comprehension of the indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) systems that underpin resilience across space and time. Here, we suggest that understanding the role of ILK in the small islands of the Pacific is critical to understanding resilience and adaptation, not only because the islands are extremely exposed to the forecasted effects of climate change, but more importantly, because of their long history of resilience to environmental variability. Building synergies between ILK and the best cutting-edge science are also seen as a priority under the recently established Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which is tasked with making global, regional, and subregional assessments as a basis for informing policy and building capacity.