Indigenous climate justice in Aotearoa New Zealand: the dangers of (mis)recognition within climate policymaking

This paper explores Indigenous climate justice in the settler-colonial context of Aotearoa New Zealand. We adopt the interdisciplinary approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the extent to which Māori knowledge systems (mātauranga Māori) and Māori status as Treaty partners with the New Zealand Government (the Crown) were recognised and included in New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Act (ZCA). Through our exploration we reflect on and explore Māori experiences of climate injustice through lack of recognition or misrecognition. CDA helps identify whose voices dominated the ZCA process, revealing unequal power relations between stakeholder groups, the Crown, and Māori. By analysing policy documents, long-form submissions from Māori, and interviews with Māori we shed light on the power dynamics that shaped the ZCA process and the implicit assumptions regarding Māori participation in climate policy decision-making. The misrepresentation of Māori as stakeholders rather than treaty partners perpetuates historical legacies of colonization. By applying CDA within the context of climate justice, we highlight tensions between Māori aspirations for partnership and the actual treatment of Māori as stakeholders rather than Treaty partners. By closely examining the narratives surrounding the formation of the ZCA, CDA reveals the ways in which Māori voices are sidelined, their aspirations and concerns dismissed, their Indigenous knowledge systems (mātauranga-a-iwi and mātauranga-a-hapu) marginalized, and their rights to retain their tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) violated.本论文探讨了殖民定居背景下奥特亚罗瓦新西兰（Aotearoa New Zealand）的原住民气候正义议题。本研究采用批判话语分析（Critical Discourse Analysis，以下简称CDA）这一跨学科方法，考察毛利知识体系（mātauranga Māori）以及毛利人作为新西兰政府（王室）缔约伙伴的身份，在新西兰《零碳法案》（Zero Carbon Act，ZCA）中得到认可与纳入的程度。本研究在探索过程中，反思并剖析了毛利人因身份未获认可或被误认而遭遇的气候不公经历。批判话语分析有助于识别《零碳法案》制定进程中占据主导话语权的群体，揭示利益相关方群体、王室与毛利人之间不对等的权力格局。本研究通过分析政策文件、毛利人提交的长篇书面意见书以及对毛利人的访谈，阐明了塑造《零碳法案》制定进程的权力动态，以及围绕毛利人参与气候政策决策的隐含假设。将毛利人误表述为利益相关方而非缔约伙伴的做法，延续了殖民主义的历史遗留问题。本研究将批判话语分析应用于气候正义议题，凸显了毛利人对伙伴关系的诉求，与将毛利人实际视为利益相关方而非缔约伙伴之间的张力。通过细致审视围绕《零碳法案》制定的相关叙事，批判话语分析揭示了毛利人声音被边缘化、其诉求与关切被漠视、原住民知识体系（mātauranga-a-iwi与mātauranga-a-hapu）被边缘化，以及其保留tino rangatiratanga（主权）的权利遭到侵犯的具体路径。