Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

How Climate Change and the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Food Security in the South Pacific

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By Peter Boldt, Program Coordinator, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

The South Pacific islands have largely avoided high COVID-19 infection rates that have severely shocked many nations in the rest of the world. This has largely been due to their geographic isolation, low population density and rapid public health responses such as the closure of borders. Nevertheless, the pandemic has increased socioeconomic challenges and exposed significant vulnerabilities. Food security in particular has been profoundly impacted as governments struggle to provide for citizens and supply chains continue to be disrupted. A recent DevEx article referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as a “magnifying glass” that has merely amplified pre-existing socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

 
Here is a traditional method of cooking local crops such as sweet potato and taro in Fiji, known as “Lovo.” Photo Credit – Axel Berg

It is important to distinguish the varying components which make up the generalized and accepted concept of ‘Food Security.’ The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” It can be broken down into 4 general components:

Availability: Is there food near me and my community?

Access:  Is food easily attainable?

Utilization: Does the available food contribute to my health?

Stability:  Will there be food for the next while?

All four of these critical components need to be met simultaneously if food security is to be realized. Achieving food security is a basic human right and is reflected in the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), “Zero Hunger.” Overcoming this immense challenge has been considerably undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic and in many instances, progress has been reversed.

In the case of the South Pacific, agriculture remains an important sector that provides a high degree of food security. Fisheries also play an important role in delivering a key source of animal protein. Disadvantaged communities, in particular, rely on subsistence farming and fisheries for their food security – both of which continue to be threatened by climate change. Nevertheless, given their small size, limited economic dynamism and small populations, South Pacific islands continue to be considerably dependent upon food imports which highlights their economic vulnerabilities. Besides, their remoteness limits the frequency of deliveries which jeopardizes both food stability and access.

South Pacific Island States are unique in that they are more isolated from global logistical networks than anywhere else in the world. They also have very limited arable land and bear the most severe impacts of climate change which include sea-level rise, unpredictable precipitation patterns, increased frequency of cyclones and both warming and acidification of the ocean among other hazards.  These vulnerabilities have hindered efforts to expand agricultural production.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is negatively impacting both agricultural and fishery sectors and as a result has resulted in unemployment, food insecurity, poverty and climate-induced migration to urban centers and nearby high-income countries like New Zealand and Australia. Higher rates of urbanization result in less consumption of traditional crops and instead, urban populations rely increasingly on processed imports, compromising their food utilization. Furthermore, higher reliance on these imports means that these populations are especially vulnerable to spikes in food prices – a consequence that we are now seeing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While tuna is a staple fishery resource in the South Pacific, it is increasingly being exported to outside markets, particularly in Asia.

South Pacific Island nations struggle with the highest indices of obesity in the world. Studies have significantly correlated this phenomenon with an increasing dependence on food imports which are disproportionally favoured over traditional foods and staples such as fish and root crops like taro and sweet potato. To make matters worse, these food imports are high in sugar, salt and fat which have led to high rates of diabetes and associated health problems. Malnutrition is thus an outcome of reliance on imported foods and can reinforce multidimensional problems like poverty. What occurs then is a cyclical pattern whereby poor households are forced to purchase low-cost, imported high-fat foods which may cause poor physical and cognitive development. This then leads to low productivity which can cause poverty. You can see then how poverty is intrinsically linked with food insecurity, how they can reinforce one another and why interventions and ambitious policy responses are needed to break these cycles.

Adaptation measures can take many forms and they are particularly critical if food security is to be realized in the South Pacific. According to a 2015 Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, maintaining a ‘business-as-usual’ approach will be a costly policy response and will likely result in negative impacts on the agriculture sector, food consumption levels, calorie availability and the severity of child malnutrition. The report goes on to recommend that the agriculture sector requires significant investments if it is to mitigate the effects of climate change. These can be in the form of improved crop management, efficient increases in fertilizer use and funding for innovative agricultural research. The report goes on to make a variety of other policy recommendations that ostensibly offset climate-induced impacts on the agricultural sector in the South Pacific.

These types of technical adaptation measures are important and certainly have a key role to play in realizing food security. But as previously mentioned, food security is a multidimensional and often deceivingly more complex challenge than it appears on the surface. It not only has to do with producing more food and mitigating climate impacts but it can also be a fundamentally political, economic and social issue. For instance, the commercialization of fisheries and agriculture sectors in many island states has led to the abandonment of traditional gathering systems in favour of so-called ‘cash crops’.

