Open Access
3- https://doi.org/10.15663/wje.v26i1.785
Kanne Lobal: A conceptual framework relating education and leadership partnerships in the Marshall Islands
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Take Notes Education in Oceania continues to reflect the embedded implicit and explicit colonial practices and processes from the past. This paper conceptualises a cultural approach to education and leadership appropriate and relevant to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As elementary school leaders, we highlight Kanne Lobal, a traditional Marshallese navigation practice based on indigenous language, values and practices. We conceptualise and develop Kanne Lobal in this paper as a framework for understanding the usefulness of our indigenous knowledge in leadership and educational practices within formal education. Through bwebwenato, a method of talk story, our key learnings and reflexivities were captured. We argue that realising the value of Marshallese indigenous knowledge and practices for school leaders requires purposeful training of the ways in which our knowledge can be made useful in our professional educational responsibilities. Drawing from our Marshallese knowledge is an intentional effort to inspire, empower and express what education and leadership partnership means for Marshallese people, as articulated by Marshallese themselves. 
 
 
 
 Introduction
 As noted in the call for papers within the Waikato Journal of Education (WJE) for this special issue, bodies of knowledge and histories in Oceania have long sustained generations across geographic boundaries to ensure cultural survival. For Marshallese people, we cannot really know ourselves “until we know how we came to be where we are today” (Walsh, Heine, Bigler & Stege, 2012). Jitdam Kapeel is a popular Marshallese concept and ideal associated with inquiring into relationships within the family and community. In a similar way, the practice of relating is about connecting the present and future to the past. Education and leadership partnerships are linked and we look back to the past, our history, to make sense and feel inspired to transform practices that will benefit our people. In this paper and in light of our next generation, we reconnect with our navigation stories to inspire and empower education and leadership. Kanne lobal is part of our navigation stories, a conceptual framework centred on cultural practices, values, and concepts that embrace collective partnerships. Our link to this talanoa vā with others in the special issue is to attempt to make sense of connections given the global COVID-19 context by providing a Marshallese approach to address the physical and relational “distance” between education and leadership partnerships in Oceania. 
 
 Like the majority of developing small island nations in Oceania, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has had its share of educational challenges through colonial legacies of the past which continues to drive education systems in the region (Heine, 2002). The historical administration and education in the RMI is one of colonisation. Successive administrations by the Spanish, German, Japanese, and now the US, has resulted in education and learning that privileges western knowledge and forms of learning. This paper foregrounds understandings of education and learning as told by the voices of elementary school leaders from the RMI. The move to re-think education and leadership from Marshallese perspectives is an act of shifting the focus of bwebwenato or conversations that centres on Marshallese language and worldviews. 
 
 The concept of jelalokjen was conceptualised as traditional education framed mainly within the community context. In the past, jelalokjen was practiced and transmitted to the younger generation for cultural continuity. During the arrival of colonial administrations into the RMI, jelalokjen was likened to the western notions of education and schooling (Kupferman, 2004). Today, the primary function of jelalokjen, as traditional and formal education, it is for “survival in a hostile [and challenging] environment” (Kupferman, 2004, p. 43).
 
 Because western approaches to learning in the RMI have not always resulted in positive outcomes for those engaged within the education system, as school leaders who value our cultural knowledge and practices, and aspire to maintain our language with the next generation, we turn to Kanne Lobal, a practice embedded in our navigation stories, collective aspirations, and leadership. The significance in the development of Kanne Lobal, as an appropriate framework for education and leadership, resulted in us coming together and working together. Not only were we able to share our leadership concerns, however, the engagement strengthened our connections with each other as school leaders, our communities, and the Public Schooling System (PSS). Prior to that, many of us were in competition for resources.
 
 Educational Leadership: IQBE and GCSL
 Leadership is a valued practice in the RMI. Before the IQBE programme started in 2018, the majority of the school leaders on the main island of Majuro had not engaged in collaborative partnerships with each other before. Our main educational purpose was to achieve accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), an accreditation commission for schools in the United States. The WASC accreditation dictated our work and relationships and many school leaders on Majuro felt the pressure of competition against each other. We, the authors in this paper, share our collective bwebwenato, highlighting our school leadership experiences and how we gained strength from our own ancestral knowledge to empower “us”, to collaborate with each other, our teachers, communities, as well as with PSS; a collaborative partnership we had not realised in the past. The paucity of literature that captures Kajin Majol (Marshallese language) and education in general in the RMI is what we intend to fill by sharing our reflections and experiences. To move our educational practices forward we highlight Kanne Lobal, a cultural approach that focuses on our strengths, collective social responsibilities and wellbeing.
