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Protecting Indigenous Cultural Property: Is Intellectual Property Law Actually the Answer?

August 27, 2017 by April Ingham

Photo by Leslie Butt

As a small not-for-profit organization, we’re always racing to keep up with our own ideas. A new program requires strategic planning and fund sourcing before the details of the project can be finalized.

It sometimes feels like trying to assemble a thousand-piece puzzle without knowing what the overall picture is, but this is when the most exciting ideas and challenges come to light.

Currently the whole PPP team is planning a multi-year policy and curriculum building project focused on Indigenous experiences of climate change. Using innovative research technology, we will be collecting personal experiences of climate change from Indigenous individuals and communities across the Pacific. These narratives will be bundled and analyzed by the contributors themselves to create a large-scale picture of climate change in Indigenous communities.

While planning this data collection process we needed to address what has recently become a high-profile issue in Canada. How can we collect Indigenous knowledge and experiences while ensuring that only the participating communities and individuals have the legal rights and access to them?

This year in particular, cultural appropriation and cultural property theft have made headlines in mainstream media. In Canada, the editor of a well-known literary magazine called for an award for cultural appropriation. Internationally, the United Nations (UN) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted a conference in Geneva on cultural property without consulting Canadian Indigenous groups.

While this visibility is novel, the theft of Indigenous property is obviously not a recent development. As American Indigenous scholars Angela R. Riley and Kristen A. Carpenter have discussed, what we now know as “cultural appropriation” is simply the continuation of the colonial process – taking from Indigenous groups for the consumption of colonizers. Despite being an age-old issue, it remains seemingly unsolved. Accordingly, the question across the world and in our office remains: how can the knowledge, experience, and creativity of Indigenous groups be protected from colonial exploitation and appropriation?

Internationally, groups like WIPO have proposed the application of intellectual property law (IP law) to cultural property issues. Trademark, copyright, and patent law are the three most commonly suggested IP tools. These have been used with some success by Indigenous communities. For example, the Cowichan First Nation has registered the trademark “Genuine Cowichan Approved” to separate authentic Coast Salish hand-knit sweaters from mass-manufactured counterfeits.

However, these laws were not built with cultural property and Indigenous ownership in mind. Built in limitations prevent them from meeting the needs of many Indigenous communities.

Trademarks, for example, prevent other manufacturers from using the “Genuine Cowichan Approved” label. Counterfeit sweaters will therefore be more easily recognizable. However, trademarks cannot actually prevent the exploitative use of Indigenous ideas or knowledge. For example, other clothing companies will still be able to produce sweaters using the techniques and patterns of the Cowichan Nation. They just cannot call them “Genuine Cowichan.”

Trademarks also fully adhere to and impose traditional settler understandings of ‘property’ and ‘ownership’ which do not reflect or accommodate the approaches of many Indigenous peoples who practice community ownership. Nations are not corporations—they are not legal persons—and some person must always own the rights to a trademark. When a trademark is used to certify community-owned knowledge, who should hold that title?

Patent laws as well are problematic. They grant the owner a bundle of exclusive rights, such as the right to produce, market, or sell a product. While the scope of patent law means it cannot protect Indigenous arts or creative works, hypothetically this law should be able to protect Indigenous knowledge, products, and discoveries from exploitation. For example, the Dene Nation’s spruce gum medicine has been stolen and internationally marketed by large cosmetic companies. In theory, such an invention should be protectable with patent law.

However, while utilizing patent law in this way may be more feasible for future inventions and discoveries by Indigenous peoples, the law contains limitations that prevent it from effectively protecting previous traditional/historical inventions, discoveries and designs. Firstly, patents registered in Canada only apply within Canadian borders. In order to protect an invention internationally, multiple international patents are necessary. As well, because of this, to rely on the system of patent law is to rely on a system that enforces borders that do not reflect the territorial boundaries of Indigenous nations.

As well, patent law in Canada has strict “novelty” requirements. The basic idea is that once an invention becomes available to be possessed by the public, no matter by what means, it cannot be patented. So, now that the Dene recipe for spruce gum medicine has become internationally known and available, under current patent law, the nation cannot patent the invention. Once made public, an individual has only a year to patent their invention before it becomes public property. This excludes traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples that have been shared (or stolen) over time from being protected by patent law today.

