ECONOMIC & CLIMATE JUSTICE DISCUSSION

PAPER
Date:
To:
From:

3 February 2015
The National Iwi Chairs Forum

Tama tu, tama ora

Tama noho, tama mate
PURPOSE
1.

In November 2013, Te Rarawa (on behalf of the Te Tai Tokerau Iwi

Chairs Forum) presented to the National Iwi Chairs Forum (ICF)
regarding oil and minerals extraction issues. That presentation
offered a practical framework tool as an aid to whnau, hap, iwi in
making fully informed choices concerning extractive activities
affecting their rights and interests.1 It also highlighted a number of
broader environmental, economic, human rights, political and
strategic considerations.

1.1. This paper updates the ICF on developments since then, concluding
that:
a.

our climate change situation has now become the most urgent
and pressing threat ever to face not only Moridom, but society
as we know it and humanity as a global family;

b.

to meaningfully resolve the raft of challenges facing us, the

situation needs to be seen as:
i. a single holistic economic-climate complex, rather than a
climate situation separate from economic factors; and
ii. intimately tied to the realization and protection of human
rights and social justice.

1.2. This paper also seeks Members endorsement for a number of actionoriented recommendations to mitigate the risks and maximise
protection of our tamariki mokopunas future.

Report Structure
1.3. Our report is structured as follows:
Part One: A stock take of our situation in relation to whats
commonly known as the 2o Celsius tipping point.
Part Two: Connecting the big economic-climate complex picture
with the need for urgent mitigation action, particularly regarding the
extractive industry and deep sea oil drilling.
Part Three: Recommendations.

PART ONE: TIPPING POINT STOCKTAKE

ABOVE 2O TEMPERATURE RISE NOW CRITICAL THREAT TO

HUMANITYS SURVIVAL
At stake now, [scientists and climate-policy experts] say, is the difference
between a newly unpleasant world and an uninhabitable one.
2.

New York Times.2

The last extractive industry presentation to the ICF (November 2013)

cautioned members on a number of matters, including:
a.

The compounding negative climate change and environmental

effects of fossil fuels: as fossil fuels are used, they release their
carbon back into the atmosphere as a form of Green House Gas
(GHG), and atmospheric concentrations of GHGs are a key driver
of the warming of the climate system.3

b.

The significant severe weather event, health, socio-economic

and other risks of climate change to human populations,
including Mori;4

c.

The need to reconcile a range of tikanga Mori values and

indigenous human rights standards against the need for
extractive activity;5 and

d.

Economic considerations.6

2.2. These cautionary notes aside, at the time of the presentation the
focus of the Members remained at a localized level. In other words,
the predominant imperative was for their respective hap and iwi to
understand the pros and cons of particular extractive industry activity
proposed for their rohe, and make informed local decisions.
2.3. Understandably, while in the information gathering phase, many iwi
opted for a degree of open-mindedness pending a final determination
of whether to oppose such activity, or not. As the following
demonstrates, however, the worlds climate change situation has
become increasingly more desperate. Consequently, iwi leaders are
urged to recognise the need for, and commit to, a radically new
response to protect the future of our people.
Arctic Methane Emergency

Id say we all need to pray about this arctic methane emergency. This is the
smoking gun going off. The Arctic Methane Emergency is being totally underreported.
Stewart Scott, Founder, UPFSI7; Member, AMEG;8 Deputy DirectorGeneral IESCO9.

I dont think [civilization] can [survive a release of 50 giga tons of methane].

if you get to 4o of warming then collapse of civilization is whats going to
happen because the world wont be able to sustain anywhere near its present
population, so the result will be chaos, warfare.
-

Dr. Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics, Cambridge University. 10

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2.4. Members may be familiar with the United Nations (UN)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is the
global body of scientists that produces regular reports on the state of
climate science, and is basically the consensus authority on climate
change.11 Its latest Synthesis Report 2014 states12:
Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further
warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the
climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive
and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. ... Many
aspects of climate change and associated impacts will
continue for centuries, even if anthropogenic emissions of
greenhouse gases are stopped. The risks of abrupt or
irreversible changes increase as the magnitude of the
warming increases. [Emphasis added].
2.5. As with previous ones, the IPCCs 2014 report reiterates the need to
limit global warming temperatures to 2 o Celsius in order to avoid the
worst effects of climate change. For example, for about every 2C of
warming (and depending on which part of the world you live in), we
can expect to see13:

515% reductions in the yields of crops as currently grown;

310% increases in the amount of rain falling during the heaviest
precipitation events, which can increase flooding risks;
510% decreases in stream flow in some river basins; and
200%400% increases in the area burned by wildfire.