 
 For a long time, there was no formal training in place for elementary school leaders. School principals and vice principals were appointed primarily on their academic merit through having an undergraduate qualification. As part of the first cohort of fifteen school leaders, we engaged in the professional training programme, the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL), refitted to our context after its initial development in the Solomon Islands. GCSL was coordinated by the Institute of Education (IOE) at the University of the South Pacific (USP). GCSL was seen as a relevant and appropriate training programme for school leaders in the RMI as part of an Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded programme which aimed at “Improving Quality Basic Education” (IQBE) in parts of the northern Pacific. GCSL was managed on Majuro, RMI’s main island, by the director at the time Dr Irene Taafaki, coordinator Yolanda McKay, and administrators at the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) RMI campus.
 
 Through the provision of GCSL, as school leaders we were encouraged to re-think and draw-from our own cultural repository and connect to our ancestral knowledge that have always provided strength for us. This kind of thinking and practice was encouraged by our educational leaders (Heine, 2002). We argue that a culturally-affirming and culturally-contextual framework that reflects the lived experiences of Marshallese people is much needed and enables the disruption of inherent colonial processes left behind by Western and Eastern administrations which have influenced our education system in the RMI (Heine, 2002). Kanne Lobal, an approach utilising a traditional navigation has warranted its need to provide solutions for today’s educational challenges for us in the RMI.
 Education in the Pacific
 Education in the Pacific cannot be understood without contextualising it in its history and culture. It is the same for us in the RMI (Heine, 2002; Walsh et al., 2012). The RMI is located in the Pacific Ocean and is part of Micronesia. It was named after a British captain, John Marshall in the 1700s. The atolls in the RMI were explored by the Spanish in the 16th century. Germany unsuccessfully attempted to colonize the islands in 1885. Japan took control in 1914, but after several battles during World War II, the US seized the RMI from them. In 1947, the United Nations made the island group, along with the Mariana and Caroline archipelagos, a U.S. trust territory (Walsh et al, 2012). Education in the RMI reflects the colonial administrations of Germany, Japan, and now the US. 
 
 Before the turn of the century, formal education in the Pacific reflected western values, practices, and standards. Prior to that, education was informal and not binded to formal learning institutions (Thaman, 1997) and oral traditions was used as the medium for transmitting learning about customs and practices living with parents, grandparents, great grandparents. As alluded to by Jiba B. Kabua (2004), any “discussion about education is necessarily a discussion of culture, and any policy on education is also a policy of culture” (p. 181). It is impossible to promote one without the other, and it is not logical to understand one without the other. Re-thinking how education should look like, the pedagogical strategies that are relevant in our classrooms, the ways to engage with our parents and communities - such re-thinking sits within our cultural approaches and frameworks. Our collective attempts to provide a cultural framework that is relevant and appropriate for education in our context, sits within the political endeavour to decolonize. This means that what we are providing will not only be useful, but it can be used as a tool to question and identify whether things in place restrict and prevent our culture or whether
- Research Article
- 2
- 10.1353/cp.2019.0010
- Jan 1, 2019
- The Contemporary Pacific
Marshall Islands Monica C Labriola For the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the period under review saw the passing of a number of public servants, community members, and advocates, including several trailblazers in nuclear and climate activism, advocacy, and scholarship. Tony deBrum devoted his life's work to the advancement of the Marshall Islands and to procuring nuclear and climate justice for Marshall Islanders. After serving on the Congress of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands' first Constitutional Convention in the 1970s, deBrum played a key role in securing independence from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and in the negotiations that resulted in the RMI's first Compact of Free Association (cofa) with the United States in 1986 (Walsh and Heine 2011). His government posts spanned decades and included senator for Mājro and Kuwajleen atolls, minister of finance and foreign affairs, ambassador to the United Nations, and RMI climate ambassador (mij, 1 Sept 2017). DeBrum was a staunch advocate for justice for the survivors of the aftermath of sixty-seven nuclear tests conducted by the United States on Pikinni and Ānewetak atolls. He sought to secure a world free of nuclear weapons and in 2014 filed a lawsuit on behalf of the RMI aimed at forcing the world's nuclear powers to reengage in nuclear disarmament talks (mij, 1 Sept 2017). DeBrum was also a leader in the movement to reverse the effects of climate change and was instrumental in the passage of the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In addition to being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, deBrum was the recipient of several awards including