Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

Pacific Pulse: Pacific FutureWatch – What will 2021 Bring?

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

South Pacific Islanders have been demonstrating against nuclear weapons for many decades. Photo from Tok Blong Pasifik, Issue #6

Pacific Island countries have been influential in the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Nuclear Weapons, to go into effect January 22, 2021.

The National Cancer Institute (US) awarded the University of Guam and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center each five-year grants totaling $14 million to address and mitigate the impact of cancer on Pacific Islanders.

In 2021 Australia will set up the Pacific Fusion Centre in Port Vila, Vanuatu. This security centre will analyze and share information on a range of security issues including illegal fishing, drug smuggling, human trafficking and climate change.

In 2021 Port Vila, Vanuatu, will be the home of the new Pacific Fusion Centre. Credit: (In Memoriam: PhillipC / Phillip Capper)

The leaders of five Micronesian nations (Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia) are threatening to exit the Pacific Islands Forum unless they are permitted to choose the head of the regional grouping. This could provide an opening for China to extend its influence with Pacific Island nations.

Pacific Pulse: World War II’s Ugly Legacy in the Solomon Islands

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Prepared by Arthur Holbrook, Member of PPP’s Board of Directors and Chair of the organization’s Communications Committee.

Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands was the site of the first major success of the Allies against the Japanese in World War II.  American, ANZAC, Fijian, Tongan and Solomon Island soldiers pushed the Japanese off the island and successfully fought off several attempts to retake the island and its strategic airfield.  The fierce fighting, which lasted from August 1942 into 1943, left an ugly legacy: unexploded munitions. To learn more, click here. 

More than 45,000 of these munitions, ranging from hand grenades, mortar rounds, rifle bullets to aerial bombs, have been removed since 2011 when police in the Solomons started keeping records.  A much higher number are assumed to have been discovered prior to that date. It is estimated that as many as 50,000 unexploded munitions remain on Guadalcanal.  These munitions have remained hidden in the soil for over 75 years and are dug up regularly by the people of the island, 75% of whom are agricultural workers.  It is estimated that every year about 20 local people are killed by these devices.  As John Rodsted, the lead researcher with SafeGround, an advocacy group for the removal of explosives left behind by war, explained, the unexploded munitions can make farming a fatal occupation.  “They are scared of their land.” (1) 

From Journal of Conventional Weapons Disposal:

Livingston is a constable with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force on New Georgia Island. When he receives a report of old ammunition and bombs, he investigates. “I find many old bombs. The farmers and fishermen report them to the police. They in turn report to Honiara (capital of the Solomon Island). The problem is distance, logistics, time and money. The distances are great in the Solomon Islands and it takes time and money for the EOD team to be able to respond to all reports…” Photo courtesy of John Rodsted

Meanwhile, local fishermen sometimes use explosives to fish.  This practice has depleted fish stocks and damaged coral reefs in some lagoons.  Because coral is reduced to rubble by this practice, it often will not regrow.  Dynamite fishing has left some areas in the Solomons with no reefs and no fish. (2)

A number of areas on Guadalcanal have not been used for generations because they are contaminated with the buried munitions.  Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), working closely with local police, has been attempting to remedy the situation.  They are developing a database of the locations of the munitions.  These operations recently came to an abrupt halt when two ordnance removal technicians, one British, one Australian, were killed in an explosion.

International efforts have focused on anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions.  Since neither of these types of munitions is believed to have been used in the South Pacific, the region was not provided with international assistance for ordnance removal until recently.  Hence, organized efforts to deal with the unexploded munitions in the region only began in 2010 when Pacific Forum leaders called for assistance to address the problem.  The Forum’s Regional Security Committee’s strategy was put into place in 2012. Several countries have been selected as on-going priorities: Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Royal Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. (3)

Footnotes:

(1) New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/world/australia/solomon-slands-unexploded-ordnance.html

(2) Special Report: Solomon Islands’ Explosive Legacy, “Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Vol. 20, Iss. 3 [2016], 5. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2756&context=cisr-ournal&te=1&nl=at-war&emc=edit_war_20200925.

(3) Special Report, 3, 4.

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!

People & Passages: New Zealand’s First Indigenous Female Foreign Minister

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Prepared by Art Holbrook, PPP Board member and Chair of PPP’s Communications Committee

After elections last month that returned Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party to government with a landslide, Nanaia Mahuta has been appointed as the country’s first Indigenous Foreign Minister and the first Maori woman to hold such a senior cabinet position. (1). In 1996 Mahuta was the first Maori woman to be elected to New Zealand’s parliament and has held a number of cabinet posts over the years.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. Credit: Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta

Mahuta is the niece of the late queen Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII and is related to the current monarch of the Maori, King Tuheitia.  He is now the 8th Maori monarch of the Kingitanga. The Kingitanga, or Maori King movement, was first established in the 1850s as white settlers sometimes used unscrupulous means to gain possession of Maori lands. By claiming kingship over a part of the North Island that was still under Maori control, the Kingitanga developed into a significant political presence that has survived wars, land confiscations and the displeasure of some white New Zealanders. While having no official status in the New Zealand government and not being recognized by all Maori tribes, the Kingitanga has its own parliament and has some influence at the local level.(2)

Recognizing this heritage, Mahuta decided in 2016 to take part in a moko kauae ceremony where she received the traditional woman’s tattoo on her chin. The design of her moko is unique to Mahuta as it symbolically traces her lineage. She was inspired to get the moko by her daughter who challenged her to do it.

Several other Maori women in the New Zealand parliament responded enthusiastically to Mahuta’s initiative. Green Party MP Marama Davidson said, “I couldn’t think of a better wahine [Polynesian woman] to be the first role model for us; it’s absolutely fantastic. What I’m really excited about is the statement that it makes – that we have the right to wear our moko everywhere…”(3)

 

(1) CNN World, 2 November 2020, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern appoints country’s first Indigenous female foreign minister”.

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māori_King_Movement.

(3) RNZ, 9 August 2016, “Mahuta in MP tattoo first”.

People & Passages: Welcome to two new PPP employees!

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Visit the Teams Page to learn the full story about each of these talented young people.

Peter Boldt – Program Coordinator

peterboldt@pacificpeoplespartnership.org

Growing up in Lək̓ʷəŋən territory, Peter feels blessed to call this beautiful Pacific coast his home. He is inspired by his travels and the people and friends he has met from other countries. As a field school student in 2013, he had the opportunity to participate in local development initiatives through service learning in Uganda. This trip marked the beginning of his passion for advocacy, human rights and sustainable development.

Before completing his Master’s degree in International Development Studies, Peter was an elementary school teacher abroad for two years. In his work with PPP, he looks forward to continued learning about Indigenous knowledge exchange, community resilience and South Pacific development issues.

Agnieszka Zuchora – Partnerships and Development Coordinator

agnieszka@pacificpeoplespartnership.org

Agnieszka (Aggie) is a Greek born, Polish immigrant who grew up on Kwikwetlem territory. Her passion lies in traditional healing practices, environmental protection and working directly with the community. This led her to pursue a Master of Environment in Melbourne, Australia.

Through her degree, she focused on adaptation to climate change as well as the political ecology of development and examining western normative assumptions about gender and gender empowerment. Later, she volunteered in Israel learning about sustainable agricultural practices, then in Greece working with youth and women asylum seekers. She looks forward to furthering her understanding of Indigenous experiences and what it means to be an active ally across the Pacific.

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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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