Hearing the Voices of Environmental Harm from Oceania: The Potential of Restorative Justice

Abstract

This article explores the potential of restorative justice as a vehicle through which to hear stories of environmental harm from Oceania. Conferencing, a restorative justice process, is a face-to-face dialectic exchange where people are heard, their views valued, and repair of harm is central. As well as human voices, such conferencing is broad enough to encompass the voices of nature and unborn generations through human representatives. Recognising two central questions relating to the use of restorative justice will determine such use in the context of environmental harm in Oceania (including from climate change). Firstly, a definitional question: is the use of restorative justice in the face of environmental harm consistent with the theoretical boundaries of restorative justice? Secondly, a relational question: what is the relationship between restorative justice and traditional Indigenous conflict resolution (i.e., Indigenous justice) in Oceania? That is, has restorative justice co-opted and misappropriated Indigenous justice and what effect, if any, does that have in hearing voices from Oceania?