Furthermore, patent law currently requires a detailed written documentation of the ‘invention’ for which a patent is being sought – essentially blue prints and instructions for the creation of the product or process. This embodies the colonial notion that only written history and knowledge is valuable, and leaves no room for the continuation and protection of oral culture.

Unlike patents, copyright law does protect artistic works including written stories, visual arts, performances, and music. Holders of a copyright have the sole right to produce or reproduce the copyrighted work, and have surrounding “moral rights” which prevent the distortion, or modification of the work in its reproduction. But what about those elements of a culture which do not fit neatly into the categories protected by copyright? What about the oral histories or ceremonies integral to many Indigenous communities? These are not written works or performances in the strict sense, and therefore are likely to fall through the cracks of a copyright system.

Copyrights are also limited in duration, lasting only the life of the author and a further 50 years after their death. With knowledge and designs held together by a First Nation, the desire is to protect these resources indefinitely for their continued enjoyment by future generations.

Thankfully, no one seems to be suggesting that IP law in its current form is a reasonable solution to issues of cultural appropriation. There are certainly ways in which said law can be altered and supplemented to better protect Indigenous knowledge, such as limited exceptions to novelty requirements in patent law, or accommodation of Indigenous community in definitions of “originality” in copyright law.

However, the larger question is whether mere alterations to an imposed, colonial legal system are an appropriate or effective response to the exploitation of Indigenous peoples. To address the theft and commoditization of Indigenous peoples through the standing system of IP law is to try to fix the issue of colonial imposition with the continued imposition of Anglo value and legal systems. To accept IP law as the solution is to accept traditional settler understandings of “property” and “ownership” as correct, and to continue to enforce these values on Indigenous peoples.

In its 14th call for action, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission acknowledges that “the preservation, revitalization, and strengthening of [Indigenous] cultures are best managed by [Indigenous] peoples and communities.” The Canadian government has a recognized fiduciary duty to consult Indigenous peoples in matters that affect them. However, at the international WIPO convention in Geneva this year, none of Canada’s representatives were from Indigenous communities.

So, what of our work here at PPP? We are dedicated to ensuring that the communities contributing to our research maintain substantive control over the information they volunteer. We will ensure each community is the safe keeper of their members’ stories, giving them exclusive control over the future use of the data.

We can only hope that national and international policies on cultural property begins to do the same.

Please donate today to support our climate change work.

Filed Under: First Nations, Knowledge Exchange, South Pacific Tagged With: copyright, indigenous knowledge, intellectual property, law, patent

Kia Ora from Aotearoa

May 12, 2017 by April Ingham

 

Kia Ora Friends!

It is not often enough that Pacific Peoples’ Partnership can travel to meet with our friends and partners in the South Pacific.  Resources permitting, it is something we should aspire to do more often.  Being present in real time helps to deepen relationships north-south and leads to stronger programming outcomes.  But this travel comes at a real cost to both the environment and to our bottom line, so such trips are always designed to maximize this precious time and opportunity.

For the last week, I have been a fortunate guest in the lands of the long white cloud, Aotearoa.  Here on the north island along with partner Ora Barlow Tukaki of Toitoi Manawa Trust, we travelled to Ōtaki to participate within the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) Pacific Regional Hui hosted by the JR McKenzie Trust.  Ora and I presented “Rising Tides – The Power and the Potential of Indigenous Collaboration.”  This centered on how Indigenous peoples of the north and south Pacific are journeying together to gather and share knowledge for the betterment of our communities, building solidarity in response to the critical global issues facing us all.  We also announced our upcoming partnered conference: “Red Tide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit” which will be held in Te Kaha, New Zealand in May 2018 and are currently working together on the logistical elements of this important gathering through to the end of the week.