2.6. The implication in the IPCC report is that limiting global warming to 2 o
is doable. However, at the 2014 COP20 Climate Change Conference
Lima, Peru, scientists and climate-policy experts warned that it now
may already too late to prevent the temperature of the planets
atmosphere from rising to the tipping point at which the world will
be locked into a near-term future of drought, food and water
shortages, melting ice sheets, shrinking glaciers, rising sea levels and
widespread flooding events that could harm the worlds population
and economy.14 They describe the situation as Runaway: abrupt
irreversible rapid global warming on a catastrophic scale.15
2.7. As a key update omitted from the IPCC report, experts at the Lima
Conference who have been studying the phenomena raised the alarm
about the Arctic Methane Emergency. This refers to the rapid,
extremely dangerous melting of what was (in pre-industrial
atmospheric pollution times) 2.5 million square miles of Arctic sea ice
that acts in the summer as a cooling influence to the Arctic region,
northern hemisphere and to some extent the whole global climate:16
The Arctic summer ice albedo loss feedback (i.e., open sea
absorbs more heat than ice, which reflects much of it) passed
its tipping point in 2007 many decades earlier than models
projected, and scientists now agree the Arctic will be ice free
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during the summer by 2030. However, that is not to say it

couldn't happen very much earlier.
Models of sea ice volume indicate a seasonally ice-free Arctic
likely by 2015, and possibly as soon as the summer of 2013.
[Emphasis added].
2.8. However, to compound problems, the Arctic melting is set to release
methane into the atmosphere which currently lies frozen on the sea
floor of the Arctic continental shelf methane being a greenhouse
gas that is over 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide for 20
years after emission:17
If methane release from Arctic sea floor hydrates happens on
a large scale and this year's reports suggest that it will
then this situation can start an uncontrollable sequence of
events that would make world agriculture and civilization
unsustainable. It is a responsible alarm, not alarmist, to say
that it is a real threat to the survival of humanity and most life
on Earth. [Emphasis added].18

PART TWO: CONNECTION WITH FOSSIL FUELS - DEEP SEA

OIL DRILLING
We must limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius if we are to
avoid the worst effects of climate change. Carbon dioxide is the largest
contributor to human-induced climate change. Fossil fuels usage and
deforestation are its two main sources. The longer we wait to take action
towards sustainable production and consumption, the more it will cost to solve
the problem and the greater the technological challenges will be.
- United Nations Secretary-General
on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.19

The more that we can develop technologies that tap alternative sources of
energy, but also contain the environmental damage of fossil fuels, the better off
were going to be.
-

Barak Obama, United States President.20

"A great revolution is waiting for us. The [financial] crisis doesn't only make
us free to imagine other models, another future, another world. It obliges us to
do so."
-

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 21

Urgent Mitigation Action - Fossil Fuels

3.

The Arctic Methane Emergency requires urgent, rapid mobilisation

and collaboration on a national and international scale never before
seen. However, this paper only mentions this backdrop to emphasize
the absolute importance of everyone around the world doing what we
can to mitigate runaway climate change.

Iwi Position Statement Fossil Fuels

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3.1. It is proposed that the first step in taking powerful iwi-based