the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in 2012 and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the government of Germany in 2017 (mij, 25 Aug, 3 Nov 2017). Weeks before deBrum's passing in late August 2017, the Marshall Islands lost sitting Naṃdik Atoll Senator and Minister Mattlan (Matt) Zackhras. Prior to his service as President Hilda Heine's minister in assistance, Zackhras's portfolio during his four terms in office included the ministries of public works and of resources and development. Zackhras was instrumental in securing funding for local [End Page 170] and national sustainable development projects and was recognized for his work promoting sustainable black pearl farming, the formation of the Namdrik [Naṃdik] Copra Cooperative, and the RMI's first virgin coconut oil processing operation (mij, 11 Aug 2017). In a November 2017 special election, Naṃdik voters opted to keep Zackhras's Nitijeḷā (Parliament) seat in the family by electing his brother Wisely Zackhras to succeed him (mij, 17 Nov 2017). The RMI also lost three longtime nuclear advocates during this period. Lemeyo Abon was one of the last surviving ri-Roñḷap (ri- means person/people of/from) to have lived through the fallout of the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test on Pikinni Atoll on 1 March 1954. Abon recounted her experiences in books, films, newspaper articles, and a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012; she died in February 2018. A resident of the Marshall Islands for almost fifty years, Bill Graham devoted much of his career to seeking justice and compensation for the survivors of US nuclear testing. Graham served as public advocate for the RMI Nuclear Claims Tribunal for more than twenty years and had recently been appointed to the newly established RMI National Nuclear Commission. Graham died in Honolulu on 1 March 2018, the sixty-fourth anniversary of the Castle Bravo test (mij, 9 March 2018). Nuclear scholar and advocate Dr Robert (Bob) Kiste passed away on 28 November 2017. In addition to publishing The Bikinians: A Study in Forced Migration in 1974 and working as a consultant for the Micronesian Legal Service Corporation in the 1970s, Kiste inspired scores of Pacific Islands scholars as a professor and director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies from 1978 to 2002 (Lal 2004). Among the many other traditional leaders and prominent community members who died during this period were Mājro aḷap (lineage head) Newi Nathan; Kuwajleen aḷap and Constitutional Convention delegate Stephen "Kodri" Dribo; and Castle Bravo...
- Single Report
- 10.2172/797815
- Jul 31, 2002
DOE B188 DOE/PHRI Special Medical Care Program in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)Quarterly Program Progress Report The DOE/PHRI Special Medical Care Program continues to provide, on a year round basis, a broad spectrum of medical care to the DOE patient population. During the fourth quarter of Year 4, the following medical services were provided: (1) Annual medical examinations for the DOE patient population (see Exhibit 1 for details). (2) Medications for the DOE patient population. (3) Preventive and primary medical care to the DOE patient population in the RMI as time and resources permit. (4) Additional manpower for the outpatient clinics at Ebeye and Majuro Hospitals (see Exhibit 2 for details). (5) Ancillary services such as labs, radiology and pharmacy in coordination with Kwajalein Hospital, Majuro Hospital and the 177 Health Care Program (177 HCP). (6) Referrals to Ebeye Hospital, Majuro Hospital and Kwajalein Hospital as necessary. (7) Referrals to Straub Clinic and Hospital in Honolulu as necessary (for details see Exhibit 1). (8) Monitored and adjusted monthly annual examination schedules based on equipment failure at Kwajalein. In addition to the above, the program was also involved in the following activities during this quarter: (1) Organized and conducted continuing medical education (CME) talks for the program's RMI staff and other RMI healthcare workers. (2) Held meetings with RMI government officials and Local Atoll government officials. (3) Input past medical records into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. (4) Made adjustments to and created more templates for the EMR system. (5) Coordinated with the Public Health Departments on Majuro and Ebeye. (6) Met with PEACESAT to discuss possible collaboration on high speed Internet access. (7) Looked for opportunities to expand the program's telehealth capabilities. (8) Participated in the DOE-RMI Meeting in Honolulu. (9) Finalized the agreement with the RMI Ministry of Health and Environment (MOHE) and Majuro Hospital to hire Dr. Marie Lanwi on a part-time basis. (10) Held a Community Advisory Group (CAG) Meeting and Community Meeting on Majuro. (11) Negotiated with Kwajalein with regards to the increase in laboratory and procedure costs and continuing Mammography services for the DOE patient population. (12) Met with DOE in Honolulu to discuss the next year's program and budget. (13) Trained new residents in the use of the electronic medical record system. (14) Conducted electronic medical record audits. (15) Participated in a training session for the appointment scheduler module by Physician Micro System, Inc. on the EMR system. (16) Worked on the Year 5 Continuation Application and Budget. (17) Finalized the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 177. (18) Worked with DOE and Bechtel Nevada (BN) to reduce PHRI program costs to meet an increase in referral costs paid by Bechtel. This report details the additions and changes to the program for the April 1, 2002-June 30, 2002 period.
