Climate Justice and Indigenous Knowledge
Who is most affected by climate change — and what do indigenous knowledge systems offer as solutions?
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- We are learning how climate change impacts are unevenly distributed across the world.
- We are learning how indigenous knowledge systems offer tools for understanding and responding to climate change.
- We are learning to connect economic justice and environmental justice.
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I can explain why some communities suffer more from climate change despite contributing less to it.
- I can describe at least one indigenous knowledge system used for climate adaptation.
- I can connect the concept of kaitiakitanga to a practical climate response strategy.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
This handout spans Social Sciences and Science learning areas in Te Mātaiaho.
- Social Sciences / Ākona Pāpori: Students investigate how economic and environmental decisions create different outcomes for different communities (Level 3–4). They examine power, fairness, and the relationship between local actions and global consequences.
- Science: Students consider how different knowledge systems — including mātauranga Māori — contribute to understanding environmental change.
- Unit 4 — Ōhanga me te Tika: Economic justice includes environmental justice; those with the least economic power often bear the greatest environmental burden.
What Is Climate Justice? An Economic Lens
Climate change is not just an environmental problem — it is a justice problem. The countries and communities that have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions are often the first and hardest hit by climate impacts.
Consider this: The wealthiest 10% of the world's population produces about 50% of global carbon emissions. The poorest 50% produce only about 10% — yet they face the most severe flooding, drought, food insecurity, and displacement caused by climate change.
Key term — Climate Justice: The idea that the burdens of climate change and the benefits of climate action should be distributed fairly, and that those most affected should have a voice in decisions about response.
Why is this an economic issue? Wealthier nations and corporations have industrialised in ways that generate emissions. Poorer nations and indigenous communities often depend on land and sea in ways that make them directly vulnerable to temperature, rainfall, and sea-level changes. They often lack the resources to adapt.
Quick-write: In your own words, explain what climate justice means. Why is it different from simply "saving the environment"?
Indigenous Climate Indicators: Reading the World Without Instruments
For centuries before thermometers or satellites, indigenous communities across the Pacific and Aotearoa read climate signals through careful observation. These knowledge systems are not superstition — they are accumulated scientific observation passed across generations.
Maramataka
The Māori lunar calendar. Charts seasonal cycles — when to plant, harvest, fish, and rest — based on the moon, stars, winds, and observable nature.
Tohu
Signs or indicators in the natural world. The behaviour of birds, insects, or plants signals changes in weather, season, or ecosystem health.
Traditional weather reading
Cloud formations, wind direction, ocean colour, and star visibility are used across Pacific cultures to predict weather patterns — knowledge now recorded alongside meteorological data.
Ecological monitoring
Changes in species (e.g. kōwhai flowering early, eels moving at unexpected times) are treated as indicators of ecosystem disruption — early-warning signals for climate shifts.
Activity: In the table below, record one tohu or traditional indicator you know about, and explain what it might signal about environmental change.
| Tohu / Indicator | What it signals | How it connects to climate change |
|---|---|---|
| | | |
| | | |
Case Study: Pacific Islands — Suffering First, Contributing Least
Context: Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands are among the countries least responsible for global emissions. Yet rising sea levels, increased cyclone intensity, coral bleaching, and saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies threaten their existence as habitable nations.
The numbers: Tuvalu's per-capita carbon emissions are approximately 1.5 tonnes per year. The average New Zealander produces around 7 tonnes; the average American, around 15 tonnes. Despite this, Tuvalu faces near-total inundation of its land within decades.
Cultural dimension: For many Pacific communities, forced relocation is not just a physical displacement — it is the loss of ancestral connection to land, sea, and spiritual geography. The economic cost of resettlement cannot capture this loss.
Pacific leadership: Despite their vulnerability, Pacific Island nations have been among the most vocal advocates for ambitious climate action in international negotiations. The phrase "We are not drowning — we are fighting" has become a rallying statement of agency and resistance.
Comprehension questions:
- Why is it unjust that Pacific Island nations suffer the most severe climate impacts?
- What does "forced relocation" mean beyond just moving to a new location?
- What does the phrase "We are not drowning — we are fighting" tell us about how Pacific communities view their situation?
Indigenous Solutions: Kaitiakitanga, Rāhui, and Collective Stewardship
Across the Pacific and in Aotearoa, indigenous approaches to environmental management offer practical models for climate adaptation — not just cultural frameworks, but proven resource management strategies.
- Kaitiakitanga: Environmental guardianship — the responsibility of people to protect the natural world not as owners but as stewards. This includes the idea that ecological health is not separate from human wellbeing.
