Listen Now: 
Download AudioAn iwi leader who attended COP27 in Eqypt this month says the conference was a waste of time for climate change progress.
A Māori delegation was sponsored to the United Nations conference by lobby group Conservation International, which was promoting its Hinemoana Halo Initiative to deliver self-determined and Indigenous-led ocean climate leadership.
Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa chair Haami Piripi, says the delegation was mostly confined to one zone – but it seems it didn’t miss much.
“It was just a bloody waste of time, you know, because it was all political pingpong. We didn’t even get to the heart of the conference because personally our government didn’t give us the passes to be able to do that and the security was so high you had to stay within your own zones – and we said aagh!” he says.
Mr Piripi says the delegation got to meet with an international science group and show a specially-made film about Pacific climate effects and indigenous ideas for solutions.
RELATED NEWS