High value cash crops such as pineapple seen here in Papua New Guinea are favoured over diverse locally consumed crops. Photo Credit – Timothy Sharp

The intensification of commercial agriculture has in many instances eroded soil, compromised areas rich in biodiversity and merely led to increasing dependency on imports. This has largely been due to government pressure to increase exports and bolster the gross domestic product (GDP) of a given country. In other instances, many high-income countries and multinational enterprises have pressured local communities to plant cash crops in exchange for token compensation. This has been regarded by many activists as a form of neo-colonialism which only serves the interests of foreign consumers and is ultimately detrimental to rural farmers. Governments have largely been unable to stand up to the corporate food regime which has largely been enabled by unfair free trade agreements.

Rapid urbanization, climate change, and the neocolonial imposition of cash crops all threaten the varying components which conceptually make up food security. It has been almost a year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit but its monumental impacts on supply chains are continuing to challenge many small island states. Given their increasing reliance on global markets and food imports, this has dangerous implications for the region.

Of course, there is no easy solution but a few innovative responses have come to the fore which should be noted. As previously mentioned, technical adaptation measures that strengthen the agricultural sector will be vital in the long-run in order to mitigate the effects of climate change on critical crops. But in addition, the notion of food sovereignty and localization of food production has become increasingly relevant. Governments and foreign companies alike must recognize the right of communities to grow their own local food. This cannot occur until land rights are respected and returned to Indigenous populations and a slow reversion to traditional cultivating methods occurs.

Peter Boldt holds a Masters degree in International Development Studies and has worked internationally as a researcher. He is passionate about Indigenous rights, sustainable development and corporate accountability.

People & Passages: Announcing Phase 2 of the Indigenous Climate Action Program

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Prepared by Peter Boldt and Monica Shore (Iisaak Olam Foundation)

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) is proud to announce that we will be partnering once again with the IISAAK OLAM Foundation  https://www.iisaakolam.ca/ (IOF) for the second phase of their Indigenous Climate Action Preschool Program (ICAP). Phase 1 was entitled ‘Cultivating Connections: Building Relationships between Nature, Culture and Community through Early Childhood Education’.

Photo Credit: IISAAK OLAM Foundation

With the huge success of the pilot and the continuing support of the TD Friends of the Environment, we are pleased to support IOF as they offer a second phase of this inspiring educational program, with a pandemic-influenced twist: ‘Cultivating Connections between Children and Nature from the Safety of Home.’ This will include five nature-based educational modules that are delivered online and that young children, families, and educators can use and adapt. Indigenous and western knowledge systems and teaching styles/tools will be employed to provide a rich and unique experience.

“We hope that this program will inspire young children and their families to connect with and learn from the environmental and cultural diversity of the place they call home. By home, we mean not only the dwelling or house in which we sleep, but the broader environment and ecosystems that teach us about our place in the world and our responsibilities to care for it,” explains Monica Shore, Executive Director of the IISAAK OLAM Foundation.

Photo Credit: IISAAK OLAM Foundation

While COVID-19 has certainly challenged us and caused our organizations to make adjustments to our work, PPP is delighted to assist IOF with such important programs for children. This project will advance work that began with the launch of the pilot in January of 2020, where IOF facilitated early-childhood education experiences in Saanich Parks, weaving together Indigenous and western teachings about nature and diversity. The next phase of this program will provide virtual learning opportunities for connecting young children to their local environment, applying both Indigenous and western knowledge systems.

For more information, please visit https://www.iisaakolam.ca/cayac. More details to come in January 2021!

Deep-Sea Mining in Tonga, Nauru and Kiribati.

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Deep Sea Mining – Not the silver bullet we are searching for 

By Peter Boldt, PPP Multimedia Coordinator. Peter Boldt holds a Masters degree in International Development Studies and has worked in international research and projects relating to mining, corporate accountability and sustainable development.

The transition to a prosperous green future is possible. Large multilateral institutions, grassroots community organizations, political parties, and cutting-edge thinktanks among others have begun to take strong actions in the fight against climate change. The momentum to adopt renewable sources of energy has never been stronger, despite facing considerable pushback from an array of polluting and extractive industries. Mechanisms such as carbon markets, regulatory bodies, and watchdog organizations play a critical role in mitigating carbon emissions, as do innovations in green technologies ranging from highly efficient electric vehicles to sophisticated solar power plants that use sea water reservoirs to provide around the clock electricity. However, this dramatic shift has significantly increased demand for energy storage solutions which require production of vast amounts of metals and minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and manganese.