collective mitigation action would be for all iwi to agree on a climate
change position statement or platform. This would be at little if any
extra financial cost to iwi (although we would support any iwi who
sees fit to take other action). Such a statement could be done
severally or jointly, but there are obvious advantages in utilizing the
power of a united voice on at least some deal-breaker or bottom line
shared principles, values and action commitments.
3.2. Locally (i.e. in Aotearoa), an obvious form of mitigation is to keep
fossil fuels in the ground, and urgently transition to renewable energy
production and massive uptake by civil society. As mentioned in the
previous ICF Extractive Industry Discussion paper (at pp18-19), A
radical departure from business as usual and industrial status quo is
therefore required to realise the equally radical shift to a true
economy based on sustainable values. The risks are clear but so
too are the opportunities:
There is an international green race being run. Every
country in the world is taking part. It is as inevitable as it is
unstoppable. What we do next will dictate whether we
continue to be on the pace or be left behind. 22
3.3. Consistent with the previous ICF Extractive Industry Discussion Paper,
it is recognised that iwi are on different points of the spectrum in
terms of support for, or opposition to, fossil fuel extraction. However,
our current climate crisis is now absolutely compelling and can no
longer be ignored. Even iwi actively engaged in fossil fuel extraction
can now acknowledge the dilemma they face as being involved in
such a destructive sunset industry, and make a commitment to
transition into a better sunrise future of cleaner, renewable, safe
energy production. Indeed, many oil companies are doing exactly
that: recognising the need to diversify and transition out of fossil fuel
production to the creation of renewable energy technology.
3.4. This movement across the oil industry network is gaining momentum
not only of out of sheer financial need (e.g. the decline in oil prices),
but also due to the deafening condemnation from market investors, 23
faith-based groups,24 indigenous peoples,25 social justice NGOs and
other sectors of society regarding the oil industrys contribution to
our dire climate change situation.
Deep Sea Oil Exploration/ Drilling
3.5. At this juncture we observe that of the family of fossil fuel activities
currently underway in Aotearoa, deep sea oil drilling appears to be
one of the most controversial with our whnau, hap, iwi. 26 However,
we invite iwi to consider that our urgent climate change situation
calls upon us to transcend any differences that may exist as between
iwi, with areas of business, in governmental party politics so that we
may support one another to achieve a much higher purpose.
Next Steps
3.6. We note, given the wide reach of our economic-climate complex
situation, that most if not all ICF Iwi Leaders Groups have a kaupapa
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relating to this matter. When considering the best approach to

implementing the recommendations in this paper, we encourage a
mechanism that is mindful of strategically integrating and connecting
the imperatives of each ILG at a macro level.

PART THREE: RECOMMENDATIONS

"This is an emergency and ... we need emergency action."
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.27

Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have now
entered upon a period of dangerThe era of procrastination, of half-measures,
of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place
we are entering a period of consequences.
Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
1940-1945, and 1951-1955.28
4.

We can no longer justify continuing in a business-as-usual fashion.

The opportunity is there for those among us who are visionary and
innovative to lead the way to a thriving future for our tamariki
mokopuna, whnau, hap, iwi and nation; to see beyond what is and
believe in what could be; to create a nurturing, just world that is an
expression of Mori values and imperatives for the good of all
spiritually, environmentally, socially, culturally and economically.

4.1. Therefore, we recommend that the Iwi Chairs:

a.

Review the November 2013 Extractive Industry Discussion

paper;

b.

Note the unprecedented urgency of our current climate change

situation, including up-to-date data on the Arctic Methane
Emergency, which makes mitigation action a top priority for iwi,
and all New Zealanders;

c.

Note that our climate situation is:

i. a single holistic economic-climate complex, rather than a
climate situation separate from economic factors; and
ii. intimately tied to the realization and protection of human
rights and social justice;

d.

Agree on a joint ICF position statement on bottom line shared

climate change principles, values and action commitments, or
(failing that), individual iwi statements on the same;

e.

Note that d. above can be achieved at relatively little or no

cost to iwi;

f.

Consider further mitigation action to take as required; and

g.

Is mindful, in the implementation of these recommendations, to

strategically integrate and connect the imperatives of each
affected ILG at a macro level.
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Nku,

[Insert name/ designation/Iwi]

