Indigenous Climate Adaptation in the U.S. and New Zealand
Oftentimes local or regional cases and strategies can provide the fundamental insight needed to cause societal shifts in doing things. Though understanding the specific needs of each particular place in the world is incredibly important, patterns do emerge when many case studies are analyzed. In this post I combined what I learned during my New Zealand immersion with three articles that provided place-based climate change adaptation strategies in order to better understand the big picture of what actions need to be taken.
Indigenous Climate Adaptation in New Zealand
In a 2017 study involving the Maori research team Te Rangitāwhia Whakatupuranga Mātauranga, Victoria University, and Massey University, adaptation strategies for coastal Maori communities were evaluated. The aim was to generate a "toolbox" of strategies that would maximize economic productivity and minimize negative climate change impacts as they increased. The results produced nine adaptation steps, listed in the order that they should be utilized. They were grouped into 3 overarching categories, Protect, Adapt/Anticipate, and Retreat:
In a 2015 study by scientists and geographers from the Maori Environmental Research Centre/National Climate Centre and Victoria University, it was found that currently government-backed climate change adaptation in New Zealand focuses on hard-path solutions and infrastructure. Hard-path adaptation strategies would include things like dams and sea walls. This is based on an ideology of controlling nature, rather than working with it. It is the opposite of what was just shown to be effective in the study above. Major concerns of Maori people in New Zealand remain: the endangerment of elderly whanau (family) living alone, higher insurance premiums in high-risk Maori areas, impact of extreme events on degraded infrastructure such as sewerage systems, and the eventual loss of whanau/hapu (clan) land and wahi-tapu (sacred and historical places) through erosion and sea level rise.
The study proposes resilience-building as an alternative adaptation method to hard-infrastructure. Their adaptation strategies are summarized into more broad, abstract approaches: increased community and government engagement, development of response options (so that Maori people won't bear the full burden of impacts), and the removal of barriers (moving from static to more dynamic legislative and policy-making procedures). These adaptation strategies, coupled with the private-land adaptation strategies discussed in the study above, are necessary for ensuring that climate adaptation goes smoothly (as smoothly as it can) for Maori people and that they won't be disproportionately affected. Note that these adaptation strategies would also work well in non-Maori contexts as well as non-New Zealand contexts.
Indigenous Climate Adaptation in the U.S.
In a 2013 article out of the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Office of Treaty Rights, it's acknowledged that in more recent years the knowledge of Indigenous peoples has been recognized as having profound ecological understanding and therefore is a valuable and necessary contribution to the discussion on climate change. It also discusses the barriers Indigenous peoples face in sharing their knowledges. The takeaway message of the article is that comanagement between the government and Indigenous peoples in the U.S. with respect towards the specific needs of Indigenous groups is necessary for incorporating their traditional knowledges into climate adaptation strategies. This again, is a universal need.
These root causes of climate change stem from colonialism, which leads to a loss of place and therefore diminished health of people. As the Maori say, “I am the river and the river is me”. Humans are feeling profound impacts of climatic changes because humans are not separate from the lands and waters that they have been degrading. Dismissing the notion that all parts of the earth are interconnected as “superstitious” or “political” is not part of any realistic climate action plan. Humanity must reconcile with the fact that colonizer society causes climate change and therefore colonization must be eliminated. A shift towards native ecosystems and socioecological systems that promote things like diversity and productivity is necessary for adapting to climate change effects.
Indigenous Climate Adaptation in New Zealand
In a 2017 study involving the Maori research team Te Rangitāwhia Whakatupuranga Mātauranga, Victoria University, and Massey University, adaptation strategies for coastal Maori communities were evaluated. The aim was to generate a "toolbox" of strategies that would maximize economic productivity and minimize negative climate change impacts as they increased. The results produced nine adaptation steps, listed in the order that they should be utilized. They were grouped into 3 overarching categories, Protect, Adapt/Anticipate, and Retreat:
- Coastal dunes: first line of defense
- Wetlands: buffer against sea level rise and flooding
- Arable land: establish plant barriers
- Habitat and diversity: restoration and reconnection
- Make room for water: prevent inundation and erosion
- Diversify farming practices: with culturally-specific farming practices
- Develop adaptive infrastructure: retrofitting and all-weather travel routes
- Celebrate high ground: establish cultural infrastructure where future settlement may be moved to
- Settle the high ground: re-site whare (homes)
In a 2015 study by scientists and geographers from the Maori Environmental Research Centre/National Climate Centre and Victoria University, it was found that currently government-backed climate change adaptation in New Zealand focuses on hard-path solutions and infrastructure. Hard-path adaptation strategies would include things like dams and sea walls. This is based on an ideology of controlling nature, rather than working with it. It is the opposite of what was just shown to be effective in the study above. Major concerns of Maori people in New Zealand remain: the endangerment of elderly whanau (family) living alone, higher insurance premiums in high-risk Maori areas, impact of extreme events on degraded infrastructure such as sewerage systems, and the eventual loss of whanau/hapu (clan) land and wahi-tapu (sacred and historical places) through erosion and sea level rise.
The study proposes resilience-building as an alternative adaptation method to hard-infrastructure. Their adaptation strategies are summarized into more broad, abstract approaches: increased community and government engagement, development of response options (so that Maori people won't bear the full burden of impacts), and the removal of barriers (moving from static to more dynamic legislative and policy-making procedures). These adaptation strategies, coupled with the private-land adaptation strategies discussed in the study above, are necessary for ensuring that climate adaptation goes smoothly (as smoothly as it can) for Maori people and that they won't be disproportionately affected. Note that these adaptation strategies would also work well in non-Maori contexts as well as non-New Zealand contexts.
Indigenous Climate Adaptation in the U.S.
In a 2013 article out of the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Office of Treaty Rights, it's acknowledged that in more recent years the knowledge of Indigenous peoples has been recognized as having profound ecological understanding and therefore is a valuable and necessary contribution to the discussion on climate change. It also discusses the barriers Indigenous peoples face in sharing their knowledges. The takeaway message of the article is that comanagement between the government and Indigenous peoples in the U.S. with respect towards the specific needs of Indigenous groups is necessary for incorporating their traditional knowledges into climate adaptation strategies. This again, is a universal need.
Conclusion
Based on all of my Climate Science & Solutions master’s degree studies as well as the experiences I had abroad in New Zealand, I believe that climate change can only be solved by fixing its root causes. These root causes are briefly discussed through my own personal reflection in the different poem entries linked through the New Zealand Immersion page. Declining biocultural diversity, a lack of indigenous sovereignty, the omission of indigenous people from "mainstream" movements such as permaculture, a reluctance to accept pluralism, ignoring the effects of present-day actions on future generations, separating humans and nature, a loss of community, letting ancient wisdom fade into the background, degrading rather than restoring, colonizing rather than indigenizing, not teaching indigenous history, not giving indigenous people a say in environmental management, separating spirituality and ecology, perpetuating white privilege, and using conservation as a means to further present-day colonization all contribute!These root causes of climate change stem from colonialism, which leads to a loss of place and therefore diminished health of people. As the Maori say, “I am the river and the river is me”. Humans are feeling profound impacts of climatic changes because humans are not separate from the lands and waters that they have been degrading. Dismissing the notion that all parts of the earth are interconnected as “superstitious” or “political” is not part of any realistic climate action plan. Humanity must reconcile with the fact that colonizer society causes climate change and therefore colonization must be eliminated. A shift towards native ecosystems and socioecological systems that promote things like diversity and productivity is necessary for adapting to climate change effects.
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