Our time in Ōtaki was truly inspirational, approximately 175 participants explored the conference theme: Remembering Our Past, Reclaiming Our Future.  Central to this topic were presentations from Māori Iwi (tribe) members from the local host community, they shared the struggle and triumph to reclaim their language and culture, their results are nothing short of a cultural renaissance.  Keynote presenter Mereana Selby shared how in 1975 there were no fluent Māori speakers under the age of 30 in their Iwi, and how they determined to radically shift this reality.  They launched Generation 2000 a 25-year strategic intervention with underlying principles that recognized: our people are our wealth; our languages are a treasure; the Marae (spiritual and cultural house) is our home and that self-determination is essential.  Their self-correcting mechanisms included: an educational model, strategies for economic impact, and renormalizing the language.  Factors to success included: clear tribal authority, the establishment of a Māori Centre for Higher Learning, recognition that children are their most effective marketers, the product is bilingualism, and it is benefited by a solid infrastructure, that is grounded in the environment, all Māori designed, built and controlled.  The result is northing short of their survival as 50% of their under 30s Iwi members are now fluent in the Māori language.  This major accomplishment will soon be recognized with Ōtaki`s designation of the first bilingual town in New Zealand!

Presentations and experiences varied over the course of the Hui, with sessions grounded in the principles of IFIP’s values of Respect, Responsibility, Reciprocity and Relationship.  They covered topical and political subjects such as how foreign investment is exploiting Oceania’s resources including experimental sea bed mining that threatens Pacific  peoples and our ocean, and further how in response to climate change, Islanders are not advocating to keep the global temperature below a 2 degrees increase, but rather 1.5 as this is the bare minimum of what is required to ensure the survival of South Pacific peoples (Maureen Penjueli, Pacific Network on Globalization); we also learned about tactics to increase participation in remote schools in Australia through finding intercultural spaces and mutual ways that respect Aboriginal values, traditions and cultures with transformative strategies for deeper engagement of parents and caregivers in the school systems… a journey towards the in between worlds (by Arama Mataira); several sessions reviewed the importance of Indigenous food sovereignty and showcased values of Māori food production through Hua Parakore certification program (Dr. Jessica Hutchinson).  What was clear from all these rich sessions was the importance of sharing our diverse journeys and in building solidarity.  As we are all so much stronger for the shared experiences and learnings.

On the heels of this inspired experience I sit in reflection at Te Kaha`s seaside now in the dark.  The power is out and a tropical storm is blasting us.  In a few days, I leave for Fiji which is also currently threatened by Cyclone Donna, a most unseasonable storm and weather permitting, I will visit the Loreto School for which we have raised funds in support of their recovery from Cyclone Winston in 2016.   

It is indeed timely that we set the groundwork for Red Tide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit.  Climate change is real, and affecting the most vulnerable nations, those that had no significant contribution towards its realization.  Canada must step up and address our part in this crisis, as noted by Dr. Rhys Jones at the regional hui “climate change is the intensification of colonization“especially given our north American carbon footprint and 150 years of colonization experience in Canada, it is time to accept our responsibility in this international crisis and do what is right, this means more than talk… it is time for action.

Enclosed in this edition of Pasifik Currents are updates, reports and articles on our Pacific Stream event, Red Tide, the Stand For Truth campaign, Intern reflections and our featured partner MediaNet. Happy reading to you and please do not forget to continue your ongoing support. 

We cannot journey without you!

April Ingham

Executive Director

  

Filed Under: South Pacific, Staff & Volunteers

Red Tide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit

May 12, 2017 by April Ingham

 

By Pawa Haiyupis

Since 1988 Pacific Networking Conferences have been a place of knowledge sharing for Pacific Peoples’ Partnership. Next year’s conference, Red Tide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit, will bring together leaders from across the Pacific to share experiences and learn from each other.

When: May 2018.

Where: Hosted in the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, a Māori iwi located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand’s North Island.

What: Indigenous scholars, activists, knowledge keepers and artists from around the world will connect, co-create and share stories related to Climate Change and resilience.

The Symbolism of the Spiral

The spiral is one of the oldest symbols used by humans. It represents the search for the centre of truth. The spiral also represents the current of the Pacific  Ocean, which will bring together Indigenous peoples from all over the world to the Summit in New Zealand.

