Latest news with #traditionalknowledge
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Science
- RNZ News
'Pacific solutions are indeed global solutions' - Pacific Ocean commissioner heading to summit
Photo: AFP / Christoph Gerigk / Biosphoto The third UN Ocean Conference kicks off on Monday in Nice, France. Leaders, civil society groups, scientists and businesses, including those from the Pacific region, are due to attend the week-long summit. Dr Filimon Manoni, the current Pacific Ocean Commissioner, will be among the Pacific contingent at the conference. His role, established through the Pacific Islands Forum architecture, is to advocate for ocean priorities regionally and internationally. Manoni touched on what he expected to be discussed this week in a special pre-conference briefing. "We want this also to be the platform it needs to be - one where we can share our knowledge and success stories, to bring in traditional knowledge and share that, to show how traditional knowledge systems have helped the region manage our resources sustainably for generations," Dr Manoni said. "We want to share the community-led, coastal marine protected area initiatives [and] coastal resilience initiatives that are working in the Pacific." Examples of successful initiatives included the region's work on tuna fisheries management. The main tuna stock has been brought back from the "verge of extinction" through regional management techniques, he said. Now, Dr Manoni said, between 50 and 60 percent of the global tuna supply was from the western and central Pacific Ocean. He also pointed to the establishment of marine protected areas like the Cook Islands Marae moana, and more recently, the Marshall Islands marine sanctuary around Bikar and Bokak atolls. "Pacific solutions are not only Pacific solutions, but Pacific solutions are indeed global solutions," Dr Manoni said. "So what we want to see at the end of the summit of this conference is that the world lives with more understanding and respect for communities that rely on the ocean for livelihoods. Marine biologist and leading ocean conservationist Enric Sala said any progress around ocean sustainability would depend on the quality of commitments attendees agreed to over the week. Currently, eight percent of the world's oceans were protected. The goal was for that figure to be 30 percent by 2030, however Sala said the right areas of ocean need to be prioritised. "This is about quality as much as it is about quantity. It's not protecting any 30 percent of the ocean," he said. "We could protect areas that are now under ice and the least productive areas of the high seas and cover 30 percent of the oceans... yet that would not make any difference." Photo: 123rf/NASA Sala said the focus must be on ocean commitments and initiatives that increased marine life beyond what existed right now. That approach had already shown to be fruitful, both for ocean conservation and for interested industries like tuna fisheries, he said. For example, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which is one of the largest marine protected areas in the world located in the north-western region of the Hawaii islands. Sala said the sanctuary had led to increased tuna stocks both inside and around the protected area, benefiting tuna fisheries in the region. "The science is very clear. We have discovered over and over again that the only way for marine life to really recover is through fully protected areas where there are no extractive managing activities," he said. "And we have plenty of examples from the Pacific and from around the world, showing that the fishing industry is actually catching more fish and lobsters and scallops around no-take areas now than before, when they were fishing all over the place." Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo has urged global leaders to recognize their collective responsibility. "No nation, no city, and no community are immune to the impacts of climate change, nor should they be required to address the devastating effects of sea level rise on their own." During his address at the Ocean Rise and Resilience Coalition Summit, Teo said finding the right solutions will require statesmanship and empathy, "beginning with an acknowledgment that a situation globally caused must also have a globally just and equitable solution". The UN Ocean Conference occurs every three years. This week's official programme is due to finish on 13 June.
ABC News
5 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
‘You will feel this sense of responsibility' - Papua New Guinea resident describes the feeling of planting mangroves to help his community
In this edition: 'It's beyond explanations' - Fijian sailor speaks about experiences of learning and teaching traditional knowledge on board a traditional Fijian canoe. Also, how a lawyer in Papua New Guinea was driven to help his community to plant mangroves in an attempt to protect coastlines and marine life. And sea walls help protect communities and villages right across the Pacific, but are they the best way to combat rising sea levels? The weather and how it affects you is already part of your life, so let's keep talking about being prepared. *Pacific Prepared is produced by ABC International Development with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
CBC
29-05-2025
- General
- CBC
A Whitehorse high school now has an Njel. That sets a precedent, vice principal says
Social Sharing There was a time when Njels were everywhere across the land. "These are the types of houses we would have lived in," said Harold Johnson, a Southern Tutchone knowledge keeper. "There was [sic] towns, villages, even cities." Now the traditional, full-sized dwelling stands tall once more, behind Porter Creek Secondary School in Whitehorse. It's at the centre of a camp called Ǹtsǟw Chù Kets'edän Kų̀, which means "the learning house at Wild Rhubarb Creek" — the original name of the area. It's here all students will experience first-hand the transfer of traditional knowledge. That includes stories from Elders and land-based learning like hide tanning. Hundreds attended a ceremony hosted by the school Wednesday, with speakers saying the Njel deepens and solidifies cultural connections — both at the school and the community at large. Funded by the Arctic Inspiration Prize and the Yukon government, Johnson and Meta Williams designed and built the Njel. Students helped. With the exception of a massive cedar log from Vancouver Island at the top, the house is built mostly of local spruce, the boughs of which cover the floor. "To learn like this in a traditional structure is so much more [beneficial]," Johnson said. "You're not explaining how a house looks, you're actually in it. Right off the bat, [the students] totally get it, you know? "There's no words that I can say. This house speaks for itself, basically. You just gotta see it." 'If you live here, you need to learn about living here' Vice-principal Nicole Cross said the urban traditional camp sets a high bar, and at a school where at least 40 per cent of youth are First Nations. "I think what this means for the school is the ability to be able to truly incorporate cultural learning on a scale that isn't precedented really," she said. "We want to make sure we're honouring that knowledge and that culture." The Njel provides a space for cultural teachings and ceremony while making place-based learning accessible to everyone. "Where are students going to learn about it if not on the land, where it comes from?" she said. "This is a traditional building of this land. "If you live here, you need to learn about living here." As for what instruction will look like, Cross said to start — teachings about the Njel. "What is its meaning, why is it here, how was it built, and its traditional uses," she said. "Then any kind of learning. It's the space itself that is part of the magic. It's a living thing in itself." Cross hopes students from other schools can experience the Njel too, and that elders come by on a regular basis. "It's a bit of a scaffolded situation," she said, noting students continue to work on the building and take part in a nearby hide camp, which is on this week.
