‘The Best of What Is Left on the Planet Is in the Lands of Indigenous Peoples,’ Says Nia Tero’s Chief Strategy Officer to the Media in Hawai’i

Hawaiʻi Public Radio interviewed ʻAulani Wilhelm, Chief Strategy and External Relations Officer, and Joseph Williams, Chair of Nia Tero's Board of Directors, during the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture.

At the world’s largest celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders, the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture (FestPAC), Nia Tero representatives joined in honoring Indigenous culture, arts, practices, languages, and dances.

While together in Hawaiʻi, ʻAulani Wilhelm (Kanaka ‘Ōiwi, Hawaiian Islands), Nia Tero's Chief Strategy and External Relations Officer, and Joseph Williams (Mãori, Aotearoa), Chair of Nia Tero’s Board of Directors, spoke with Hawaiʻi Public Radio about the direct link between Indigenous guardianship, cultural vitality, and heritage. Indigenous identity and culture are inextricably linked to the lands and seas they have called home since time immemorial.

“There is more to taking care of places than bringing conventional systems of science and policy together. The best of what is left on the planet is in the lands of Indigenous Peoples. The abundance of nature is correlated directly to the abundance of culture,” said Wilhelm.

Celebrating Indigenous cultures in spaces like FestPAC is also directly connected to the timely need to protect the places from which these cultures originate. Right now, there are local and global threats that Indigenous Peoples are facing due to the climate crisis, pollution of the oceans, and loss of biodiversity.

Wilhelm highlighted the importance of supporting Indigenous guardianship against the challenges of the present and the history of colonization, particularly in the case of the Pacific Islands, which are highly vulnerable to rising oceans.

“In the face of climate change, islands are already going away. So what does that say? When those islands go away, are we, as islanders, erased?” she told Hawaiʻi Public Radio. “... But we are strong, we have strong foundations, and we will persist.”

While presenting Nia Tero’s core values, Joseph Williams stressed that for centuries, Indigenous Peoples have been resisting extractive cultural practices and legal systems brought about by European colonization. Instead of fostering a reciprocal and respectful relationship with nature, these colonized ways of thinking have treated the land as a disposable commodity.

“It is that system that creates climate change. What Nia Tero is trying to do...is to break that cycle,” he said. “It is a paradigm shift. As deep as it can get.”

Ensuring Indigenous Self-Determination

FestPAC served as a reminder that Pacific Island nations and territories have endured because of the guardianship, time-tested knowledge, and place-based traditions of Indigenous Peoples, coupled with the rights, responsibilities, and capacities to bring forth the knowledge that Indigenous elders have passed down for generations.

Indigenous guardianship is a key solution to climate change. Today, Indigenous Peoples sustain at least 40% of Earth’s remaining healthy ecosystems – a critical foundation for maintaining a habitable planet. Nia Tero exists to support the self-determined needs of Indigenous Peoples and their guardianship of collective territories through long-term, trust-based partnerships. We do this by providing grants and contracts directly to Indigenous Peoples' organizations, networks, and trusted allies.

“If we know that the only proven solution, the time-tested solution to really caring for the health of the planet has been Indigenous guardianship … then we need to build from those values and bring everyone along with us. And that means changing practical things like the way money flows,” said Wilhelm.

Williams added, “We are trying to decolonize philanthropy. … If we are asking them (Indigenous Peoples) to teach us, we better not control how they spend the resources that we provide for them to teach us.”

Nia Tero works in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples who sustain thriving territories and cultures to strengthen guardianship of Earth and all beings. Our vision is of a world where Indigenous Peoples’ guardianship of thriving homelands and waters is enabled everywhere possible on Earth.