- Research Article
- 7
- 10.1002/ocea.5266
- Dec 1, 2020
- Oceania
<scp>COVID</scp>‐19 and the Marshallese
- Research Article
- 10.1353/cp.2014.0025
- Jan 1, 2014
- The Contemporary Pacific
Marshall Islands David W. Kupferman (bio) The period under review in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) was focused largely on the impacts of climate change, both physical and political, as well as on preparations for hosting the 44th annual Pacific Islands Forum in Majuro in September 2013. Additionally, clear lines were drawn within the RMI national government, specifically in terms of government spending, as well as in the context of relations with the United States, which continued to be strained over the past twelve months largely due to tensions surrounding concerns about funding under the Compact of Free Association and a US Department of State report on human trafficking. One bright spot was the seeming progress toward a constitutional convention, which, while put on hold due to the upcoming Forum, appears likely to take place some time in 2014 and, unlike the climate-change situation, may give the Marshall Islands the opportunity to produce tangible results. The topic of climate change was foremost on the minds of the RMI government, and especially Minister in Assistance to the President and Kwajalein Senator Tony de Brum, who has apparently made the issue the primary focus of his cabinet portfolio. At the United Nations climate meeting in Doha, Qatar, in December 2012, de Brum announced that the theme of the September 2013 Forum meeting was to be climate change, and specifically how the Pacific Island heads of state can take a greater leadership role on the issue globally (mij, 21 Dec 2012). De Brum followed this up with an appearance at an “Arria-formula” meeting of the UN Security Council on 15 February 2013. (Arria-formula meetings are not officially classified as meetings by the United Nations, and records or transcripts of the proceedings are not kept.) Despite the informal nature of the meeting, which was organized by the United Kingdom and Pakistan, de Brum’s speech was available on the Internet and a video report about the meeting was picked up by the online video magazine Slate V (2013). In the speech (and repeated in Slate’s report), de Brum arguably made a dubious connection between the drought in the northern atolls that had begun in January 2013 and the water company’s rationing schedule in Majuro, which was unaffected by the drought at the time of the speech. The minister then announced the drafting of a Majuro Declaration, which he said would call on all nations to commit, through their own actions, to limiting global warming to less than two degrees (de Brum 2013). The Marshall Islands will present the declaration for formal approval at the 2013 Forum. The drought in the northern atolls did worsen, and in May RMI President Christopher Loeak’s cabinet declared it a disaster area, after which relief in the form of money and supplies [End Page 177] began to pour into the country. The Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan, and the Asian Development Bank each donated $100,000 to the relief efforts in May, as did Australia (which then sent another $385,000 in June). Most significant was the move by US President Barack Obama, who signed a disaster declaration on 14 June 2013, which was followed shortly thereafter by $1 million in rapid-response aid from the United Nations, announced by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos, to be available by the end of the month. A few days later, RMI National Water Adviser Tom Vance described the situation in Enewetak and Utrik atolls as “dire” and reported that tensions among Islanders were rising. In response, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, Majuro Senator Phillip Muller called Vance’s comments “an overstatement” and suggested that the Marshall Islands was doing all it could to deliver relief to the northern atolls (pir, 20 June 2013). While rains returned to the northern atolls at the beginning of July, the total cost of the drought relief was estimated at $4.7 million, which ultimately cost the RMI government more than $900,000 after all international aid had been taken into account (mij, 21 June 2013). In a sign of things possibly to come for low-lying islands should climate change advance, on 25 June...
- Research Article
- 4
- 10.20965/jdr.2019.p1293
- Dec 1, 2019
- Journal of Disaster Research
This study aims to find out the basis of Marshallese students’ aspirations to migrate abroad, determine whether intellectuals in the same country share such aspirations, observe how well Japanese university students and intellectuals understand why Marshallese students migrate, and compare the Marshallese students’ motivations to emigrate with those of students from the Federated States of Micronesia. I conducted a survey by interview and questionnaire in the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Japan. I found that 65% of the students in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) felt education was the primary reason to migrate abroad, followed by work (15%), health (8%), family (7%), climate change (3%), and natural disasters (2%). The RMI intellectuals correctly guessed the relative importance students granted the factors (education, work, health, etc.). However, they underestimated the importance of education for the students. Eleven percent of the Japanese students assumed that Marshallese students would wish to migrate abroad because of climate change, which overestimates the students’ feelings about the issue. Interestingly, no Japanese student considered health or family to be possible reasons for RMI students to emigrate abroad. Perhaps, Japanese students were not aware of the prevalence of very strong family ties and inadequate medical facilities in RMI. There were similar percentages of students who wished to migrate because of climate change between the RMI (3%) and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) (4%). However, the RMI is an atoll country that may be submerged by climate change, and the FSM is mostly composed of volcanic islands that will not be submerged.