CBC
26-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Indigenous groups weigh in on closure plans for N.W.T.'s Diavik mine, urge more use of traditional knowledge
Some Indigenous groups in the N.W.T. are weighing in on Diavik Diamond Mine's closure plans, and saying Indigenous traditional knowledge should play a bigger role in those plans. The closure represents "the most important time in the mine's life," according to the Łutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN), in a written submission to the Wek'èezhìi Land and Water Board ahead of Diavik's water licence renewal. The First Nation says the mine's closure will determine how healthy the land and water will be after the operation is gone. Diavik is set to close early 2026, and its water licence, which authorizes water use and waste discharge, expires at the end of this year. A public hearing on the water licence renewal application will be held in Behchoko from June 10 to 12. In its letter to the land and water board, LKDFN urges that a condition to be added requiring Diavik to seek approval from a panel of traditional knowledge holders for all site closure objectives. The First Nation says that should be in addition to the scientific monitoring that Diavik has recommended. "Science alone will not instill confidence in the community that water is safe to drink, fish are safe to eat, that dust levels, revegetation, and landscape features are acceptable," LKDFN's submission reads. The First Nation says that only when scientists and traditional knowledge holders agree on these issues will the mine closure be deemed successful. The Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) raised similar concerns in its letter to the land and water board. Matthew Spence, CEO of the First Nation, wrote in the letter that as things stand now, YKDFN is "deeply concerned that the outcomes of closure will see continued impacts on the environment, harming the return of our people." "For the YKDFN, safe is more than absence of harm. Safe means that our members and their families can go to Ek'a Ti and know that not only will it [not] harm them, but that they can live and prosper," Spence said. YKDFN's letter also points to conflicting perspectives when it comes to water quality around the site, saying Diavik's science-based approach to sampling suggests the water quality is acceptable while traditional knowledge studies suggest otherwise. The First Nation says its most recent results from a monitoring camp in 2024 found only two of fifteen fish caught at the camp were deemed healthy enough for further sampling and consumption. "At this point, YKDFN are concerned that the system places the overwhelming reliance on the sampling programs based on Western science, with a failure to provide for meaningful incorporation of the concerns founded in TK [traditional knowledge] observations," the letter reads. Other closed mines left 'negative perspectives around mining' Another Indigenous government is more optimistic about Diavik's closure plans. The Tłı̨chǫ government says it hopes the Diavik closure leaves a positive legacy, and doesn't repeat the environmental damage seen at older sites in the territory like Giant Mine, or the Rayrock uranium mine. Brett Wheler, a senior advisor with Tłı̨chǫ Government's department of culture and lands protection, says they want to see more water testing done before Diavik closes. Wheler said other mines that left without a proper clean-up had long-standing impacts. "That's caused harm to the environment and to people and it's given sort of a negative relationship or negative perspectives around mining," Wheler said. He said the big areas of the Diavik site have already been cleaned up even before the mining is finished, which is a good sign. "From a technical perspective and from the elders' traditional and cultural perspective, when we go on site, we see that that clean-up work that's already been completed as really positive," Wheler said. Wheler described how Diavik is planning to make sure the water stays clean by putting a thick layer of clean rock on top of all waste rock piles. That means when there is rainfall or snow, the water will not come into contact with the waste rock before running off into natural streams and down to nearby Lac de Gras. "That's the first kind of big, big step to try to keep the water clean. So most of that has been done already," Wheler said. Still, the Tłı̨chǫ government is recommending careful water testing to ensure it's safe and healthy for Tłıcho citizens using the water and land around that area. "We want to make sure that if there are any small effects that are going to be longer-term after the mine is closed, that those are really as small as possible and that they don't have any safety or health risks," Wheler said. The Diavik mine is expected to be the first of the N.W.T.'s three diamond mines to close in the coming years, with Ekati expected to operate until 2029 and Gahcho Kué expected to operate until about 2030.
