Join us on Wednesday at 11am in the E14 3rd-floor atrium for a talk with Doug Jones, General Manager Māori at the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority, on the opportunities and challenges of integrating indigenous knowledge into environmental decision-making. By identifying shared values and concerns using language that avoids forcing people to choose sides, Doug is working to bridge cultural and philosophical divides over certainty, reductionism, genome engineering, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

"Weaving indigenous knowledge and science in environmental decision making"

Doug Jones in conversation with Kevin Esvelt

The New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has committed to a mātauranga (Māori indigenous knowledge) work programme that focuses on ways of weaving mātauranga into its decision-making processes. The aspiration is to weave an understanding of mātauranga into the daily work of the EPA, and to build on Māori partnerships to better protect the environment. The EPA has engaged proactively with Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao—its statutory Māori advisory committee, Te Herenga—the Māori national network centered in the regions, and Ngā Parirau o te Mātauranga—a group of elders who are treated as trusted advisors. One of the most critical strands of the mātauranga programme is creating an understandable framework for use by decision-makers, to examine the veracity of mātauranga when presented as evidence for environmental consent applications.