Tohu

Indigenous Peoples throughout the world are the closest observers of their environment. A body of knowledge has evolved over centuries to ensure survival. This knowledge includes an awareness of tohu, or signs; environmental indicators that are studied and measured regularly to show trends or changes in the health of the environment.

In today’s world, there is less awareness of the dependence between people and the environment. This translates to less participation, less listening, watching, doing and learning about the world of indigenous environmental science. What is clearly being said by scientists, activists, Indigenous prophesies and people who still study and live with their environment is that climate change is occurring.

The goal of the Summit is to develop an Indigenous informed and designed Climate Action Toolkit that communities can start using immediately to combat their climate change realities. Both solutions and wiser action will emerge from the collective wisdom of each indigenous participant, and their representative communities.

Let us weave together stories from the north and south in search of the next best step for Climate Action.

To stay up to date with the Summit, visit: https://archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org/pacific-networking-conference/.

Filed Under: Climate Change, First Nations, Knowledge Exchange, South Pacific

Pacific Stream: Community Narratives of Climate Change

May 12, 2017 by April Ingham

On May 16, 2017 we hosted Community Narratives of Climate Change, an interactive panel at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC Canada. The livestream event featured voices of South Pacific Islanders on the relationships between climate change, community, displacement and indigenous knowledge. The panel was hosted by PPP board member Eli Enns. Panelists included Selwyn Toa (Vanuatu), Eugene Lee (Borneo) and Mikaele Maiava (Samoa).

With Pacific Islanders widely portrayed as the first climate refugees, our panelists unpacked the disconnect between community based and global narratives of climate change, and how the climate refugee narrative interacts with Indigenous identities and histories of Pacific Islanders.

After the livestream we spliced together some of the words which best captured the themes and ideas that were discussed throughout the panel. The video above captured these highlights.

You can watch the livestream in its entirety here.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Knowledge Exchange, South Pacific Tagged With: climate change, indigenous, knowledge exchange, livestream, pacific stream, south pacific

Gaps Between Gender Policy & Community Experiences in the South Pacific

April 11, 2017 by Pacific Peoples' Partnership

By Madeline Storey

Women of the South Pacific Islands are among most vulnerable groups in the world to the effects of gender inequality. Women across the Pacific face serious risk from violence, lack of economic opportunities, under-representation in leadership and limited access to healthcare and education[1].

In August of 2012, Pacific Island Leaders met in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, for the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum Meeting[2]. Specifically, the Leaders endorsed the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration (PLGED), annex 1 of the 43rd Communique, which included promises to ending violence against women, ensure reproductive health planning, encourage gender parity in schools and ensure targeted support for women entrepreneurs.

However, one only needs to be a woman in the South Pacific to know that such declarations and promises have yet to reach them or are ineffective within existing community structures.

An Issue of Access

A lack of access to economic opportunities, health care and education may stem from the lack of female representation in government at the local and national level. It is a continuing rhetoric in many South Pacific communities that a women’s place is in the home and not in the public domain[3], which has led to an appalling lack of female representation in Parliaments across the South Pacific.

For example, in 2016[4] women in Australia held 31.8% of the nation’s seats in Parliament. This seems quite low, but not as poor as the female representation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific. For example, women in the Cook Islands (Polynesia) held 17% of the nation’s seats in Parliament, while women in the Federated States of Micronesia and Vanuatu (Melanesia) held no seats.

One reason why women in SIDS have such low representation in government is due to existing social and cultural structures. Vanuatu, for example, has prevailing social and cultural perceptions of male-lead leadership[5], which has led to no women in parliament despite an increase in the number of women participating as candidates and publically questioning results. It has also resulted in very few male advocates for gender policy.

‘I was raised in an environment [in Malekula] where the man has power, but I always noticed  that women worked harder than men. Usually in decision making, the women just hang back and let the men do things. I don’t agree with this though. Men are the ones who always go to the meetings, and then nothing ever changes. This is because the wrong people are going. Women are always so silent in decision making. Even though they have good ideas, they just stay back. We really need to change women’s mindset and help them to see where they can contribute…we really need to have equal participation of men and women.’