- Research Article
- 5
- 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19981015)83:8+<1821::aid-cncr30>3.0.co;2-5
- Oct 15, 1998
- Cancer
There is a paucity of data about cancer in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a former U.S. Trust Territory. This study provides the first comprehensive data analysis on the incidence rates for certain cancers in the RMI. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal (NCT) of the RMI provided archival data on all decedent requests that were presented for personal injury compensation through December 16, 1996. Medical records of these individuals were reviewed to obtain information to determine cancer incidence. Age-adjusted incidence rates by site and gender were calculated and compared with U.S. rates. There were significant differences in the age-adjusted, site specific cancer incidence rates during the period from 1985 to 1994 between the RMI and the United States. The RMI had higher age-adjusted incidence rates for lung (m = 3.8x, f = 3x), cervix (f = 5.8x), gastrointestinal tract (m = 1.9x, f = 8.5x), liver (m = 15.3x, f = 40x), breast (f = 1.4x), urinary tract (f = 5.8x), oral (m = 3.4x, f = 1.5x), and thyroid (f = 7.2x) cancers. The RMI NCT data provided base-line information that has important implications for future cancer prevention and control in this population. The calculated incidence rates are alarming, because these rates are probably under-estimations of the true cancer incidence rates. Contributing factors to the higher incidence rates may include environmental and life-style factors, such as radiation exposure, alcohol and tobacco abuse, vitamin A deficiency, and high rates of hepatitis B and sexually transmitted diseases. Further investigations into cancer rates and factors associated with increased incidence in the RMI are necessary. Cancer 1998;83:1821-1824. © 1998 American Cancer Society.
- Research Article
- 11
- 10.1353/cp.2016.0024
- Jan 1, 2016
- The Contemporary Pacific
Marshall Islands Monica C. Labriola (bio) Several issues took center stage in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) from July 2014 to June 2015, revealing ongoing tensions between the government’s duty to attend to the everyday needs of the Marshallese people and its necessary engagement with macro-level political, economic, and environmental concerns. These tensions were perhaps most apparent in the Marshall Islands’ ongoing lawsuit against the United States and eight other nuclear-armed nations, top leaders’ vocal participation in global climate-change discussions, several controversial government expenditures and continuing financial mismanagement, less-than-desirable rankings on several regional and international reports, and increasing outmigration. That said, government leaders, nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions, and private citizens made noteworthy efforts to address these issues through governmental and institutional policy, direct action, and participation in local, regional, and international organizations. Meanwhile, the run-up to the 2015 election kicked off in September 2014, with local and national elections scheduled for the third Monday in November—recently designated a national holiday by the Nitijeḷā (Parliament). As of this writing, it remains to be seen whom the people of the Marshall Islands will elect to steer their country’s course over the next four years. With the 2015 election looming, a few key issues consistently made headlines during the period under review. Among these were two lawsuits filed in April 2014—one against the United States and eight other nuclear-armed nations (China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United Kingdom) at the International Court of Justice (icj) in The Hague and the other against the United States in a federal district court in San Francisco (Radio Australia 2014; Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy 2015). [End Page 193] RMI Minister of Foreign Affairs Tony deBrum initiated the lawsuits in consultation with the US-based Nuclear Age Peace Foundation—a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for a world free of nuclear weapons. The lawsuits charged the nine nations with violating international law and failing to uphold the goals of the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to promote nuclear disarmament worldwide. While the “Nuclear Zero Lawsuits” generated widespread attention and the support of the US Conference of Mayors, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and other world leaders, some questioned the lawsuits’ value for the Marshallese people. Among the suits’ most vocal opponents was David Paul, Marshalls Energy Company general manager and one of seven candidates vying for three Nitijeḷā seats for Kuwajleen (Kwajalein) Atoll—where Minister deBrum has held office since 2007. Despite the Marshall Islands’ nuclear legacy, Paul and others questioned the Marshall Islands’ pursuit of the lawsuits when the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, the Changed Circumstance Petition, and leaking radioactive waste on Ānewetak (Enewetak) Atoll continue to affect the health and well-being of Marshall Islanders. Critics also warned of the lawsuits’ potential impact on the Marshall Islands’ relationship with the United States and expressed concern that activists lacking expertise in disarmament law have used the Marshall Islands to advance their cause through means unlikely to yield desired results. This warning seemed to come true in early February, when a US district judge granted the US government’s motion to dismiss that lawsuit on the grounds that it was based on speculative harm and that the court lacked jurisdiction on the issue. Meanwhile at The Hague, only three of the nine nuclear-armed nations—India, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom—accepted icj jurisdiction in relation to the lawsuit, and China declined to accept the court’s authority. The Marshall Islands’ ongoing participation in regional and international climate-change debates also captured headlines, particularly in the weeks surrounding UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit in late September 2014. Leading the discussion was RMI President Christopher Loeak, whose “Clarion Call from the Climate Change Frontline” called attention to recent droughts, king tides, and beaches flooded by rising seas. Proclaiming a “full-blown climate emergency,” the president warned that the Marshall Islands is the climate “canary in the coal mine”—if the Marshall Islands is to be devastated by sea-level rise, others will follow (Loeak 2014). The president also...
