Environmental Justice, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

Abstract

Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, and the environment that they are in relationship with, have been the targets of exploitation, extraction, and destruction. Environmental atrocities throughout the Pacific have demonstrated the ways imperialism, capitalism and white supremacy drive destruction through efforts to dominate and exploit for material gain. The relationship between Pacific people and the environment, which defines who they are socially, spiritually, and ancestrally, continues to be damaged and even severed by these injustices. The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of major environmental injustices in the Pacific and to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between settler colonialism and environmental injustices. Indigenous Knowledge (IK), with a focus on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), is incorporated to demonstrate not just the deep impact of injustices on Pacific people's cultures, but also to highlight how this way of knowing cultivates a path to revitalization and community resilience. Cultural practices rooted in TEK, such as the preservation of food systems, promote reciprocity between living beings and self-determination, necessary for community flourishing. With this understanding, Pacific peoples' relationship with their land offers further evidence of the critical role culture and IK can play in environmental justice policies and practices.

Plastics pollution as waste colonialism in Te Moananui

“…Today's major environmental (and thereby economic, spiritual, and cultural) injustices and inequities, which include plastics pollution, are a direct result of these racist, colonial, imperial and capitalist practices of theft, commodification, exploitation, and destruction and contamination of Lands, Oceans, and natural resources (Spencer et al, 2020;Andrews 2021;Manglou, Rocher, and Bahers, 2022), of dominant global economic institutions, funding frameworks, scientific practices, and power relations that are by-products of the colonial legacy (Andrews, 2021). As a result, not only have Indigenous peoples been forcibly displaced from their Lands, resulting in a loss of sovereignty, including an increased dependency on food imports, and food insecurity (Spencer et al, 2020), but the capacity of contemporary Moananui communities to respond to the multiple challenges of their Oceanic worlds has been affected (Teaiwa, 2018;Case, 2019). Colonial imaginaries of remote, distanced, and disposable small islands continue to permeate Western discourse (Case, 2019), justifying Te Moananui as a suitable site to defer the responsibility of plastics pollution.…”

“…Indigenous leaders in our study make it clear they look to success stories in the region (as opposed to outside the region) for inspiration in preventing plastic pollution. Indigenous-led solutions support human rights, including the right to a healthy environment, tandem political struggles such as political self-determination and food sovereignty, as well as the success and longevity of projects (Spencer et al, 2020). We must center the science and solutions of plastics pollution within the communities and ecologies of Te Moananui.…”

Regional Research-Practice-Policy Partnerships in Response to Climate-Related Disparities: Promoting Health Equity in the Pacific

“…The importance of responding to mental health challenges related to climate change has also been recognized throughout the region, evidenced by studies of mental health after typhoons [ 28 ] and distress related to climate change in general [ 19 , 29 ]. Also vitally important are interventions grounded in Indigenous and local knowledge systems and responsive to priorities in these communities [ 30 ].…”

“…Jemaima Tiatia has been working with the New Zealand Ministry of Pacific Peoples in developing the capacity to best support the mental health needs of climate change migrants [ 48 ]. Michael Spencer has worked with Native Hawai’ians in Hawai’i to provide evidence of the critical role culture and Indigenous knowledge can play in environmental justice policies and practices [ 30 ]. He is currently working with the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State on the impact of climate change on foraging and hunting.…”

Equitable Exchange: A Framework for Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences

“…Both of these examples underscore the problems with place-based research driven only by scientific goals and constraints, without consideration of community values and goals (Alegado, 2019). The summit of Mauna Kea is sacred to Indigenous Hawaiians, and astronomers' insistence on continuing to build telescopes there has led to increasing conflict that further marginalizes the Indigenous community and also threatens the continuity of astronomical observations (Borrelle et al, 2020;Kahanamoku et al, 2020;Spencer et al, 2020). By contrast, recent research on the flanks of Mauna Kea (among other places in Hawaiʻi) makes use of both the special features of the island and Indigenous knowledge of traditional agriculture to evaluate landscape-ecosystem interactions based on community needs (Lincoln et al, 2018).…”