 The Patania II used to collect polymetallic nodules from the seafloor in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. Image: DEME Group

This unprecedented new demand has ushered in a boom for deep-sea mining (DSM), a once thought fringe high-risk venture which has now turned into a lucrative opportunity for transnational corporations. DSM involves harvesting metallic nodules from the sea floor at depths sometimes greater than three kilometers. Many of these mineral concentrations are located in what is known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a large area in the Eastern Pacific covering more than 4.5 million square kilometers. This area is regulated by an intergovernmental body known as the International Seabed Authority (ISA). This body is responsible for granting exploration contracts for DSM activities outside Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of respective countries. Thus far, South Pacific nations that have sponsored exploration initiatives both within their own EEZs and in the CCZ are Nauru, Cook Islands, Kiribati, and Tonga.

The extractive process is costly and extremely challenging from a technological perspective, given the great depths at which that machinery must operate and the remoteness of prospecting sites. Since it is a relatively new process, little technological progress has been made and detailed methods that corporations intend to use are not disclosed. This lack of transparency coupled with significant knowledge gaps of ecosystems at such remote depths has the potential to cause irreversible damage to fragile abyssal organisms and may trigger unprecedented chain reactions in already compromised ecosystems. The removal of nodules which serve as habitats, the creation of sediment plumes, and the discharge of waste, chemicals, and tailings has the potential to greatly disturb an area of the earth that we know very little about. In addition, the removal and disturbance of these fragile habitats is permanent. Nodules take millions of years to form and would guarantee a significant loss of biodiversity.

Polymetallic nodule with a shark tooth, recovered from 5000 meters below the Pacific. Image: Velizar Gordeev

Deep-sea mining has been lauded as a worthwhile economic opportunity, particularly for Small-Island Developing States (SIDS) whose economies rely heavily on tourism. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many national governments are struggling to provide employment and have implemented austerity measures to soften economic shocks. Desperation has intensified the pressure to grant DSM licenses as transnational corporations seek to take advantage of the uncertain economic climate to push their agendas. 

The extraction of minerals, however, has very rarely led to sustainable development, particularly in the global south. In fact, extractive operations have often generated divisions in many communities and led to conflict over control of territories and resources. Economists have also long questioned whether natural resource extraction is in fact a path to equitable and long-lasting development. Land-based mines have often caused more harm than good and have resulted in irreversible damage to the surrounding environment and social fabric of communities.

 Tuna migrations are particularly vulnerable to changes in the deep-sea ecosystem. Credit: A. Pavel

The connection between the ocean and Pacific Peoples goes beyond economic dependence. As with Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia, Pacific Peoples view themselves as custodians, not owners, of the ocean and its resources. This relationship links to traditional Indigenous understandings and the concept of ensuring that resources are protected and accessible for future generations. Additionally, Pacific Peoples understand the interconnected nature of the ocean, and how it serves as a network to reefs, and other shallow waters. Understandably, many members of civil society and traditional leaders have spoken out against DSM, largely out of concern for the health of their protected waters. 

Canada is home to many mining companies, some of which specialize in deep-sea mining. However, Canada’s own Fisheries Act (2019) prevents any DSM exploration within Canadian borders since it could potentially release harmful substances in waters frequented by fish. In light of this, Canadian companies have set their sights internationally, often targeting the resource rich waters of countries that struggle economically, such as Papua New Guinea. For example, the Canadian company Nautilus Minerals Inc. which was the first venture to secure a license for DSM, failed and declared bankruptcy within a decade of beginning operations. This particular project, titled Solwara 1 DSM, disregarded community perspectives and inconsistencies were found in relation to their environmental impact assessments (EIAs). Canadian mining companies often operate with impunity abroad, and ignore the guidelines that are provided to them, which highlight the need for proper consultations and rigorously researched EIAs. 