– Male Leader, Malekula Vanuatu[6]. 

Improving the status of women requires significant social change, not just policy decisions. There is significant resource to show that when there are women in leadership, issues affecting women, youth and children are better addressed[7].

There needs to be a deeper understanding from the public donating to NGOs working in the South Pacific, and these organizations themselves, around the social and cultural complexities facing women in the South Pacific.

Aiding the South Pacific

It seems that every few years, there are new meetings, committees and development goals[8] that attempt to address the status of women across the world. Communities of the South Pacific need less western intervention and more western understanding when attempting to aid women in this region.

“For centuries, Third World women, other black women and working-class women have struggled against double or triple exploitation. As a Kanak, I disagree strongly with the liberal feminist view that “we are all women facing the same problem against male supremacy’ .”

– Susanna Ounei-Small, Kanaky (New Caledonia), 1995[9].

While we too are Pacific women, here on the west coast of Canada, it is important to note that gender inequality takes different forms for women depending on their circumstances. Factors such as race, age, location and the structure of local communities have a tremendous difference in the form and severity of gender inequality. It is a mistake to homogenize the experiences of women from across the world, as different contexts bring about different degrees of oppression.

The Complex Narrative Around the Status of Women

A balance between international development and understanding local community structures must be made in order to effectively aid women of the South Pacific.

It is important to note that a complex dichotomy between western or state law and community traditions exists in many regions of the Pacific, such as kastom law in Vanuatu[10]. It is likewise important to know that community structures vastly differ within SIDS of the Pacific. This makes it essential for groups seeking to effectively work with women to be aware of the complex structure of communities in the South Pacific and the expected role of women in these communities.

The South Pacific has been touched by centuries of colonial influence and intervention. This makes it hard to determine whether the gender hierarchy that can be seen in Pacific communities has been shaped by the influence of patriarchal institutions over the course of western development or not[11].

While many states in the South Pacific, including Vanuatu, Kiribati and Samoa, have been acceded[12] into the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)[13], aid initiatives still play a vital role in the region due to continuing violence against women[14].

Targeted women’s resources that have been implemented in the South Pacific include women’s networks, cooperatives and centers, safe houses and helplines. Women’s centers and cooperatives, specifically, act as legal information hubs and as an informal platform for women to share ideas. They also act as safe spaces for women[15].

‘This woman has never used the state system, so she doesn’t understand the processes. But she knows about the VWC [Vanuatu Women’s Centre] and domestic violence issues, and she knows that women should go to the Women’s Centre when they are facing these kinds of issues.’

– Researcher (Commenting on a female respondent in Central Malekula)[16].

Women’s centers and cooperatives can act as the “middle ground” for women seeking council on domestic violence and health issues that neither community law or state law has been able to address successfully[17].

Women’s centers and cooperatives can also act as a social change mechanism to compliment gender policy. It takes time to change attitudes and behaviors of people. Policy such as the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration (PLGED) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have put in place guidelines for independent nations to abide by, while women’s networks and cooperatives are addressing the immediate needs of women in the South Pacific.

 

Taking Action

The fundamental issue is how women are perceived in their societies. Violence against women, lack of economic opportunities, under-representation in leadership and limited access to healthcare and education are all symptoms of gender inequality. These are all the same thread that women share, to varying degrees, around the globe.

Supporting women, all women, is crucial to raise the status of women in the South Pacific. Have conversations about gender equality. Educate yourself on the obstacles women face, particularly in South Pacific communities. Seek out NGOs who are making the priorities of women their focus.

References:

  1. United Nations Women, ‘Women’s leadership and political participation’ http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation

  1. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (2012) Forty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Rarotonga, Cook Islands 28-30 August 2012. http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/2012%20Forum%20Communique,%20Rarotonga,%20Cook%20Islands%2028-30%20Aug1.pdf.

  2. Whittington, S., Ospina, S., & Pollard, A. A. E. (2006) Women in Government in Solomon Islands: A Diagnostic Study. Honiara: RAMSI. http://www.pacwip.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/WID%20Solomon%20Islands%20Diagnostc%20Study%20-%202006.pdf .

