Honouring Ancestral Wisdom: An Intergenerational Approach to Climate Change

*The views expressed by this Rangatahi member are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the organisation(s) they represent.

Name

Ginny Ellis-Kirifi

Your whakapapa / background

I am a proud Samoan/Pākehā wahine. I whakapapa back to the villages of Falelima and Satitoa in the islands of Samoa and have whakapapa to Scotland and England. I grew up north-west of Tāmaki Makaurau and made the move to Ōtepoti, Duendin in 2019!

In a couple of weeks, I will graduate from the University of Otago with my Masters in Politics. I dedicated my research to exploring what the relationship between decolonisation and climate change could look like. Specifically, what indigenous frameworks can Māori and Pasifika bring to climate change action.

‘Talanoa’ can be translated to ‘talk’ or ‘conversation’ in many Pacific languages. Through talanoa with Māori and Pacific participants, I was able to privilege the Indigenous experience in my research – a voice that has lacked privilege in academia. I could shine light on the significance of Indigenous traditions that have enabled sustainable relationships for generations, essentially (re)indigenising climate change discourse. It was through talanoa, that I could recognise the importance of an intergenerational perspective within environmental decision making.

Too often, our rangatahi are excluded from decision making processes despite carrying ample environmental knowledge and unique worldviews. I’ve now been working at Manatū mō te Taiao, Ministry for the Environment (MfE), as a policy advisor for six months and thankfully, recognising young environmental leaders in our community is crucial to developing policy that widely reflects Aotearoa.

My role as an advisor in the Intergenerational Change team within the Ministry is to support best-practice youth engagement, hold relationships with different rangatahi groups, and ultimately, empower rangatahi to connect with the taiao as kaitiaki. I feel the utmost privilege to be part of a team that sees young people as the intelligent, creative, and passionate environmental leaders that they are.

Intergenerational Change

One of the frameworks I explored in my master's research was time. The relationship between how one views time and how one, in turn, views the environment is directly intertwined. Within te ao Māori, people exist concurrently - as an ancestor, in the present, and as future generations. Time is spirally bound rather than the common ontological assumption of time as chronological and linear.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua. I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past.

This whakataukī positions the past and present as known, while conceiving the future as unknown and “backwards”, a place where one carries the knowledge of their past (including ancestral wisdom) into. We often think of ourselves as moving along a linear timeline; however, viewing the human experience as more of a continuous and holistic spiral is integral to not only te ao Māori, but also the Pacific worldview.

It is this conceptualisation of time that gives birth to an intergenerational responsibility crucial to climate justice. I believe that by embracing this Indigenous and intergenerational understanding of time, we can alter the way we view our obligations to future generations within climate change action.

Anthropogenic climate change is determined by the desire for infinite economic growth on a planet with finite resources. This thinking must be challenged. By completely reworking our relationship with time to understand our responsibility to the past, present and future, we can build the foundations of intergenerational environmental justice.

This is how we can engage with te taiao in a way that is beneficial for all existing things, of all times.

Rangatahi Advisory Panel (RAP)

Being a member of The Aotearoa Circle’s Rangatahi Advisory Panel aligns incredibly well with MfE’s work strategy. Our strategy, ‘a flourishing environment for every generation,’ is truly intergenerational at its core. To fulfil this strategy effectively, there must be more young people at the table. The RAP gives us the power to be there.

Additionally, as a team at MfE that champions rangatahi voice, and as rangatahi myself, I get to be part of environmental discussions and provide advice on projects with the goal of safeguarding Aotearoa’s natural resources. Despite what specific knowledge we can share, there is significant value in the perspectives, storytelling and worldviews we bring as young leaders.

Our first session was on the launching of the Aotearoa Circle’s climate scenarios and agri-adaptation roadmap. While there was no lack of banter between the rangatahi employees from Fonterra and Silver Fern Farms, there was intentional and safe space held for the eight of us to bring our thoughts, regardless of how much we knew about the agricultural sector.

What is your vision for the future of Aotearoa and the industry you work in?

Young people are affected by 100% of the decisions we make today so it is crucial that they be part of the problem solving. Young people offer creative, diverse and unconstrained pathways to so many of the issues we face today - ‘nuff said.

Importantly, as tangata tiriti and kaimahi in Aotearoa, we must also be deliberate and intentional in the space we hold for Indigenous rangatahi. Building the capacities and capabilities of our rangatahi motivates intergenerational environmental justice, while simultaneously challenging common chronological narratives of time that pose climate change as a linear trajectory of doom. How fun! Creating space for Indigenous rangatahi to enhance their rangatiratanga over their whakapapa and identity, enhances their own standings within community discussions about climate change, which is where climate justice all begins.  

Ultimately, when working with young people, this idea of intentional space should be at the forefront. Being intentional in the efforts we make to engage with rangatahi. Purposefully stepping back from spaces to allow young people to come forward and lead within them. Acknowledging the diverse needs and desires of different rangatahi groups and making engagement comfortable, for them.

We have an obligation to our rangatahi, to a flourishing environment that benefits all existing things, of all times, so let’s lead it.

Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei.

For us and our children after us.