Sustainability in Ancient Island Societies

Examining dynamic interactions between humans and island environments

This volume explores the impacts humans have made on island and coastal ecosystems and the ways these environments have adapted to anthropogenic changes over the course of millennia. Case studies highlight how island populations developed social and political strategies to effectively manage their ecosystems, ensuring the long-term survival of their societies and the persistence of their cultural traditions.

In case studies from islands in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic, contributors apply resilience theory, historical ecology, niche construction theory, and human behavioral ecology to foreground Indigenous resiliency and sustainability. Modern island and coastal societies face daunting challenges in the decades to come, including climate change, sea level rise, and the loss of habitable lands and heritage resources. Sustainability in Ancient Island Societies argues that the study of past human responses to such changes, especially practices rooted in Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, can inform solutions to manage these threats today.