  1. The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. PIFS Cataloguing-in-Publication. ISBN 978-982-202-047-2. http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/publication/Pacific_Leaders_Gender_Equality_Declaration_2016.pdf. Pages 21, 25, 29 and 77.
  1. The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. PIFS Cataloguing-in-Publication. ISBN 978-982-202-047-2. http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/publication/Pacific_Leaders_Gender_Equality_Declaration_2016.pdf. Page 75.
  1. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Pages 113.
  1. Crawford, J. & Fairhurst, R. (2014) “What do women and men in Fiji think about women in politics? New insights on where change is happening”, Devpolicy Blog, November 19th, http://devpolicy.org/what-do-women-and-men-in-fiji-think-about-women-in-politics-new-insights-on-where-change-is-happening-20141119/.
  1. United Nations General Assembly (2015) Sustainable Development Goals. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
  1. Ounei-Small, S. (1995) “Decolonising Feminism” in Tok Blong Pasifik Vol. 49 #2 June 1995. Page 20. https://archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/49-2-Tok-Blong-Pasifik-June-1995-m.pdf .
  1. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Page 6.
  1. Campbell, I. C. (1989) A history of the Pacific Islands. University of California Press. Berkley and Los Angeles. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Ex7jr346fZUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=settler+influence+south+pacific+islands&ots=mA7NI9DVwp&sig=hoMwMyCLp1RvVNfjCipRQ2N1lkk#v=onepage&q=settler%20influence%20south%20pacific%20islands&f=false.
  2. United Nations Children’s Fund (1999) Introduction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Definition of Key Terms. https://www.unicef.org/french/crc/files/Definitions.pdf.
  3. UN General Assembly (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm.
  4. Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (2016) Annual Progress Report 2015-2016: Supporting the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration. http://pacificwomenreport.org/. Page 38.
  5. George, N. (2012) Situating Women: Gender Politics and Circumstances in Fiji. ANU E Press. Canberra. https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwibj9Cp5-rRAhVEy2MKHfBwAKYQFggtMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oapen.org%2Fdownload%3Ftype%3Ddocument%26docid%3D459879&usg=AFQjCNE4KSJKRsZsbDoVbGur9hpfQZxskg. Page 21.
  6. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Page 127.
  7. The Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2015) ‘Case study: Vanuatu Women’s Centre works in partnership with the police to eliminate violence against women’. November 26. http://dfat.gov.au/news/news/Pages/vanuatu-womens-centre-works-in-partnership-with-policy-to-eliminate-vaw.aspx.

[1] United Nations Women, ‘Women’s leadership and political participation’.

[2] Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (2012) Forty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Rarotonga, Cook Islands 28-30 August 2012.

[3] Whittington, S., Ospina, S., & Pollard, A. A. E. (2006) Women in Government in Solomon Islands: A Diagnostic Study. Honiara: RAMSI.

[4] The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. Pg. 21, 25, 29 and 77.

[5] The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. Page 75.

[6] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 113.

[7] Crawford, Joanne & Fairhurst, Rachel (2014) “What do women and men in Fiji think about women in politics? New insights on where change is happening”.

[8] United Nations General Assembly (2015) Sustainable Development Goals.

[9] Ounei-Small, S. (1995) “Decolonising Feminism”.

[10] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 6.

[11] Campbell, I. C. (1989) A history of the Pacific Islands.

[12] United Nations Children’s Fund (1999) Introduction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Definition of Key Terms.

[13] UN General Assembly (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

[14] Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (2016) Annual Progress Report 2015-2016: Supporting the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration.

[15] George, N. (2012) Situating Women: Gender Politics and Circumstances in Fiji. Page 21.

[16] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 127.

[17] The Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2015) ‘Case study: Vanuatu Women’s Centre works in partnership with the police to eliminate violence against women’.

Filed Under: Gender and Women, South Pacific

Rising Seas: Impact of Climate Change on Laone, Pentecost

April 11, 2017 by Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Sea Level Rise in Laone, Pentecost

 

Laone is a string of villages nestled alongside the coast of North Pentecost Island in the Republic of Vanuatu. According to local knowledge, the village was established on that site hundreds of years ago, with some gravesites dating back over 500 years. More recently, the community was home to Fr. Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first Prime Minister.  Laone is a community of substantial history. But with the intensifying impacts of climate change, community leaders and families now have to make tough decisions about Laone’s future.