- Rāhui: A temporary restriction on harvesting from a particular area, allowing fish, shellfish, or plant populations to recover. This is arguably one of the world's oldest forms of sustainable fisheries management.
- Collective stewardship: Decisions about land and sea are made communally, with obligations to both current and future generations. This contrasts with individual property rights frameworks that allow one owner to deplete a resource for short-term gain.
Reflection: Choose one of the concepts above. Explain how it could be applied as a practical climate adaptation strategy today.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
There is a whakataukī: "He whakaaro nui, he whakaaro ki uta, he whakaaro ki tai." Great thought considers the land; great thought considers the sea. This speaks to the Māori understanding that environmental and human wellbeing cannot be separated.
Embedded in kaitiakitanga is the idea that atua planted trees whose shade they would never sit in. In te ao Māori, decisions are made for the benefit of those seven generations forward — not just the current users or owners. This is not metaphor; it is a planning principle.
Compare this to the dominant economic logic of quarterly returns, short-term extraction, and market-driven land use. Climate change can be understood as the predictable result of a system that cannot think seven generations ahead.
Discussion prompt: If Aotearoa adopted a kaitiakitanga-based approach to economic and environmental policy, what would change? What would stay the same?
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
- Related handout: Economic Justice Deep Dive — extends the inequality analysis to economic systems.
- Related handout: Iwi Economics and Mathematics — connects collective stewardship to economic modelling.
- External resource: Pacific Climate Warriors (350.org Pacific) — documentary and media resources on Pacific climate justice.
- Maramataka resources: Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand has detailed material on maramataka and tohu.
- Status: Ready to print and use
Aronga Rerekē · Differentiated Pathways
Tīmata · Entry Level
Focus on the case study. Answer the three comprehension questions. Draw a diagram showing who causes the most emissions and who suffers the most. Share verbally what you think is unfair about this.
Paerewa · On Level
Complete all activities. In your reflection, compare a Western economic approach to climate change (e.g. carbon trading) with an indigenous approach (e.g. rāhui or kaitiakitanga). Which do you think is more sustainable and why?
Tūāpae · Extension
Research one specific Pacific Island nation's climate adaptation strategy. Present a 2-minute argument: should Aotearoa provide climate reparations to Pacific Island nations? Use evidence of emissions disparity and impact severity in your argument.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to critically examine economic systems — understanding how wealth, power, and resources are distributed in Aotearoa New Zealand, and exploring indigenous and alternative economic frameworks that prioritise collective wellbeing, mana, and tino rangatiratanga over individual accumulation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how economic inequality is produced and sustained through systems, not just individual choices.
- ✅ Students can describe at least one alternative economic model — including a Māori or indigenous framework — that challenges dominant assumptions about wealth and justice.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide structured comparison frameworks (e.g., two-column tables: "current system vs alternative") for entry-level access. Offer extension tasks asking students to research a specific Māori economic enterprise (e.g., Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Tainui Group Holdings) and evaluate how it balances commercial success with cultural values.
ELL / ESOL: Economic concepts (equity, redistribution, exploitation, surplus value, collective ownership) need concrete grounding — use local NZ examples and visual infographics. Allow oral discussion of economic justice issues before written analysis. Draw connections to students' home countries' economic systems as valid comparative frameworks.
Inclusion: Economic discussions can touch on students' lived experiences of poverty, precarity, or privilege — create a safe, non-judgmental space. Neurodiverse learners benefit from concrete case studies rather than abstract theory. Frame economic justice as a systems problem, not a personal failing — this reframe is both accurate and inclusive.
Mātauranga Māori lens: The Māori economy before colonisation was not "primitive" — it was a sophisticated system of reciprocal exchange (utu), collective resource management (rāhui, kaitiakitanga), redistribution through manaakitanga, and wealth measured in relationships and obligations rather than individual accumulation. Colonisation deliberately disrupted these systems through land confiscation and the introduction of individual title. Contemporary Māori economic development — through iwi corporations, Māori land trusts, and social enterprises — represents a reclamation of rangatiratanga in the economic sphere. The concept of ōhanga Māori (Māori economy) offers a genuinely alternative framework for thinking about justice, sufficiency, and collective flourishing.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from basic familiarity with how markets and governments work. No specialist economics knowledge required — the unit builds this progressively through accessible case studies.
Curriculum alignment
- The Economic World — Social Studies: Understand how economic decisions affect people, communities, and environments, and how different groups seek to influence economic systems and outcomes.
- Understand — Social Studies: Systems shape how people and groups organise themselves — including economic systems that distribute power, rights, and resources.