Abstract
Of all the forces that are driving the trajectory of the Great Acceleration (Steffen et al., 2015), anthropogenic climate change is the most critical. Within the spectrum of human activities, the contribution that tourism makes to climate change is worthy of dedicated attention. Tourism is characterised by unbridled demand for travel and is based on entrenched path dependencies, most notably high-carbon modes of transportation such as flying (Peeters et al., 2018). This poses enormous challenges for the much-needed transition towards a low-carbon tourism future (Higham and Miller, 2017). For geographically remote countries with heavy economic dependence on tourism and international air travel, decarbonising tourism is an imposing challenge. Aotearoa 1 New Zealand is one such country for which decarbonising tourism is critical to its response to global climate governance. In Aotearoa, there is growing recognition that Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) has an important part to play in informing climate change responses (King et al., 2008).