Out of sync: transforming environmental monitoring through indigenous perspectives of time

Abstract

Environmental monitoring is crucial for adaptive resource management and is rooted in the idea that effective management requires accurate measurement. Broadening this view, recognition of the importance of engaging local communities and embracing diverse perspectives has led to a growing call to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into environmental monitoring. Cultural or biocultural monitoring, which integrates Indigenous knowledge and practices, aims to rejuvenate cultural traditions and improve environmental decision‐making, but its full potential is often limited by dominant data‐centric temporalities in monitoring policies and structures. We contend that an understanding of the temporal element of human–nature relationships is critical for effective biocultural stewardship. This manuscript explores how reshaping environmental monitoring to align with Indigenous temporal perspectives, using Aotearoa New Zealand as a case study, could lead to more holistic and inclusive environmental monitoring. Through an exploration of relevant literature and semi‐structured interviews with leading Māori practitioners, we identify the temporal elements of cultural monitoring of streams and rivers. Māori perspectives of time are relational, which means they are inseparable from place and bound to both culture and the environment. This in turn influences the when, why, where, and how of cultural monitoring, which is event‐based, intergenerational, responsive to nature's calendar, and focused on building cultural resilience. Environmental monitoring could be more inclusive of Indigenous temporal ontologies by addressing three key elements, including increased temporal flexibility to account for local social‐cultural‐ecological calendars; adopting long‐term commitments to, and funding for, Indigenous communities to engage in environmental monitoring and decision‐making; and supporting holistic assessment including “other ways of knowing” and technologies that help characterize and support human–nature relationships in place. These insights highlight the need for a shift toward systems‐based approaches that recognize the dynamic relationships among humans, other‐than‐humans, and habitats, and foster community well‐being through environmental monitoring.