Negotiating greater Māori participation in Antarctic and Southern Ocean research, policy, and governance

Abstract

As the world seeks to engage with Indigenous values to respond to environmental issues, Indigenous peoples seek to meet that need through genuinely equitable partnerships. In Aotearoa New Zealand, preliminary work towards Māori participation in its Antarctic and Southern Ocean activities has begun. We further that work here by analysing two successful international approaches to negotiating Indigenous participation in environmental research, policy, and governance. In doing so, this paper examines how Māori and other Indigenous peoples might continue to work towards equitable participation in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Given the complex nature of the Antarctic region, our analysis focusses on case studies in similarly complex multijurisdictional areas, in the Arctic, and across the Murray Darling Basin in Australia. Working towards equitable participation in each of these cases has been supported by the collectivisation of Indigenous voices, use and establishment of strong Indigenous organisational structures, consistent influence on environmental law and policy, articulation of Indigenous policy, and alignment of Indigenous knowledges and worldviews with the environmental objectives of the regions. These lessons provide high-level principles to support Māori and other Indigenous peoples as they seek to bring new paradigms and values to support improved management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.