 Pictured is Jonathan Mesulam, a leader and advocate of local communities, urging the PNG government to cancel Nautilus Minerals’ deep-sea mining licences. Image credit URL 

To date, the largest players eying South Pacific waters are:

    1. DeepGreen Metals, a private company based in Vancouver. (https://deep.green/) It currently holds a 15-year license to explore 74,830 square kilometres of the CCZ.
    2. Global Sea Mineral Resources, a Belgian subsidiary of the Deme Group. (https://www.deme-gsr.com/) It too holds a 15-year exploration license in the CCZ. 3
    3. The Cook Islands has expressed the strongest political interest in DSM. They also have significant amounts of nodules within their EEZ and have granted DSM licenses.

Overall, there has been little concern or attention given to the potential social and cultural impacts of DSM. Just as terrestrial mining has done for decades, the focus of transnationals has largely been placed on mitigating environmental effects or ‘greenwashing’, which is the practice of misleading investors and the public into buying into their narrative of being environmentally mindful. In order for social and cultural perspectives to be truly respected and considered, transnationals must go far beyond individual consultations and high-level closed-door business meetings. DSM transnationals must engage with all levels of society, and meaningfully explore the social and cultural implications DSM may have. This can only be achieved through extensive dialogue and genuine engagement, where community stakeholders are treated as equal participants in the process. 

For these conditions to be met, a moratorium on all DSM activities is urgently required, given the uncertainties surrounding environmental impacts and the lack of social or cultural impact assessments. MiningWatch Canada, along with other partners, published an extensive report in May 2020 which you can find here. It calls for a precautionary pause on the issuance of new DSM exploration contracts until further studies are conducted and DSM impacts are better understood.

Proponents argue that DSM will provide all the necessary materials to transition to clean energy; they champion DSM almost as the ‘extractions to end all extractions.’ The problem is no one knows for certain the environmental impacts DSM might cause, particularly because it has never been tried at a large scale and is for the most part an experimental process. The urgent need to innovate in the face of climate impacts is critical, but it should never disregard or come at the cost of compromising environmental, social, and cultural resources.

Pasifik Pulse: Plant Biodiversity in Papua New Guinea

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“A Paradise Teeming with Life” 

New Guinea’s plant diversity the greatest in the world

Prepared by Zachary Fenn – PPP Development Coordinator

A new study suggests that New Guinea holds the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world, as reported recently in an article from The Guardian. This title was previously attributed to Madagascar, which is now thought to have 19% less variety than New Guinea. To arrive at this conclusion, 99 scientists from 56 institutions and 19 countries have scanned through countless samples, some of which were catalogued by early European travellers in the 1700s. Unlike Madagascar, which was catalogued in large part by 2008, biological research in New Guinea has been slower due to the island’s rugged terrain.

New Guinea plant life. ©Art Holbrook

The secret to New Guinea’s diversity is its varied geography. As quoted in the above article, “This allows for different types of habitats, such as mangroves, swamp forests, lowland tropical forests and also montane forests, which have high levels of endemism,” said researcher Cámara-Leret. “And then at the very top, just below the limit of plant growth, are these alpine grasslands … This habitat is unique to New Guinea in Southeast Asia.” New Guinea’s topography is relatively young in geological terms and has given rise to a wonderful wealth of species, many only found on the island, over the last million years.

A total of 13,634 plant species were identified in the study that earned New Guinea its “most diverse” title. The scale of the work done to establish this number was enormous, with scientists inspecting over 700,000 specimens. The research has spanned across generations and borders, facing stops and starts with shifting governments and changing colonial and corporate involvement in the region. With continued research in the region, the future is exciting; the study’s authors estimating that “4,000 plant species could be found in the next 50 years.” 

New Guinea man canoes under palms. ©Art Holbrook

The study’s main goal is to bolster continued efforts to conserve and catalogue New Guinea’s plant life. Its authors hope that more scholars will contribute to this dataset, as it is an important tool for informing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and protecting endangered species. Crucial to this initiative is the support of the two governments on the island, as well as partnerships between local Papuans and global supporters. This is a historic moment for New Guinea and an impetus to us all to help preserve such a precious place.

Pasifik Pulse: Palm Oil and Food Insecurity in Papua

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Palm Oil and Food Insecurity in Papua

Prepared by Tana Thomas, PPP Arts and Culture Coordinator, who is also a Nuu-chah-nulth youth leader, canoe skipper, and healing advocate.

In Papua, Indonesia’s largest and easternmost province of Indonesia, large scale palm oil plantation developments are not only threatening animal and plant species, but also the caretakers that have sustained these species for thousands of years. Sophie Chao, an anthropologist at the University of Sydney, has spent years working with the Indigenous Marind people of southern Papua. In her powerful article, she sheds light on the severe impacts that new palm oil plantations are having on the region. What she has discovered in her in-community work is that the Marind people are increasingly unable to obtain their traditional foods and are suffering from malnutrition. 

