Publication Launch
Reweaving the Ecological Mat Framework was launched on the 17 September at the USP Japan ICT Centre Suva, Fiji
Reweaving the Ecological Mat is a collaborative initiative between a several faith based and civil society organisations to drive the dialogue about a sustainable Pacific, and work towards developing a development framework for the Pacific Islands that is actually centred on the values and culture of the Pacific people, and that honours community and the environment.
The launch was a milestone which included three books that have come out of the work done in this movement.
About the Books
Reweaving the Ecological Mat Framework: Toward an Ecological Framework for Development
Authors: Cliff Bird, Meretui Ratunabuabua, Arnie Saiki
“The proposed framework and its related methodology nuance a return to retrieve the Pacific multi-strandic consciousness, with its firm anchoring in relational imagination. It is a revolutionary consciousness that envisions a departure from the neat split categories we have set up to power and elevate ourselves over all other faces, both visible and invisible, of the Pacific ecological Aiga… I wish to congratulate the authors and acknowledge the vision behind this REM project. This vision, I believe, will stimulate talanoa and titillate the minds of many generations, today and tomorrow, to become revolutionary members of the Pacific ecological Aiga.” Professor Upolu Luma Va’ai
Ecological-Economic Accounts: Towards Intemerate Values
Author: Arnie Saiki
“We need to see the whole cost of development, including the retention of our cultural values, social wellbeing and preservation of the quality of the natural environment, and not only the benefits as they contribute to the GDP. It will require courage and a determination to dare to be different, but we in the Pacific Islands are different. Our unique cultural values, traditions, dependency on the natural environment, and the fragility of the environment make it inevitable that we adopt a different perspective on the way we value our development. The call for ecological economic accounting is timely and appropriate. It is an idea and call whose time is actually overdue… I would strongly commend this publication and congratulate Arnie and the Reweaving the Ecological Mat initiative for the timing of the publication.” Dr. Transform Aqorau
From The Deep: Pasifiki Voices for a New Story
Editors: James Bhagwan, Elise Huffer, Frances C. Koya-Vaka’uta, Aisake Casimira
“This publication reaffirms Pacific peoples’ determination to recreate and redefine different motifs for weaving their life stories, their dreams, as well as their arts and heritages and how they relate to one another and to nature. I congratulate the book’s authors and editors for this timely gift of love and call for action towards a better world.” Professor Konai Holeva Thaman
For Videos and pictures of the launch, visit the following links:
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
Institute for Mission and Research
Question and Answer Session: Launch of Reweaving the Ecological Mat (REM) Publications
This Question and Answer session was held with Dame Meg Taylor (Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum), Professor Konai Helu Thaman (USP Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies), Associate Professor Elise Huffer (REM Team) and Adi Meretui Ratunabuabua (Author of REM Framework).
Reweaving the Ecological Mat | Publication Launch
REM Regional
