Indigenous for Our Survival: Indigenous Knowledge Resolution Adopted at the Hawaiian Civic Club Convention
By Sharde Mersberg Freitas, Chapter Organizer | Reading time: 3 minutes
The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs convened for their annual convention last month, and adopted resolutions that speak to timely and important issues for Hawaiians and all of Hawaiʻi. Resolutions considered this year honored and recognized individuals for their life’s work, their dedication to the lāhui, and an array of topics related to our daily realities and also planning for seven generations into the future. While Prince Jonah Kuhio may be most widely credited for this advocacy that led to the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, he continues to be revered for his legacy of civic engagement with the over sixty Hawaiian civic clubs in Hawaiʻi and across the continental United States. While many of the resolutions are worth reviewing, this article highlights resolutions relevant to the environment.
Resolutions reviewed this year related to the environment included issues around sea mining, biosecurity and invasive species, military leases, and integrating Indigenous Knowledge for our just climate future. As part of this month’s installment on the Indigenous for our Survival series, a resolution that was adopted pointed to the importance of integrating Indigenous Knowledge for our just climate future. This resolution acknowledges the current and projected impacts of climate destabilization in Hawaiʻi and the world necessitate immediate action for our survival and chance at a just climate future. The impacts that we are already seeing are unique in some ways that warrant an appropriate, island-based science response. Indigenous knowledge is increasingly valued by various sectors as it continues to return us to living back in harmony with our environment, while also providing opportunities for a sustainable future.
Hawaiʻi is in a unique position, resource-wise and also geographically, to not only make big leaps towards a livable future but also be a leader for the world. The Indigenous knowledge of Hawaiʻi includes the practices that have sustained native peoples since time immemorial, and is often referred to as ʻike kūpuna, traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous innovations, and cultural practices. Our cousins across Moananuiākea who have already been displaced will likely come to Hawaiʻi as climate refugees – as the nearest island in the Pacific that is often perceived to be resource rich and resilient.
As a result, and in light of this background, this resolution:
Urges the Governor and the State of Hawaiʻi to work towards a just climate future by integrating Indigenous Knowledge into policy and decision making processes related to climate adaptation, climate mitigation, and climate resiliency;
Urges the Governor and the State of Hawaiʻi to formulate and identify goals to facilitate a just climate future that purposefully and meaningfully includes Indigenous Knowledge as an integral component; and
Insists that ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi should be integrated, practiced, and invested in as a key mechanism to achieving a just climate future.
While this resolution was reviewed and discussed in committee, the words of the chorus in the song “Nā Wai ʻEhā” were shared. As the chorus calls out the names of the famous waters of Maui – Waikapū, Wailuku, Waiʻehu, and Waiheʻe – this was shared in honor of the civic club’s Maui Council who hosted this year’s convention. Additionally, this mele was shared as an example of how our ʻike kūpuna (or Indigenous knowledge) is coded within our mele that carry significance in each of these names of how we might best care for our wai and ʻāina. Similarly, as decisionmakers look to develop and identify potential solutions for our just climate future respective to climate adaptation, climate mitigation, and climate resiliency, this resolution urges them to integrate Indigenous knowledge as part of their policy and decisionmaking. Afterall, Indigenous knowledge has been developed here since time immemorial and offers best practices that have sustained us for generations.