NUWAO PODCAST SESSIONS

“I think it’s just been a perfect marriage of sort of positive environmental outcomes but also learning a bit more about my identity.”  Sam Wood (Tangata whenua), talks on his masters project, smart cities, his involvement in law, and how he reconnects with his maoritanga through engaging with projects concerned with climate adaptive policy change. 

“Working with nature is a lot more complex in Oceania and spiritual than it might be in other places so if you are working with a river in Aotearoa you are working with people’s ancestor. It’s not just like a body of water that has a flow rate and this many particulates or whatever. It’s something that has mauri, it’s something that’s alive. And we’ve seen that in our work across other places in t...

“I guess I have been exposed to how tertiary institutions operate and they have not been very proactive at reinforcing indigenous worldviews or reinforcing mātauranga māori or reinforcing our connection to the environment which is critical for the health and wellbeing of our communities”  Fleur Palmer (Te Rarawa/Te Aupōuri/Ngāti Awa o Tāmaki Makaurau) speaks on housing issues in Aotearoa and how h...

“We have to act with integrity when it comes to indigenous knowledge and be careful and intentional about how we frame what that means. If we are the lens through which people see that happening we have a responsibility to do that properly to be good stewards of that knowledge and those who hold it.” Sibyl Bloomfield (Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto & Ngai Te Rangi) is a Landscape Architect an...

“The main goal for me is to understand the impact of climate change more deeply and also help the local community to adapt to it to sort of create their own cultural changes that we see.” Willy Missack is a Doctorate Student at Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand. He is advisor to the Vanuatu Climate Action Network secretariat working with the community-based organization (CBO). He i...

“We don’t have time to talk about the problems anymore. We need to take action now. The science hasn’t changed, we need to have actions starting immediately. We have the power, we are the ones emitting this stuff we can stop.” We speak with Prof. James Renwick, School of Geography, Environment, and Earth Sciences at VUW. He is a researcher with broad knowledge of climate change, studying the weath...

“How do we affect system change and how do we shift to a more regenerative, more ecological, pluriversal or place based culture? We need to actively begin to build cultural systems that rebuilds mauri, social and ecological viability.” Associate Professor Amanda Yates works with Councils, iwi and communities exploring place-based, indigenous-led strategies and actions for urban transformation in a...

"I strongly believe that this way of thinking of women is the better way of thinking for us in the pacific, and I think for humanity."   Mr. Vaimu'a Muliava (New Caledonia Minister, member of New Caledonia Government in charge of innovation, and digital transition) emphasises the importance of respecting women as an integral part of respecting and caring for the land and ocean.   &q...

"The second part of the movement or decolonisation is indigenisation. That is - for me and for anyone who is indigenous - to have access to their knowledge. Not just access but also for them to try to build their own worldview from that knowledge." Join us in conversation with Dr. Albert Refiti, a research leader in the field of Pacific spatial and architectural environment at Auckland U...

"For indigenous innovation it's always about the collective. It's always about the whenua. It's always about making sure that the future generations can also - not only appreciate what we have in terms of resources - but make sure that they keep learning about our knowledge systems." Suli Vunibola shares his journey revitalising ancestral knowledge on his Fijian home soil...

"It's a reciprocal relationship between the natural environment and humans that needs to be nurtured."   Māia-te-oho takes us through the process of her Masters project, in creating her own pūrākau to address the health of Waiwhetū stream.  "I think in fields of climate change and climate adaptation there's a lot of these views from scientists that we need to do something...

Welcome to the official podcast of NUWAO (Nature-based Urban design for Wellbeing and Adaptation in Oceania). Hosted by Maija Stephens and Mercia Abbott, in this introductory episode we cover who we are, what we stand for and what's to come.  Stick around with us as we share kōrero with awesome people doing important mahi in their fields of expertise, all working towards today's climate...