Kenya - New Zealand: Bilateral - analyse climate change solutions using our deliberative process (CASE STUDY)

Oct 20, 2017 by NZ AGGS

CASE STUDY: “Raise a Paddle”; Pacific Islanders’ resistance towards Canada’s tar sands

‘Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua.’ This is a saying that gets its roots from the indigenous group -Maori- in New Zealand. It has several meanings but in this context, it can be translated into, “in order for us to live, the land must live” as a display of the direct connection between Mother Earth and the human race. I would like think of the Pacific warriors, as a group of courageous men and women who unknowingly obey this principle.

Due to the long-term impacts of fossil fuel expansion projects and it resulting in pollution and thus climate change (i.e., rising sea levels), tar sands expansion threatens the homes, communities, and cultures of Polynesian peoples. New expansion projects and pipelines are a violation of the rights and destruction of Polynesian territories. By approving such projects, Prime Minister Trudeau broke his promise to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and his promise in Paris to keep global warming under a 1.5°C limit.

Koreti Tiumalu, Raedena Savea and George Giuvalu Nacewa are just three of the many voices which have teamed up to form The Pacific Warriors. This is a network of young Pacific Islanders who lead peaceful protests and talks with the aim of protecting the Pacific Islands from climate change. Active in fifteen of the Pacific Island Nations, they stand up to those blocking action on climate change and empower young people to take action to protect their communities, cultures, and Island homes. This delegation recently travelled to the Alberta tar sands and to the Indigenous communities on the front lines of the fight to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline on the West Coast of Canada, so as to bear witness to the source of destruction, and meet with the Indigenous communities resisting Canada’s most toxic industries from the front lines. The following links provide accounts of their trip and their personal opinions as well as viewpoints concerning the Canadian tar sands. https://youtu.be/wz-OFpXbbxo and https://youtu.be/YqXm23e1ZRE

The Climate Change Warriors talked about how a climate issue faced in Canada like the Tar sand can affect the environment and climate of a group of islands almost 10,000 km away. This shows how our action can not only impact our own environment but also the rest of the world, the carbon emissions from the Tar sands projects in Canada add to global warming and because of this the sea levels are rising and for places like Samoa and Fiji their people are having to move inland leave their homes to keep safe. In New Zealanders, we as people of the Pacific, speak about beingconnected to the land and the waters but what land will we have to be connected to when it’s underwater?

It would be morally wrong for any country to profit from the fossil fuel industry, and particularly for New Zealand, as its biggest city, Auckland, is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. The increase of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels adds to growing environmental damage, and will drown the homelands of our Pacific Island neighbours. Though isolated and under-represented in some global talks of climate change, Polynesians are the people who are at the forefront of the negative effects of climate change, and it is the responsibility of bigger nations who have the ability to help to provide support instead of staying passive. As New Zealand is a smaller country, we understand the feeling of staring in the face of futility as countries that play a key role in their ability to decrease carbon emissions continue to disregard their privilege, as their governments may not think it is a problem, just because they do not think it is a direct problem to them. The effectiveness of the Pacific Climate Warriors journey to Canada in raising awareness proves to many other small and/or developing countries that their voices are still valid in the fight against climate change, and we need to make them heard. However, their struggle in having to having to rise to respond to the world’s inaction highlights that our global leaders are not doing a well enough job to decrease climate change and respect Indigenous rights.

In Kenya, the Turkana community is the main indigenous group being affected by the drilling of oil which has been ongoing for about four years now. The approach to combating the mining of tar sand in Canada which has been adopted by the Pacific warriors, would be key in the fight against oil drilling in Turkana. Just like in the Pacific Islands, it is the indigenous groups being affected the most (even though they had nothing to do with the effects of climate they are now experiencing). According to Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace, rich nations owe climate debt to poorer countries hit by drought. He believes that climate change is creating deserts and starvation in Africa, and water scarcity that helped drive the genocide in Darfur in Sudan. Studies now show that about three hundred and fifty thousand people are dying annually in the developing world as a result of climate change impacts. So what does this have to do with the drilling of oil in Turkana? That was just to place emphasis on the fact that majority of those suffering from the negative impacts of climate change are people who didn’t contribute to it.

Just like the Pacific warriors, indigenous groups of Africa should join hands and stand up for their rights by going against all activity that poses a threat to Mother Nature. I would love to see the Turkana community going against the Kenyan government with matters about the oil drilling in their land. However, there is a huge obstacle standing in their way. That is a lack of proper education on climate change. The men, women and children of this group have very little knowledge on climate change and would therefore require those who are well aware of the issue to teach and lead them into this battle. This issue not only affects Kenyans, but it’s neighbors as well, so let us all unite and never forget that there is strength in numbers. 

Bilateral Reflections

Through our bilateral collaboration, we have recognized that though we are 10 hours apart and across the globe from each other, there are still many parallels of government who want economic growth through the use of fossil fuels, and the disregard of indigenous rights as a consequence. Learning about each others national case study then collaborating on a case study together helped us more deeply consider the different ways of examining information and how colonization affects climate change than we had realized as many countries are facing the same struggles, and instead of carrying the burden nationally, it should be known as a global crisis that we must collectively and unitedly confront together. It was a pleasure working with each other, and it is both empowering and comforting to know there are like-minded and passionate youth around the globe who are working to make a better future for our earth.  :)

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