Nihi Indigenous Media was founded in 2013 after a wave of militarization in Guam jeopardized islanders’ access to clean air and water. Activists had sued the U.S. military, but Nihi co-founder Cara Flores saw a deeper problem: many local people had little grasp of the environmental threats posed by the ongoing military buildup in the Mariana Islands. She created Nihi to help educate the community, and to restore a broader sense of connection to the environment among islanders. Today, Nihi is an indigenous-run strategic media organization, producing media and educational campaigns — short films, two-minute ads, educational materials used in public schools, and more — to advance environmental justice and demilitarization. Mobilizing ordinary islanders is crucial, explained Siobhan Rumurang, a staff writer for Nihi. “The biggest stakeholders, a lot of times in climate justice and environmental justice decisions, have the least amount of information about the issues,” she said.
Nihi has five full-time staff — all working-class Chamoru, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands — and brings on contractors for larger projects. It serves the people of the Marianas, as well as any islanders indigenous to Micronesia. A major recent focus for the group: working to mitigate the risk of lead contamination from a live-fire U.S. military training range that sits on top of an aquifer that’s a key drinking water source. Nihi also is providing media support in the largest case ever brought to the International Court of Justice, in which over 100 countries and organizations are arguing for states’ legal obligations regarding climate change. Working with a Guam-based law firm involved in the suit, Nihi is highlighting the work of the indigenous Pacific attorneys and communities who have made the historic lawsuit possible. Nihi measures success by its ability to reach ordinary islanders. “If every year, more indigenous Chomorans in our community have more resources and more access to critical information, then that is a step closer to our goal,” said Rumurang.