In 2006 governments around the world adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, signalling a monumental step towards international recognition of the indigenous voice in decision-making as an indigenous right. It comes as political reforms give rise to governance frameworks that are more accommodating of indigenous participation, and acknowledges the need to empower the indigenous voice. This progress is fundamentally challenged, however, by recovery planners who, Pearce (2003) argues, fail to integrate recovery planning and participation.
The aim of the research is to investigate the extent of indigenous participation in earthquake recovery planning. A case study approach was utilised to guide this investigation, with a deep study into the extent of indigenous participation in the 921 Earthquake and Christchurch Earthquake recoveries. The case study approach was conducted in three stages of data collection and analysis. The first stage involved identifying and collecting relevant secondary data, while the second stage entailed conducting semi-structured interviews with individuals who have experience of earthquake recovery planning and indigenous participation in Taiwan and Canterbury. The third stage involved analysing the collected data for themes conducive to understanding the extent of indigenous participation in earthquake recovery planning.
The research finds that indigenous participation is indeed enabled in earthquake recovery planning. Moreover, it illustrates that participation is more empowering for indigenous peoples than ever before in colonial history. The extent of indigenous participation varies depending on the willingness of a government to both recognise participation as a process that ensures efficiency in planning and address indigenous claims for self-determination.
An implication of the research is that indigenous groups can anticipate how they may be involved in recovery decision-making before a disaster occurs. Another implication of the research approach is that different levels of government can assess how existing processes accommodate indigenous peoples and how these may be promoted in recovery processes. Ultimately, the research informs different government levels of how recovery planning is an opportunity to progress the realisation of indigenous rights, which the research shows is being taken advantage of.