Merauke and Boven Digoel, the districts in southern Papua where oil palm estates are concentrated.

The practice of harvesting their own food is one of the many factors that sustains holistic wellbeing in many Indigenous communities. Witnessing the loss of their traditional foods can bring overwhelming feelings of grief and shame stemming from not being able to provide for their families. The Marind children of the village have grown up learning to sustain and create abundance within their natural food systems when harvesting. Since time immemorial, Marind children have been firsthand witnesses to the generations before them, following protocols and enacting ceremonies passed on through generations in order to coexist with their relatives of the forest. 

Marind families are now fighting to sustain their customs, feed their families, and protect the natural forests that are their home, working from their deeply held belief that everyone and everything is interconnected. Exploitation of their forest food systems is destroying the spirit and wellbeing of their communities. The generational act of enculturation is being severed due to the detachment from teachings that stem from their environment. It’s an enforced act of assimilation into a system that bypasses the basic needs of humanity. Unfortunately, this is a common fight Indigenous people are facing throughout the world.

The Indonesian government continues to approve more palm oil projects with increasing impacts on Indigenous Papuans and their lands. Learn more about this important issue and catch a glimpse of the stories of Marind families in Chao’s article published by Mongabay and The Gecko Project.

The Indigenous Climate Action Preschool Program

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Prepared by Tana Thomas, Arts and Culture Coordinator, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

Photo credit to IISAAK OLAM Foundation

We would like to honour and celebrate the IISAAK OLAM Foundation in the success of an educational pilot program (ICAP) that began in early January 2020. The Program was offered in the traditional territories of the Lekwungen People, specifically Marigold and South Valley Parks in South Saanich BC. 

The intent of the program was to introduce a traditional way of learning into today’s westernized public school system, specifically early childhood development and education. ICAP instructors led Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in learning about the hereditary role we have as a collective. The ICAP program focused on the core values of respect, responsibility and unity rooted in the teachings that come with environmental stewardship. The curriculum involved mindfully observing, identifying, and interacting with local plants, insects, and animals. Traditional stories were shared, and students took part in sustainable harvesting and restoration projects. Relationships were strengthened within the community as a deeper understanding of connection was received by participants of all ages. 

The IISAAK OLAM Foundation was thrilled to be able to create and deliver an alternative education model for young children that encourages place-based learning and cross-cultural literacy. We’re grateful to TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership, and Saanich Parks for supporting this special initiative. 

 Monica Shore, Co-founder, IISAAK OLAM Foundation

www.iisaakolam.ca

It is empowering to see programs focused on the prosperity of future generations. The ultimate law of our people is to protect our offspring. This includes creating a safe place to learn cultural teachings, such as environmental stewardship. As long as we protect and preserve our natural surroundings, our teachings will never be lost. Our teachings originally come from the land, the ocean, and observing all the beings within it! On behalf of Pacifc Peoples’ Partnership, our hands go up to the visionaries and leaders behind this initiative, and to the children for paving a new path for the wellbeing of all humanity.

Photo credit to IISAAK OLAM Foundation

A phase two COVID-19 friendly virtual program has been envisioned and we are now actively fundraising to support this incredible program led by IISAAK OLAM Foundation, in collaboration with Pacific Peoples’ Partnership and Saanich Parks, with support of a grant from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. 

Check out the final report by IISAAK OLAM to learn more about the program.

Implications of Super-Cyclone Harold April 15, 2020

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Vanuatu and Fiji are among the countries recovering from the impact of Cyclone Harold, a category 5 storm that hit the region in mid-April. $2.5m from the UN’s emergency humanitarian fund will help thousands of people in Vanuatu affected by Cyclone Harold. The UN has also offered support to other hard-hit countries in the South Pacific. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Initial assessments suggest as much as 90 percent of the population in Sanma, the most affected province of Vanuatu, lost their homes, and more than half of all schools and almost a quarter of health centres were damaged.” Emergency funds will go to safe drinking water, food, shelter, and healthcare.

