Indigenous Art, Resilience and Climate Change

Benson Tracey Tracey Benson Joachim Lee Lee Joachim Indigenous Australian songlines, river worlds and realities

This section explores some of the river countries of Eastern Australia as a way of mapping and layering knowledge systems used to understand the river and to posit rivers systems and fresh water as a critical part of adapting to climate change. The rivers chosen all have significance to the authors, who have knowledge of these rivers through cultural connections as well as through lived experience. The focus is on three rivers: 1) Dhungala (Murray River), Australia’s longest river and part of the Murray-Darling Basin, the driest river system in the world (Murray River); 2) Breimba (Clarence River) of northern NSW. Apart from the Murray River, it is the largest river in mainland Australia south of the Tropic of Capricorn; and 3) Molongo River, which cuts through the middle of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and feeds into the Murrumbidgee River, part of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Smith Huhana Huhana Smith Allan Penny Penny Allan Bryant Martin Martin Bryant Mātauranga Māori, art and design: unconventional ways for addressing climate change impacts

In this study, the authors explore mātauranga Māori knowledge to cultivate a more culturally determined approach to land and waterways, and have generated visions, strategies and actions through art and design to provide a more inherently accessible, inclusive and integrative approach to adaptation. This research asks the question: How do we bridge the gap between these knowledge systems to make compelling and achievable solutions? Using a case study farm in the Horowhenua, the study applies three Māori methods: whakapapa (the interrelated genealogies between all things), hīkoi (walking talking hui with knowledge specialists across lands and waterways) and kōrero tuku iho (oral narratives of place). The intent of the research outlined in this section is to encourage adaptation of housing, agriculture and ecosystems to generate beneficial new relationships between settlement form, culture, farming and an enhanced ecological environment.

Suaalii-Sauni Tamasailau Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni Lefale Penehuro Fatu Penehuro Fatu Lefale <italic>O le ua e afua mai Manu’a</italic>: A Samoan indigenous reading of the impacts of climate change

This section explores a Samoan indigenous reading of the impact of climate change on sectors and systems. It reflects on Samoan actions and articulations of environmental responsibility. It examines the relationship between Western science and Samoan indigenous knowledge. It argues that in an indigenous reading, the most powerful motivator to mitigating and adapting to climate change lies in the imperatives of love (alofa): a love for fellow person, for family and for home.