New Zealand: 1a. Pre-Conference

Sep 18, 2017 by NZ AGGS

Climate change, a problem for minorities or for the entire world? Most people are usually more reluctant to the idea that climate change is a situation that needs to be handled right away. Their perspective of this dilemma and legitimately understanding what climate change is, can be influenced by so many things, ie a person's religious beliefs , their self values of nature against the world's growing economy, certain social status that has been placed upon a person, or even the culture of a person can affect a person's understanding of certain issues and in this one its climate change. Individuals from across the globe each have their own knowledge from the experiences they have lived through and what comes out of the different experiences it leads to different knowledge.

“Indigenous peoples live in the most fragile ecosystems of the Earth, namely: tropical wet forests, mountainous systems, coastal plains, deserts, moors and islands, among others, and are human populations highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. The negative impacts due to global climate change threat all forms of life that currently exist in our Mother Earth, as well as the diverse human cultures, natural environments and livelihoods of rural human populations.”*

This quote, being the first one we read, lead us to questioning what “indigenous” meant. We asked ourselves these questions:

• Who is indigenous to where?
• Is everyone a migrant from somewhere?
• What does indigenous even mean?
• Is it belonging to the land e.g. tangata whenua (Te Reo Maori for “people of the land”)?
• What is belonging?
• How far back does the connection to land have to go?
• Does there need to be a spiritual connection to land?

We decided that the term indigenous wouldn’t arise without having many cultures living in a place e.g. colonisation almost gave meaning to the word, or gave it context.

“Global climate change currently observed has been the result of the excessive and unlimited economic growth of highly industrialized countries, which emitted huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions to the terrestrial atmosphere at the expense of poor countries that are suffering the adverse impacts of climate change.”*

We as a group agree with this statement. Coming from a smaller developed country we see the impacts of larger developed countries on the smaller third world countries. We noticed that industrial countries have benefitted from the destruction of the natural environment of poorer countries along with their own natural environments. An example of this would be the deforestation of the Amazon Forest, an amazing forest in South America that is the home for a number of species and native plants is facing extinction due to the rapid loss of forestry. This shows how poorer countries or areas are suffering at the hands of those with the money to take what they need to support consumerism.

“Thanks to our ancestral knowledge and learning, indigenous peoples have had the capacity to adapt to the various pressures and to the historical environmental and socioeconomic changes. Thus, we have knowledge, technologies and capacities to adapt to changing environments and could contribute to mitigation and adaptation to climate change.”*

We neither agree or disagree with this quote due to it not specifying what ancestral knowledge and learning it refers to. We thought that past knowledge has allowed for those of the indigenous races to adapt to a constantly changing environment but not all of the past knowledge obtained would be found useful in our current society that is heavily influenced and reliant on technology. Living in an digital era we are able to simply hop online and search up anything and everything, the internet provides access to the knowledge both past and present this includes ancestral. But ancestral knowledge can be credited for providing us with many valuable skills.

Our vision for a sustainable world

Our vision of a sustainable world covers all aspects of sustainability: Cultural, Environmental, Economic, and Social. Culturally, we want to see Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people working together in harmony to develop new knowledge and acceptance on different beliefs about the environment, as well as continuing to value and sustain all cultures, so the danger of assimilation is gone. Environmentally, we want to see more people composting and recycling, as well as more trees in urban areas, and the protection of natural resources. Ideally, more people would walk, bike and use public transport. This would lead to less pollution and the reduction of carbon emissions. Economically, we want to see sustainable businesses and a sustainable economy. Socially, we want to see people working together for a common purpose. This includes the relationships between businesses, the government, and people strengthened so we can focus on this goal. Additionally, the widening inequalities between the rich and the poor should be addressed to make sure equal opportunities are given to those with equal talent and passion.

How we can make our vision for a sustainable future a reality?

Our vision for a sustainable world incorporates links between the government, innovators, scientists, indigenous peoples, businesses, farmers, children, and all citizens.

Actions taken can be as small or as large as:

• Residents changing water taps so they don’t run for as long, installing water tanks in our homes, and using reusable bags for shopping.
• Businesses beginning to invest in green technology
• The government spending more money spent on affordable public transport, providing compost bins, investing in scientists developing ideas for how to adapt to climate change, subsidizing solar panels for renewable energy, and making climate change education compulsory in schools.

First and foremost, we need governments that are ready and accommodating for change. Instead of clambering our way upwards, why not begin at the heart of new policies and laws? We need to choose the right people for our leadership positions, or we need to be the right people for those leadership positions. To create a sustainable future, we need to establish an environment where everyone has equal passion and access to be able to make change.

The impact of colonisation on the world’s sustainability

We believe that colonisation was a force that divided the world; causing wars and centuries of social upheaval, damaging the economic position of nations and industrialising others through exploitation of resources, destroying cultures, changing spiritual ties with the environment and creating social issues like white supremacy and racism.

Despite colonisation, indigenous peoples have shown great resilience and continued to thrive despite the pain that colonisers caused. Our interconnected, multicultural world is powerful because we can make connections with people who are different from us. We have diverse communities which are slowly becoming more united as we are all connected to people with different backgrounds and cultures. This uniting occurred despite colonisation because people continued to progress even though society was damaged, and so shouldn’t be taken as a statement of the “good” aspects of colonisation - migration, not colonisation, can and does occur in ways that enrich the world. Our group discussed colonisation in the context of migration, but then realised that this was not fully accurate 

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