Kaitiaki! Whaia says she is at COP29 to bring indigenous wisdom to influence policy and to provide guardianship (kaitiaki) of the climate negotiations.
Whaia, who now lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand, was raised as an Indigenous Aboriginal in Australia, where through her community she led a life of cultural practices that protect the environment.
“Our cultural practices, our cultural ways, and the environment have always been our teacher and our classroom. To recognize our ‘Kaitiaki’ responsibilities is to be with the environment in the way that we have always lived.”
She came here with the Wisdom Keeper delegation and non-profit Indigenous Global Eldership, expressing a preference for saying, “That we are walking with them.” There are 16 members in the delegation with people from all across the globe—Hopi nation, Totemic Mexican, Māori, Palestinian, African, Canadian, Australian, U.S. and Amazonian.