Learning from memories and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the future

Disasters, whether single or multiple disasters occurring at the same time, whether climate-related or not, are not new. However, efforts to learn from past memories often seem to be absent or short-live, and disaster recovery processes often reinforce the status quo. There are numerous efforts around the world to document people’s lived experiences and different governments’ approaches to handling disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is important to remember that we do not hear stories from all parts of the world. As the world moves away from the COVID-19 pandemic discussions, there are many places that are being affected by the impacts of climate change while still struggling to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. In this context, there is a need to make use of disaster memories and ensure we learn and avoid future risk creation. Memories are central to learning processes. Overall, there are very few studies that look into how memory (cultural, political, social and other forms) can be a useful concept in studying climate change, disasters and pandemics [1]. Memory by definition selects and excludes certain symbols, actions and experiences in a continuous process across time and space. It reveals divergent interpretations of climate change and disaster experiences and their social-political conditions [2]. For instance, during our recent fieldwork at a resettlement site at Chennai in India, people affected by floods and heatwaves, refer to cycles of disasters and re-living them every year. However, we know little about which of these climate change-related impacts are recorded as memories and why. Which are the ones that are go unremembered? How do people impacted by climate change find ways to create memories, which serve as learning for the future? Why are some aspects remembered and others forgotten? Long-term fieldwork in post-disaster contexts has also shown that memories are not permanent or fixed [3]. Memories are often constructed based on the impacts of climate change and not on the processes of risk creation that led to the impacts. This necessitates a new research agenda.