Kiingi Tuuheitia set to attend inaugural Traditional Pacific Leaders meeting in Hawai’i

Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver. Retrieved from rnz.co.nz

Kiingi Tuuheitia will attend the inaugural meeting of Traditional Pacific Leaders in Hawai’i in June where climate change and environmental protection are likely to be at the top of discussions.

Kiingitanga chief of staff Ngira Simmonds said the King met with Ariki from Fiji, Samoa, and Hawai’i earlier this year to discuss their role in a world impacted by climate change and the meeting would be a continuation of those discussions.

“What the Kiingitanga is looking for is how our indigenous solutions can be embraced as solutions for everybody, and not just seen as indigenous solutions that might be a nice addition or a nice frame to a wider context.”

Māori could share their insights on how climate change will affect island communities from their experience going through the cultural upheaval of urban drift, he said.

“Another reality of climate change is the impact on culture, as we see for different Pacific islands the rising sea levels and the moving and displacing of communities, those communities have to shift and live somewhere else.