Blue carbon as a strategy to promote climate change mitigation and Indigenous sovereignty - PhD Student Mere Takoko

Image (L): Mere has sailed with various waka hourua and is a board member of Tairāwhiti waka. Image (R): Mere with her mother Judge Caren Fox before the departure of the maiden voyage for Tairāwhiti waka.

Titled ‘Hinemoana Ki Tai: Restoring the Ocean Knowledge of Hawaiiki’, Mere’s PhD focuses on developing a Blue Carbon Plan for climate resilience based on mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori perspectives.    

“Hinemoana Ki Tai addresses the question of what policy and legislative measures would be most effective, and in what context, for advancing climate change mitigation while reinforcing indigenous sovereignty. These measures will be captured into the Hinemoana Ki Tai plan for Te Tairāwhiti and other coastal tribes.”   

The plan will act as a resource for cross-cultural exchange among those working to address the severe climatic variations and extreme weather events that are expected across Aotearoa and the wider Pacific region over coming years.   

Part of Mere’s research is to connect with a diverse range of perspectives and experiences around traditional mātauranga-based approaches to climate change mitigation responses. 

“My research suggests that most Māori in Te Tairawhiti do not have faith in central or local government meeting their needs as climate change impacts are felt throughout the region,” explains Mere. “A significant proportion of Māori also want to use mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) in local climate change solutions and actions led by Māori for Māori.”  

And to complement this mahi, Mere is set to travel through the Pacific to meet with indigenous leaders and visit blue carbon projects to piece together the bigger picture, looking beyond Aotearoa.  

Blue carbon includes carbon sequestration processes (the removal of carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere) by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems, mostly by algae, seagrasses, macroalgae, mangroves, salt marches and other plants in coastal wetlands. Mere will be mapping out what an indigenous Iwi/Māori led blue carbon regime could look like on the East Coast and how best to leverage Iwi/Māori rights over blue carbon in future policy and legislation.

“While my thesis follows a Kaupapa Māori approach with the epicentre of the research being in Tairāwhiti and, specifically, my hapū, there is a common source of mātauranga Māori and that is Hawaiiki,” she explains. “All Iwi can whakapapa to this knowledge and of course all Pacific peoples. To honour our Hawaiikian legacy, my research is embracing the views of other Iwi and our Pasifika kin.”   

Images above: Mere recently visited astronomical sites in Egypt including Dendera, famous for recording the ancient Egyptian star maps and zodiacs.

Being a PhD student is just one of the pōtae Mere wears; a staunch advocate for indigenous rights and environmental issues, Mere has worked with a number of international and nationally based NGO’s including the International Indian Treaty Council, Te Waka Kai Ora, Greenpeace Aotearoa, the Indigenous Women’s Network and more recently Conservation International.  

Mere currently serves as Vice President of Conservation International Aotearoa, complementing her already strong background in government, having served as Pou Whakatere for He Pou a Rangi (the Climate Change Commission) and other Senior policy and Cabinet advisory roles.  

Looking ahead, Mere’s rangahau will take her across the globe, connecting with whanaunga across the Pacific and to Egypt to present at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference at the end of the year.    

Mere’s PhD is supervised by Dr. Ocean Mercier (Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington).