Te Kāhu Pokere outside Parliament. Photo: Supplied/Pou Take Āhuarangi
A group of nine rangatahi Māori are making their final preparations to depart for Belém in the Brazillian Amazon to represent their iwi and Aotearoa at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).
The group Te Kāhu Pōkere, established under Pou Take Āhuarangi the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum and is the first iwi-mandated Māori youth delegation to attend a global COP.
While world leaders come together to negotiate COP also includes an outer zone with business leaders, young people, climate scientists and Indigenous Peoples sharing their perspectives.
Delegate Kyla Campbell-Kamariera told Morning Report that Te Kāhu Pokere will be part of those conversations, especially sharing stories and solutions to the climate crisis with indigenous peoples.
"Indigineous peoples have been doing this work for hundreds and thousands of years so it's nothing new to each of us."
The group is not part of the official New Zealand government delegation at COP but will spend some time with Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts at the conference, she said.
"We've met with the minister and some of his officials a few times prior to heading to COP as well so there is some alignment there but he also is understanding that there are some challenges between Māori-Crown solutions and our delegation is absolutely one hundred percent in support of spreading the stories and the strategies and the solutions of Māori."
Campbell-Kamariera said each of the delegates comes from different perspectives across each of their iwi and so provide different strategies and solutions, but for her it was about whakapapa.
"We whakapapa to the land, to the sea, to the sky, and that's really important to show the commitment that we have to climate justice and the climate crisis is that if we view the land and the sea and the sky as our relation, we look after them as if it were a brother or a sister or a mother or a father."
It was about reiterating that kaitiakitanga is climate justice, she said.
Campbell-Kamariera said after four months of preparation the group will begin their travels on Monday night, arriving in Belém early on Wednesday morning New Zealand time.
While backed by Pou Take Āhuarangi the group are self-funded, with most of the financial backing coming from their iwi.
Te Kāhu Pōkere delegates:
- Harris Moana (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto)
- Te Rina Porou (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki)
- Waimarama Hawke (Ngāti Whātua Orākei)
- Shannon Mihaere (Rangitāne o Tamaki nui-ā-Rua, Ngāti Porou, Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki)
- Taane Aruka Te Aho (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki)
- Aaria Rolleston (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Te Rangi)
- Kyla Campbell-Kamariera (Te Rarawa Kaiwhare, Taranaki Tūturu)
- Macy Duxfield (Ngaa Rauru, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi)
- Tahua Pihema (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Whātua Nui Tonu)
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