The innovation of the HOPE project also lies in its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary dimension, combining contributions from sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, law and political sciences. Our common goal is to deepen our knowledge of the diversity of stabilities and fragilities, both social and environmental, at regional and local scales, and to provide up-to-date statements on climate hazards and changes affecting fragile island balances. In addition to the ethical question of rights over resources and the more practical issues of their management and economics, environmental policies and the commodification of environmental goods will be studied. In our view, it would be appropriate to consider their social and environmental consequences in terms of inclusiveness, exclusiveness and connectivity. A definition of “resources” must also integrate the question of relations with more than human elements of the environment and the links between living beings and ecosystems, terrestrial and marine 'landscapes.

Marc TABANI, CRHC section 41, Director of CREDO, is the project coordinator