March 07, 2022
Climate change panel hears indigenous voices
A contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says indigenous ways of seeing the environment can help address the problems.
For its latest report on impacts and adaptation, the IPCC made a conscious effort to bring in authors from disciplines that may not be seen as traditional areas of climate change research, including philosophers, anthropologists and indigenous voices, so it could give a richer picture of topics like vulnerability and climate justice.
Sandy Morrison, the head of Māori and indigenous studies at the University of Waikato, says the principle of kaitiakitanga is a useful framework for moving away from the sort of profit-driven, short term thinking that undermines efforts to slow down global warming.
“In our relationships with Papa and Rangi we are very familiar with our relationships and we’ve been moving quite dramatically in that space to make it even more meaningful and in that way, I refer to the legal personality that has been given over to Te Urewera and the Whanganui River,” she says.
Associate Professor Morrison says through its Deep South project, the IPCC has funded at least 17 innovative community responses to climate change in Aotearoa, including work to protect wetlands, forests and the moana.