Rock of Pangi, South Pentacost, Vanuatu. ©World Travel Guide

Damage on the Vanuatu island of Pentecost has been compared to a bombing.  Two of Vanuatu’s four deaths occurred there: a 90-year-old woman died after the cyclone tore off the roof of her home in Lekaro village, while a falling concrete wall at a church hall in Melsisi killed another woman. She had taken refuge with her family in a church hall where many others had sought shelter. The president of the newly-formed Port Vila Pentecost Disaster Committee, Ian Baltor, claims that response from the Red Cross and the National Disaster Management office ”was very late”, adding, “They have dropped off some relief packages but that was after a week. To me that is too long.”

The Fiji Government has declared a thirty-day State of Natural Disaster for areas affected by Cyclone Harold. This allows the permanent secretary and minister “the powers to use government resources for works needed in the affected areas to bring about normalcy”. For areas of the Pacific impacted by the cyclone, relief efforts have been impacted by the coronavirus. These countries are having to balance COVID-19 lockdown efforts with cyclone relief (at a time when Fiji has the virus) and subject any relief supplies to quarantine (three days in Vanuatu), among other issues.

For a comprehensive assessment of the COVID-19 virus as it is unfolding in many South Pacific countries and territories, please click here.

Prepared by Andy E. Nystrom, PPP Archivist & Research Assistant.

 

RedTide Summit 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus

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RedTide logo by Mark Gauti, T’Sou-ke Nation

In 2018 PPP was part of a remarkable project that saw the birth of the RedTide International Indigenous Climate Action Summit. This was hosted by Toitoi Manawa Trust in May 2018 in Te Kaha, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Attending that first RedTide was youth activist Kalilah Rampanen from the Nuu-chah-nulth Territory of Ahousaht on Vancouver Island, British Columbia which became the designated location and host for RedTide 2020. Kalilah was named youth Chair of RedTide 2020, working diligently with her family with the expressed permission and support of her Hereditary Chief Maquinna, towards hosting the next bi-annual summit in July 2020.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that all travel is now restricted for the foreseeable future, as is entry into this small Indigenous community. It has been a difficult but necessary decision to postpone the event. The Summit team is now looking at the possibility of hosting virtual programming this summer, and the Summit on Vancouver Island next year.

If COVID teaches us anything, it is that we are indeed interconnected and must work together in solidarity to responsibly halt the spread and successfully bring this pandemic to an end.

Forty-five Years and Counting: A Reflection on the Many Accomplishments of the Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

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Victoria Peace Walk-Nuclear Free Pacific by ©Belau-Jurgen Pokrandt

By Art Holbrook with grateful input by Jim Boutilier, PPP’s President Emeritus and Founder of SPPF

Seventy-five years ago in August 1945, the United States Air Force dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those bombs unleashed a race to build ever more destructive weapons. Several nations turned to the vast Pacific Ocean for these tests. However, vast as it is, the Pacific is far from uninhabited.

The United States began post-war tests starting in 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands of Micronesia with the residents of the atoll moved to Rongerik Atoll ahead of the first tests. They were left alone there for over a year before an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii found them starving on the barren landscape, and they were moved again. Even today, Marshall Islanders from islands near Bikini have elevated levels of many cancers; the female population has a cervical cancer mortality rate that has been reported to be 60 times higher than comparable mainland U.S. populations.[i] The people of the Marshall Islands have filed many lawsuits in an effort to compensate them for the desecration of their homelands and the damage to their health.

The United States was not alone in nuclear testing in the Pacific. The British, beginning in 1952, tested nuclear weapons in the Gilbert and Ellice Island archipelago which in 1976 became the independent nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Amid mounting protests from Pacific Island nations and anti-nuclear activists from many countries at the increasing evidence of nuclear fallout around the world, atmospheric and underwater testing was forbidden under the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Despite this ban, nuclear testing continued. The French conducted aerial nuclear tests on Mururoa and Fangataufa in the Tuamotu archipelago of French Polynesia starting in 1966 and underground tests up to 1996.

The remote and seemingly peaceful islands of Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia, the three regions that contain so many small island nations of the Pacific Ocean, have remained to this day part of the on-going great power struggle for dominance of the region. With the Japanese pushed out of the islands during World War II, the island nations soon became part of the Cold War as Russia attempted to build influence in Micronesia and later competition between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China as they sought friends and allies in Oceania as each of those nations sought votes in the United Nations. Today, China is active in the region, principally in Polynesia and Melanesia, as they fund major building projects and seek to influence island state governments. Their activity, and their aggressive approach in the region, have generated increasing concern in western capitals.