- Research Article
- 1
- 10.5066/f7vd6xdb
- Jan 1, 2018
Projected future wave-driven flooding depths on Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands for a range of climate-change scenarios. This study utilized field data to calibrate oceanographic and hydrogeologic models, which were then used with climate-change and sea-level rise projections to explore the effects of sea-level rise and wave-driven flooding on atoll islands and their freshwater resources. The overall objective of this effort, due to the large uncertainty in future emissions (and thus climate change scenarios) that is largely irreducible, was to reduce risk and increase island resiliency by providing model simulations across a range of plausible future conditions. This effort focuses on Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). RMI is home to more than 1,100 low-lying islands on 29 atolls, yet the approach and findings presented in this study can serve as a proxy for atolls around the world, most of which have a similar morphology and structure, including on average, even lower land elevations, and are the home for numerous island nations and hundreds of thousands of people. The primary goal of this investigation was to determine the influence of climate change and sea-level rise on wave-driven flooding and the resulting impacts to infrastructure and freshwater resources on atoll islands. First, we mapped the morphology and benthic habitats of the atoll to determine the influence of spatially-varying bathymetric structure and hydrodynamic roughness on wave propagation over the coral reefs that make up the atoll. Second, we analyzed historic meteorologic and oceanographic data to provide historical context for the limited in-situ data and comparison to previous seawater overwash and flooding events. These data were then used to calibrate and validate physics-based, dynamically-downscaled numerical models to project future atmospheric and oceanic forcing for a range of climate-change scenarios. Third, we made in-situ observations to better understand how changes in meteorologic and oceanographic forcing controlled wave-driven water levels, seawater flooding of the island, and the resulting hydrogeologic response. We then used those data to calibrate and validate a physics-based, numerical hydrodynamic model of the island. The hydrodynamic model was used to forecast future wave-driven island overwash and seawater flooding for a range of climate-change and SLR scenarios. The data provided here are the seawater flooding depths for three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR5 climate-change scenarios: Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)4.5 and RCP8.5, representing medium and high greenhouse concentration trajectory scenarios, respectively, and RCP8.5 plus icesheet collapse (RCP8.5i). The climate-change scenarios were incorporated into the model by increasing mean sea level based on the future sea-level rise and wave projections. The modeled time frame ranged from 2035 to 2105 at 10-yr time steps. These data accompany the following publication: Storlazzi, C.D., Gingerich, S.B., van Dongeren, A., Cheriton, O.M., Swarzenski, P.W., Quataert, E., Voss, C.I., Field D.W., Annamalai, H., Piniak G.A., McCall, R., 2018, Most atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid-21st century due to sea-level rise exacerbating wave-driven flooding, Science Advances, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aap9741.
- Research Article
- 10.5539/elt.v10n11p214
- Oct 22, 2017
- English Language Teaching
Choosing a major is part of liberal arts (LA) education in American-accredited colleges across the world. In global second-language (L2) contexts, the choice of major is shaped by local cultural factors. This study of 192 undergraduates at an English-medium-of-instruction (EMI) college in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) used a survey, content and Appraisal analyses to explore what the LA major means to RMI youth. Results showed they were positive about LA, but little engaged with it outside the classroom. This probably reflected the institution’s traditional concept of LA and outdated western teaching approaches, and a failure to incorporate elements of an authentic local culture of teaching and learning. Appraisal data indicated participants associated positive, congruent desire, interest and affection for the LA major, but also low utility and worth with LA class content, revealing a need to convey the utility of the LA skill set for employment. Finally, LA majors were intrinsically, whereas education, business and nursing majors were pragmatically motivated, reflecting the colonial heritage. Overall, results foreground the colonial character of current teaching practice, and the need to use authentic teaching and learning modalities, to support RMI students’ pragmatic needs, particularly given their emigration prospects.
