Ngāti Whātua has been bringing together rangatahi from across the motu to its Ōrākei marae to wānanga on climate change and strategise solutions for different communities - as different communities have different needs.
“We know that climate change is real and the impacts of climate change are going to disproportionately affect us as tāngata whenua, us as Māori and this is an opportunity for our young people to step into a place of leadership,” says Bianca Ranson (Ngāti Kahu), who is part of Mauri o te Moana a Maori moana activist group.
The wānanga has discussed the impacts of Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle as many of those attending were impacted by extreme weather events.
Rangatahi talked about their experiences and how their communities, hapū and iwi were impacted.
Te Aata Rangimarie (Ngāti Whātua and Ngāti Kahu) is kaiāwhina for the wānanga and sister of Ranson. Rangimarie hopes to gain ideas she can take back to the Far North.
“We will survey our community to find out which nannies need a generator when the power goes, which bubbas need some medicine when the water washes away the road to town,” she says.
One of the rangatahi, Charlie Klink (Ngāti Rehua), says he was dragged along to the kaupapa by his mum, he says, “but today was awesome so far. I got to learn about climate change.”
Klink says rangatahi should be at the table when it comes to decision making. “Fresh minds come with fresh thoughts and sometimes our old people may be stuck in the old ways and this is a new era, new generation, new problems, need new minds.”
Klink says the climate is on the decline and believes the current government is no good and says everyone should all stand up and fight for better solutions and results.
Te Ao Māori News met the rōpu at Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei’s Pourewa, which is their māra kai. The rangatahi were being shown the māra and the native tree nurseries by kaiāwhina and pakeke of Ngāti Whātua.
“We know that food sovereignty is a really important part of our preparedness in the face of climate change and this is an incredible example of how to do that as a marae-based māra or community māra ito have sovereignty over what kai is being grown, how it is being grown and to know that as climate change intensifies it’s going to impact on the food supply chains, it’s going to impact on whānau ability to acess kai, whether that’s the cost or the accessibility of it,” Ranson says.
Intergenerational climate action
Ranson and Rangimarie are the daughters of Iwi leader Mike Smith who has been involved in climate justice and activism for over 30 years.
Rangimarie shares a memory of being at Rātana Pā and, on her way to the rubbish bin, she saw one of her papa’s global warming pamphlets in the mud.
“I remember feeling my manawa, oh, ‘cos we’ve had to share our papa our whole lives with the climate kaupapa and the protest, and what does he call it? The war.”
She remembers feeling pouri because they missed the opportunity to spread the mātauranga of why global warming, or climate change is important.
“This wānanga for me personally, I’ve never forgotten that moment that I felt like, ‘They didn’t listen to Papa’s kōrero...’ and so it’s been in the works ā-ngākau for ages.”
The rangatahi attending the wānanga will be on the frontline of the March for Nature this Saturday, 8 June, to protest the government’s fast-track bill and “war on nature” as Greenpeace says.