Vanuatu, like most other small Pacific Island states, is critically impacted by climate change. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service has projected continued increases in air and ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and increased rainfall during the summer months and a decrease in rainfall during the winter months. A majority of the ni-Vanuatu population live in rural areas, sustained by subsistence economies and modest cash crops. Taro, manioc (cassava), kumala (sweet potato), coconuts, bananas and island cabbage are staples of food consumption in villages. But changes in rainfall and extreme storm events are now creating significant threats to food security with disease outbreaks in agriculture, water insecurity, food insecurity and declining health in rural communities.

Selwyn Toa is from Laone, North Pentecost. Selwyn is completing his final year of a Masters program at the University of Baltimore, USA. He is majoring in Global Affairs and Human Security with a research focus on the balance between mitigating and adapting to climate change in the Pacific Islands. Selwyn is motivated to study the effects of globalization and westernization on his community and on ni-Vanuatu culture. Questions that guide Selwyn include “How can we sustain and keep our cultures alive within the conventions of this globalized society? How can these different ideologies be integrated or interact with one another?”

Living in Maryland, Selwyn has noticed a divide between how Pacific Islanders and the West conceptualize climate change. “A couple months ago, I was in Washington DC for a seminar,” Selwyn recalled. “We were talking about climate change, and it was all about economic impacts. It is frustrating to see climate change through that lens. I recognize larger countries are concerned for the wellbeing of their citizens, which is dependent on economic activities. But for us in the Pacific, climate change is about surviving. It’s about protecting our environment that provides us with our daily necessities. Our lives are spent on the front lines.”

“So the challenge for Pacific Islanders is to strike a balance between our lived reality of climate change with the economic activities of big countries.”

Selwyn is very familiar with the effects of climate change. He recalled leaving for church one morning from his home in Laone, Pentecost, and finding human skeletons on the beach. The skeletons had washed ashore after the community graveyard was swallowed by rising sea levels. Community leaders promptly gathered the skeletons and buried them elsewhere.

Vanuatu has an extensive coastline, sheltered and sustained by extensive coral reefs. But the damage being suffered by the reefs in the past twenty years is unprecedented. “Community leaders share knowledge about how the coastline was in the past and the changes they have observed over the years. We know what is normal for a reef,” he noted. “But in 2016, after a few years of living abroad, I returned and could hardly believe what I saw. I could hardly find any healthy corals. They are not there anymore. Instead, the reefs were filled with dead corals.”

 

As sea levels rise, families are forced to make hard choices. Each cyclone season, villagers have to move to safer and higher grounds to be safe. Some members of Laone community are relocating to create new villages or settlements inland, leading to a dwindling community population.

“Psychologically,” said Selwyn, “people are just trying to survive. One of the accolades of Melanesians is that when facing a challenge, they’ll say that they are okay when they are not. Our life is subjected to the weather. It’s grating the community down, as people constantly have to ask themselves, ‘What’s going to happen next?’ It’s hard to stay positive when you just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

A lack of accessible information about the diverse effects of climate change – from drought to sea level rise, coupled with frequent earthquakes – inhibits communities from systematically preparing for extreme weather events. Selwyn explains how villagers this past year prepared themselves for the effects of a cyclone, in anticipation of another event like Cyclone Pam. But those efforts were ineffectual when they were met by El Nino and drought instead. Planning for the diverse effects of climate change requires accessible information and economic power, both of which are lacking in rural areas in Vanuatu.

“In rural Vanuatu, people have their own ways of prioritizing after cyclone depending on the needs of the people and communities,” Selwyn explained. “Sometimes, they have to choose between pulling their lives together after a cyclone or doing what’s best for the community. You’re always facing a lack of time –  for example, you may be trying to recover from a cyclone, but then there is another natural disaster such as earthquake, and then El Niño, and then another cyclone.’