- Research Article
- 80
- 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102054
- Mar 1, 2020
- Global Environmental Change
Colonial dynamics limit climate adaptation in Oceania: Perspectives from the Marshall Islands
- Research Article
- 29
- 10.1097/inf.0b013e3181b20e93
- Jan 1, 2010
- Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
To evaluate the impact of routine hepatitis B (HB) vaccination on the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among children in Pacific Island countries where HBV infection was highly endemic, we conducted HB serosurveys during 2000 to 2007 among women of childbearing age born before implementation of HB vaccination and among children born after its implementation. Serum specimens were collected from children aged 2 to 6 years and their mothers in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia in 2000, children aged 2 to 9 years and their mothers in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia in 2005, and 5- to 9-year-old children and prenatal clinic patients in 2007 in Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Specimens were tested for HB surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies to HB core antigen (total anti-HBc). HB vaccination coverage was determined from health department vaccination registries. We defined chronic HBV infection as the presence of HBsAg. Birthdose and 3 dose HB vaccination coverage was 48% and 87%, respectively, in Chuuk, 87% and 90% in Pohnpei, and 49% and 93% in RMI. Chronic HBV infection prevalence among children was 2.5% (9/362) in Chuuk, 1.5% (7/478) in Pohnpei and 1.8% (6/331) in RMI. Chronic HBV infection prevalence among women was 9.2% (21/229) in Chuuk, 4.4% (10/229) in Pohnpei, and 9.5% (11/116) in RMI. Hepatitis B vaccination has resulted in a substantial decline in chronic infection in children in the Pacific Islands. HB vaccine effectiveness is high in this region, despite challenges in providing HB vaccine at birth and completing vaccination series on schedule.
- Research Article
- 2
- 10.1088/1748-9326/ad383e
- Apr 12, 2024
- Environmental Research Letters
The significant body of research on the distribution of international finance for climate change adaptation shows that it is not well correlated to the vulnerability of countries. Vulnerability differs greatly within countries as well, yet very few studies examine subnational flows of adaptation finance. Here, we present evidence of the subnational allocation of international adaptation finance within the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The RMI is a highly salient case as it is a small island developing state comprised solely of low-lying atolls that is both in need of and a recipient of adaptation finance. We describe patterns of adaptation finance in the RMI between 2015 and 2019 based on analysis of a comprehensive government database of bilateral and multilateral aid projects. We find that flows of adaptation finance were heavily skewed towards a small number of large-scale civil works projects in urban areas funded by multilateral institutions. Rural areas attracted smaller scale projects funded largely by bilateral donors. The overall distribution of adaptation finance across islands is highly sporadic, with hotspots of activity and areas of neglect. Our results suggest the allocation of adaptation finance to the RMI is insufficient relative to needs, poorly coordinated, and fails to reach places where it is most needed.
- Single Report
- 1
- 10.2172/923133
- Jun 11, 2007
Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have recently implemented a series of initiatives to address long-term radiological surveillance needs at former nuclear test sites in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The aim of this radiological surveillance monitoring program (RSMP) is to provide timely radiation protection for individuals in the Marshall Islands with respect to two of the most important internally deposited fallout radionuclides-cesium-137 ({sup 137}Cs) and long-lived isotopes 239 and 240 of plutonium ({sup 239+240}Pu) (Robison et al., 1997 and references therein). Therefore, whole-body counting for {sup 137}Cs and a sensitive bioassay for the presence of {sup 239+240}Pu excreted in urine were adopted as the two most applicable in vivo analytical methods to assess radiation doses for individuals in the RMI from internally deposited fallout radionuclides (see Hamilton et al., 2006a-c; Bell et al., 2002). Through 2005, the USDOE has established three permanent whole-body counting facilities in the Marshall Islands: the Enewetak Radiological Laboratory on Enewetak Atoll, the Utrok Whole-Body Counting Facility on Majuro Atoll, and the Rongelap Whole-Body Counting Facility on Rongelap Atoll. These whole-body counting facilities are operated and maintained by trained Marshallese technicians. Scientists from LLNL provide the technical support and training necessary for maintaining quality assurance for data acquisition and dose reporting. This technical basis document summarizes the methodologies used to calculate the annual total effective dose equivalent (TEDE; or dose for the calendar year of measurement) based on whole-body