What does this brief history have to do with the 45th anniversary of Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP)? The Pacific Peoples’ Partnership, or the South Pacific Peoples’ Foundation (SPPF) as it was known from 1975 to 2000, was founded in Canada as an adjunct of a U.S.-based organization, the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific whose main goal was to protest the nuclear tests. The U.S. link brought suspicion on SPPF because of the American nuclear testing. Recognizing this challenge to SPPF’s identity and desiring more autonomy, the organization soon broke away from its U.S. parent and became an independent organization.

Even as social justice and environmental issues grew in importance in SPPF’s early years, the foundation remained responsive to military issues. It lobbied against Canadian military participation in naval exercises targeting a Hawaiian island sacred to the indigenous people there. It also became a partner with Pacific Islanders in the Pacific Campaign Against Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles. SPPF’s role in that campaign was to alert global peace committees that, while land-based cruise missiles were being curtailed in Europe, those missiles were making their way to Pacific testing sites.

But the early members of SPPF had a more ambitious agenda on their minds than just military testing. From the beginning SPPF’s vision was clear: to increase awareness among Canadians of development issues in the Pacific Islands, and to attempt to connect knowledge of input-and-response networks with the Pacific Islands. As well, the organization developed efforts to connect knowledge and cultural sharing among Indigenous peoples both in Canada and the Pacific with a goal of building solidarity. And, of course, we needed to develop a membership and funding base to support our activities both in Canada and in the Pacific.

SPPF/PPP’s First Executives, (l to r) Phil Esmonde, Randall Garrison, Stuart Wulff and Margaret Argue.

In the early days, SPPF was fortunate to have substantial funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and took full advantage of those funds to carry out ambitious projects in the South Pacific. However, government funding is a double-edge sword. It gave us the wherewithal to carry out programs but we always had to be sure we were within the guidelines set out by the government of the day. Early boards and directors recognized this challenge and began diversifying PPP’s revenue sources, a fortunate piece of advance planning as CIDA funding dried up in the 1990’s. As Stuart Wulff, former PPP executive director from 1991-2000, said, “In a way, the lost CIDA funding liberated us to follow our vision. PPP is now more engaged directly on the ground.”

What has PPP accomplished in our forty-five years?

Andy Nystrom, PPP’s invaluable archivist and research assistant, has compiled a fascinating selection of 45 projects and events highlighted in back issues of Tok Blong Pasifik, the foundation’s news magazine. These initiatives, ranging from artist exchanges to cyclone relief to HIV/AIDS prevention to youth and programs to combat violence against women, demonstrate PPP’s wide-ranging activities and relevance in the South Pacific. Long-time PPP members may celebrate anew our organization’s rich history while new members can learn what a dynamic and richly-rewarding experience being part of PPP can be. We hope you enjoy these glimpses into our archives; it is our goal to make those archives even more accessible in the future. Here are a couple of samples of what you will find there:

 Vanuatu, We Are With You! (2015)

On March 13, 2015, category 5 Cyclone Pam devastated the southern region of Vanuatu. By virtue of ties that run deep between Victoria, Canada and Vanuatu, the shock of this event quickly became very personal for Victoria, British Columbia residents that have family, friends or colleagues in the region. Reports from the country lent compelling urgency to mobilizing support focusing on this unprecedented natural disaster during which access to safe drinking water, food and housing became an immediate priority.

Vanuatu Member of Parliament, Ralph Regenvanu reported at the time, “The total population of Vanuatu is affected, as the cyclone travelled north to south, with the eye going over Shepherds, Efate, Erromango and Tanna. Cyclone Pam has damaged or destroyed 90 per cent of the infrastructure in Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital and largest town, and damage to the more remote islands and communities is equally devastating.”

In very short order, Pacific People’s Partnership (PPP) flew into action connecting with Canadian government officials, key organizations and individuals in Canada and in the South Pacific. A hallmark fund-raising event, “Vanuatu, We Are With You!”, did much to raise the disaster’s profile, bringing together PPP’s staunch supporters and many new friends of the organization to raise over $11,000. Half the funds were put towards a shipping container filled with much needed supplies for disaster relief and the remainder for rebuilding of schools and hospitals.

Enterprising West Papuan Women Initiative (2013-2015)

WATINI Indigenous Women’s Collective, Wefiani Village, West Papua.