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The presentation powerpoint is loaded up to the secure Members space on the ICF website:
http://www.iwichairs.maori.nz/Kaupapa/.
2
Optimism Faces Grave Realities at Climate Talks (30 November 2014):
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/world/climate-talks.html?_r=0.
3
See para 4.11, p11. According to the leading international body for the assessment of climate
change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change is unequivocal. This is
evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread
melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea levels: See Scientific evidence of climate
change, at Gateway to the United Nations Systems Work on Climate Change,
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/pages/gateway/the-science; ref also Radio New
Zealand, Science - World Weather (4 july 2013), at:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2560999/science-world-weather
4
ICF Extractive Industry Discussion Paper, pp9-11.
5
ICF Extractive Industry Discussion Paper, p-14-15.
6
ICF Extractive Industry Discussion Paper, p-11-13.
7
United Planet Faith and Science Initiative: http://www.upfsi.org/about/.
8
Arctic Methane Emergency Group: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/about-ameg. For Mr Scotts
comment, see 18 seconds into the AMEG briefing video, and 24:20 mins respectively at the "Arctic
Methane Emergency" discussions at December 2014s COP20 climate conference in Lima, Peru:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2w0q6gxNiU.
9
International Ecological Safety Collaborative Organization: http://www.iesco-iesco.org/.
10
For Dr Wadhams comment, see 2:25 mins into the AMEG briefing video, at the "Arctic Methane
Emergency" discussions at December 2014s COP20 climate conference in Lima, Peru:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2w0q6gxNiU.
11
http://www.ipcc.ch/.
12
Taken from the IPCCs Synthesis Report Headline statements from the Summary for
Policymakers: http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ar5/ar5_syr_headlines_en.pdf. The full
Synthesis report is available here: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmentreport/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_LONGERREPORT_Corr2.pdf. Related presentation and video resources are
available here: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/.
13
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change Facts: Answers to Common
Questions:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basics/facts.html. The EPA site uses 3.6o Fahrenheit, which is
the equivalent of 2o C.
14
New York Times, Optimism Faces Grave Realities at Climate Talks (30 November 2014):
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/world/climate-talks.html?_r=0.
15
Arctic Methane Emergency Group: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/emergency. The disconnect
between the IPCC reports and this emerging and up-to-date expert advice reflects the time lag of
up to four years between official IPCC consensus reports, and reality, due to the colossal job of
collating all the data, and the bureaucracy associated with approving an IPCC report: ref 24:30
mins into the AMEG briefing video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2w0q6gxNiU.
16
Why is Arctic Methane an Emergency?: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/emergency.
17
Why is Arctic Methane an Emergency?: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/emergency.
18
For a full explanation of the Arctic Methane Emergency and its climate change implications as
presented at the 2014 COP20 Climate Change conference, Lima, see the series of three videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2w0q6gxNiU; https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=QQkNxuQ0DoI; and https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ATIm8Ov1Fks&list=PL3fbkJSEIMMCW6YQl_ZC1CaxLvmeoE-uf&index=3.
19

The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the
planet, Synthesis report of the Secretary-General on the post-2015 sustainable
development agenda (4 December 2014), http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?
symbol=A/69/700&Lang=E.
20
Democracy Now, Canadian Activists Urge Obama to Reject Environmentally Destructive Oil
Extraction from Albertas Tar Sands (February 19, 2009),
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/19/canadian_activists_urge_obama_to_reject# .
21
Nicolas Sarkozy wants to measure economic success in 'happiness' (14 September 2009), at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6189530/Nicolas-Sarkozy-wants-to-

measure-economic-success-in-happiness.html.
22
Pure Advantage Campaign: For a more in-depth coverage of the issues, we recommend reports
such as Pure Advantages Green growth: opportunities for New Zealand (November 2012): pdf
download available from their website at http://www.pureadvantage.org/. Pure Advantage, whos
Trustees include Ngi Tahus Sir Mark Solomon, made a presentation to the National Iwi Chairs
Forum on 7 December 2012 based on this report. Considerable attention is given to fossil fuels in
the report.
23
For example, see the list of institutions committed to divesting in fossil fuels, at Fossil Free:
http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/.
24

For example, see Pope Francis Calls for Action on Climate Change & Capitalism on a
Planet "Exploited by Human Greed" (31 December 2014):
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/31/pope_francis_calls_for_action_on; and World
Council of Churches pulls fossil fuel investments (11 July 2014):
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/11/world-council-of-churches-pullsfossil-fuel-investments?CMP=share_btn_fb .
25

Ref the relevant Articles contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf; and also the relevant operative
paragraphs contained in the Outcome Document from the 2014 UN World Conference on
Indigenous Peoples: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/69/2.
26
See, for example, the Position Statement of the Ahipara Komiti Takutaimoana, attached.
27
Arctic Methane Emergency Group: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/response.
28
Arctic Methane Emergency Group: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/response.