counting of internally deposited {sup 137}Cs and the measurement of {sup 239+240}Pu excreted in urine. Whole-body counting provides a direct measure of the total amount (or burden) of {sup 137}Cs present in the human body at the time of measurement. The amount of {sup 137}Cs detected is often reported in activity units of kilo-Becquerel (kBq), where 1 kBq equals 1000 Bq and 1 Bq = 1 nuclear transformation per second (t s{sup -1}). [However, in the United States the Curie (Ci) continues to be used as the unit of radioactivity; where 1 Ci = 3.7 x 10{sup 10} Bq.] The detection of {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu in bioassay (urine) samples indicates the presence of internally deposited (systemic) plutonium in the body. Urine samples that are collected in the Marshall Islands from volunteers participating in the RSMP are transported to LLNL, where measurements for {sup 239+240}Pu are performed using a state-of-the-art technology based on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) (Hamilton et al., 2004, 2007; Brown et al., 2004). The urinary excretion of plutonium by RSMP volunteers is usually described in activity units, expressed as micro-Becquerel ({micro}Bq) of {sup 239+240}Pu (i.e., representing the sum of the {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu activity) excreted (lost) per day (d{sup -1}), where 1 {micro}Bq d{sup -1} = 10{sup -6} Bq d{sup -1} and 1 Bq = 1 t s{sup -1}. The systemic burden of plutonium is then estimated from biokinetic relationships as described by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (e.g., see ICRP, 1990). In general, nuclear transformations are accompanied by the emission of energy and/or particles in the form of gamma rays ({gamma}), beta particles ({beta}), and/or alpha particles ({alpha}). Tissues in the human body may adsorb these emissions, where there is a potential for any deposited energy to cause biological damage. The general term used to quantify the extent of any radiation exposure is referred to as the dose. The equivalent dose is defined by the average absorbed dose in an organ or tissue weighted by the average quality factor for the type and energy of the emission causing the dose. The effective dose equivalent (EDE; as applied to the whole body), is the sum of the average dose equivalent for each tissue weighted by each applicable tissue-specific weighing factor (which equates to the sensitivity of that tissue to damage by the equivalent radiation dose it receives). The SI unit of effective dose equivalent is the joule per kilogram (J kg{sup -1}), named the Sievert (Sv). The unit often used by federal and state agencies in the United States to describe EDE continues to be the more historical radiation equivalent man (rem); where 1 rem = 0.01 Sv.
- Research Article
- 8
- 10.1016/j.conctc.2021.100824
- Jul 30, 2021
- Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications
Feasibility and efficacy of a pilot family model of diabetes self-management intervention in the Republic of the Marshall Islands
- Research Article
- 11
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0108445
- Sep 30, 2014
- PLoS ONE
Dengue is a potentially fatal acute febrile illness caused by four mosquito-transmitted dengue viruses (DENV-1–4). Although dengue outbreaks regularly occur in many regions of the Pacific, little is known about dengue in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). To better understand dengue in RMI, we investigated an explosive outbreak that began in October 2011. Suspected cases were reported to the Ministry of Health, serum specimens were tested with a dengue rapid diagnostic test (RDT), and confirmatory testing was performed using RT-PCR and IgM ELISA. Laboratory-positive cases were defined by detection of DENV nonstructural protein 1 by RDT, DENV nucleic acid by RT-PCR, or anti-DENV IgM antibody by RDT or ELISA. Secondary infection was defined by detection of anti-DENV IgG antibody by ELISA in a laboratory-positive acute specimen. During the four months of the outbreak, 1,603 suspected dengue cases (3% of the RMI population) were reported. Of 867 (54%) laboratory-positive cases, 209 (24%) had dengue with warning signs, six (0.7%) had severe dengue, and none died. Dengue incidence was highest in residents of Majuro and individuals aged 10–29 years, and ∼95% of dengue cases were experiencing secondary infection. Only DENV-4 was detected by RT-PCR, which phylogenetic analysis demonstrated was most closely related to a virus previously identified in Southeast Asia. Cases of vertical DENV transmission, and DENV/Salmonella Typhi and DENV/Mycobacterium leprae co-infection were identified. Entomological surveys implicated water storage containers and discarded tires as the most important development sites for Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, respectively. Although this is the first documented dengue outbreak in RMI, the age groups of cases and high prevalence of secondary infection demonstrate prior DENV circulation. Dengue surveillance should continue to be strengthened in RMI and throughout the Pacific to identify and rapidly respond to future outbreaks.
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