Research Summit Highlights Indigenous-led Climate Adaptation Solutions

New Zealand’s Māori Centre for Research, Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, and The University of Auckland hosted the first Indigenous Climate Change Research Summit on 13-17 November 2023.

Professor of Indigenous Studies Linda Waimarie Nikora from Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga says, “As the climate crisis unfolds, Indigenous communities face unique challenges. This summit promises to amplify Indigenous voices and innovative solutions” (Research summit, 2023).

Adding that, “Indigenous and Pacific communities will be the first to be catastrophically impacted by climate change. It’s not just our lives but cultural realities.”

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Indigenous Peoples has been advocating for the welfare and protection of Indigenous Communities worldwide. They also recognise their vital role in combating climate change but are rarely considered in public discourses on climate change. The global organisation identifies the climate vulnerabilities of Indigenous Peoples around the world.

For example, due to rising temperatures, Africa’s Kalahari Desert IPs are forced to live around government-drilled bores for water and increased wind speeds, resulting in a loss of vegetation and adversely affecting their traditional cattle and goat farming practices. Glacial melts in the Himalayas affect rural dwellers who depend on the seasonal and long-term water flow.

Another example is that mild weather rain during winters in Finland, Norway, and Sweden often prevents reindeer from accessing lichen, their vital food source, resulting in a massive decrease in their numbers.

A study in Sage Journals, Indigenous climate change adaptation: New directions for emerging scholarship, notes that “Although Indigenous peoples’ perspectives and concerns have not always been accommodated in climate change adaptation research and practice, a burgeoning literature is helping to reframe and decolonise climate adaptation in line with Indigenous peoples’ lived experiences.”

The study gathers climate adaptation, decolonising and intersectional scholarship to chart the progress of addressing climate change in Indigenous contexts.

Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) defines “decolonising climate change” as restoring and reinvigorating Indigenous cultures, languages, self-determination, sovereignty, and land relationships. It means settlers relinquishing control over Indigenous lands and people.

The 2023 International Indigenous Climate Change Research Summit (IICCRS), held online, stands as a forum of hope and aims to amplify Indigenous voices, ideas, and actions to mitigate climate change impacts.

The summit also offers Indigenous researchers and communities a platform to share their knowledge and perspectives through evidence-based research, weaving together the latest well-researched solutions curated by Indigenous researchers and communities. 

“This includes environmental justice, equitable resource access, biodiversity conservation for ecological balance, and innovative climate adaptation strategies,” says Prof Nikora.

“The summit will be a celebration of Indigenous knowledge, research, and actionable solutions, uniting an assembly of Indigenous experts. It stands as a valuable platform for discourse, learning, and engagement with policy and decision-makers.”