‘People have been adapting and dealing with this extreme weather cycle for decades. Therefore, ni-Vanuatu’s lives are based on principles like ‘hope,’ ‘persistence,’ and ‘resistance,’ knowing that the new house they are building or new garden may or may not survive the next natural disaster. However, these people never give up.’

‘They keep doing what they have been doing because that’s what survival in the islands means.” 

Amidst the chaos of climate change, Indigenous knowledge and cultural networks have provided social security to rural communities. “It’s a community driven society,” explained Selwyn. “If somebody’s house is knocked down, another family will take care of them. People understand that by sharing their limited resources, they are able to avoid high death rates during extreme weather events.”

For centuries, ni-Vanuatu communities have relied on Indigenous knowledge, or kastom, to guide their preparedness for extreme weather events. The successes of Indigenous knowledge in mitigating the worst effects of climate change were evident with Cyclone Pam. Selwyn explained how the low death rates during Cyclone Pam could be attributed at least in part to Indigenous building methods. Ni-Vanuatu houses are typically constructed from local wood and bamboo, and thatched with leaves of natangura. These structures are typically able to withstand both cyclones and earthquakes. “It is important to consider how we can integrate Indigenous technology when planning how to build up our resilience, our communities, and how we are going to adapt to climate change,” Selwyn said.

Many of the Indigenous forms of building in the Pacific have eroded with the introduction of Western building techniques including corrugated iron and concrete. Construction is unregulated, and buildings are not build to standards and codes. This causes Western-style buildings to be more vulnerable to environmental hazards, and dangerous to inhabitants.

Uncertainty about the climate has led many ni-Vanuatu to revive Indigenous weather prediction methods. While there is great value in Indigenous climate knowledge, these practices have eroded through the colonial era and the knowledge is not well documented. “There is curiosity about the validity of sources: many people ask ‘Who is providing the information?’ There is also significant doubt about trusting Indigenous knowledge. One of the impacts of the colonization and Christianization of indigenous ni-Vanuatu communities is that traditional culture was portrayed as satanic and unacceptable to Western civilization.”

The propensity to look to Indigenous knowledge to explain changing weather patterns largely depends on whether populations are urban or rural. Rural communities have limited access to technology and communication platforms tend to look towards Indigenous knowledge, whereas those in more urban areas or those with access to communication platforms look towards scientific knowledge to explain unpredictable weather.

“Vanuatu government is to be praised for its effort toward advocating for the use of both indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge to be complementary to each other,” Selwyn notes.

On the international stage, Vanuatu has been a strong advocate of linking Indigenous knowledge to climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Jermone Ludvaune, former Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change, stated at COP 21 that “Vanuatu will push [for the rights of Indigenous peoples to share traditional knowledge in addressing climate change] to be further strengthened. We want a strong and durable Paris outcome that has political support.” Vanuatu further raised the issue of Indigenous knowledge at COP 22, advocating for further funding to be put towards Indigenous knowledge.

Selwyn noted that there are indicators that integrating local Indigenous knowledge into climate planning would lead to greater climate program success rates. “Pacific countries such as Vanuatu are in a unique position because most of the land belongs to the community. Therefore, the community needs to take more ownership over the climate adaptation and mitigation programming that is being directed by donors and foreign governments.”

Selwyn’s message to Pacific Islanders? “Keep doing what you’re doing; know that across all the villages in the Pacific everyone is sharing the same concerns. Children are being traumatized by cyclones in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji. Families and communities are being rebuilt, – it’s the same experience.”

“We need to keep looking for new and better alternatives to help us survive. If our ancestors before us have survived in the middle of the ocean for over hundreds of years and that legacy has been bestowed upon us to protect the next generation and our environment, then we can survive climate change. We can help ourselves; the beauty of our collective culture is the things we do together as a community that keep us strong. That spirit of ‘togetherness’ will be our strength to guide us in every way to foster our climate change agenda on the global stage. As individuals, do whatever contribution you can: write, use Facebook and Twitter to tell the story of our people. Let us take advantage of the technological revolution to get our message to world leaders. We have to let the world especially climate change deniers that climate change is real.”

Filed Under: Climate Change, South Pacific

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