Enterprising West Papuan Women was funded through Development & Peace, LUSH Canada, and other donors between 2013 and 2015. It was facilitated in partnership with the Manokwari-based Institute for Research, Analysis, and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH) to support livelihood opportunities for women in West Papua and promote gender equality. Under this program, PPP constructed several women’s cooperative centres within Arowi and Mansinam, both in the Bird’s Head Peninsula of West Papua. The centres function as small-scale, co-operative stalls for livelihood development and related skill-building activities such as financial management, strategic planning, proposal writing, and community organizing.

It has been no small feat for PPP just to stay alive for forty-five years … indeed, many NGOs don’t last that long. However, PPP has met many challenges to accomplish that feat. Even more, it has been an achievement to have produced so many significant programs and events for the people of the South Pacific and the Indigenous peoples of Canada in those forty-five years. We look back proudly at our past and with eager anticipation we look forward to what comes next.

I believe it can be said with confidence that PPP has demonstrated its resilience and enduring relevance over the years. We remain Canada’s only non-governmental organizational devoted to the people of the South Pacific and, as such, have a voice of authority that is acknowledged by out federal and provincial governments and by the people of many countries throughout the South Pacific region. In recent years PPP has sent First Nations youth to the islands as part of an expanded mandate that recognizes the historical parallels between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the peoples of the South Pacific as they work to overcome the challenges of their colonial pasts. While the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed some new developments, we are on the cusp of new and exciting programs that will add more chapters to PPP’s legacy as we look to our 50th anniversary.

Canadian Cabinet Minister Maryam Monsef, Squamish Council Members and PPP Executive Director April Ingham at a PPP/BCCIC Side Event The Longhouse Dialogues as part of a Women Deliver Conference, June 2019.

Prepared by Art Holbrook, PPP Board Member and Chair of the Communications Committee. Art has been a board member at PPP for the last three years. He has traveled to Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu and has developed an affinity for the people of the South Pacific island nations.

Pasifik Currents – Spring Edition 2020

by

April Ingham and Greta Thunberg in Swedish Lapland

Talofa Lava Friends,

Happy International Women’s Day!  Spring is starting to show itself here on Vancouver Island.  The days are getting longer, blossoms are slowly revealing themselves and a buzz of excitement is in the air as Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) grows ever nearer to our 45th Anniversary on April 8!  This is a special time of celebration and reflection for PPP, and we are thrilled to mark this milestone by embarking on a Wayfinding 2020 mission.

With the support of funder Tamalpais Trust, a San Francisco-based organization supporting Indigenous-led projects, PPP will connect with former, current and potential future partners throughout the South Pacific in a deep listening and learning mission. Ironically this mission recently began with a trip to Sápmi Territories (Swedish Lapland, Arctic Circle) where we witnessed Pawanka Fund’s transformative approach to philanthropy through global Indigenous solidarity and self-determination.  This incredible initiative is highlighted in the enclosed article.

Findings and inputs from Wayfinding 2020 will inform PPP’s strategic plans for 2020-2025 to ensure they support South Pacific Islanders’ stated priorities and self determined solutions. It is anticipated this will lead to strengthened partnerships, more impactful programming and the transformation of our Pacific Resilience Fund (PRF) into an Indigenous led fund.  So, watch for our continued updates on social media and through Pasifik Currents.

These have been busy and productive days here at PPP with lots of exciting programs in the works or just completed.  Want to learn more? Check out our 2018-19 Annual Report and Audited Statements and our recent articles about our activities including the Climate Connect Indigenous Youth Workshop in November 2019, plus check out the touching outcomes of our recent PRF Samoa Campaign as experienced first hand by our President Muavae Va’a in December 2019. You will also see our recent solidarity statement for Wet’suwet’en; and our newest feature Pacific Pulse, a curated and synthesized selection of emergent Pacific news, plus lots of other great updates!

Our Board, Volunteers and small team of Staff are working hard to be of service to the Peoples of the South Pacific.  To this end, we also work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples worldwide alongside many strong allies.  As we near our 45th Anniversary we urge your continued engagement and expanded charitable support of our mandate – Please donate today!  We look forward to celebrating this amazing milestone with you throughout 2020!

Yours in Solidarity for Peace,

April Ingham

Executive Director

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For 45 years, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership has supported the aspirations of South Pacific Islanders and Indigenous peoples for peace, environmental sustainability, social justice and community development.

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