Helping Māori to make informed decisions about their whenua

Ki te kore te tāngata e manaaki i tōna taiao, Ka kore te tāngata e whai oranga

If people do not take care of the environment, we are not taking care of our own health and well-being.

There is a Tiriti obligation on the part of agencies and institutions, local government and central government to include mana whenua as part of any climate change adaptation approach, plan or policy. At Manaaki Whenua, Kaihautu Māori Research Impact Leader Dr Shaun Awatere leads a team of researchers building tools to help Māori landowners to make informed land management decisions through a te ao Māori lens.

The Huringa āhuarangi, Huringa Oranga research area recognises hapū and iwi in their role as kaitiaki by using both mātauranga Māori and science to build resilience programmes.

Shaun says the research helps Māori landowners to make informed decisions about climate change adaptation from a te ao Māori approach. “The way mana whenua see themselves within te taiao (the natural environment) is different from a te ao Pākehā perspective,” he says.

“A te ao Māori perspective acknowledges the connections between people and te taiao and considers issues such as intergenerational equity. This includes mātauranga and the aspirations of Māori technologies that inform policies for climate adaptation that are often context-specific.

Shaun adds it’s important to engage with whānau, hapū, and iwi on a local basis to understand what the community needs to be resilient to a changing climate.

The following three projects support the empowerment of mana whenua by using te ao Māori approaches for natural resource management and climate change adaptation. The projects are centred around what whānau, hapū and iwi need to build resilience through using adaptive strategies.

He Awa Ora, He Tāngata Ora: Healthy Rivers, Healthy Communities

Ka mau tonu ngā taonga tapu o ngā matua tūpuna, koinei ngā taonga i tuku iho, ngā te Atua

Hold fast to the treasures of the ancestors, for they are the treasures that have been handed down to us by God.

Kairangahau Māori Jade Hyslop leads He Awa Ora, He Tāngata Ora, a project investigating how the study of river shapes and patterns can help Māori-led catchment restoration strategies. “It’s about how that knowledge and insight can support community-led efforts to restore rivers in response to climate change in ways that are relevant and that align with iwi and hapū aspirations and vision,” she says.

Jade’s research has explored the links between sediments, water and vegetation across river catchments.

“As tangata whenua we think of awa as living beings. They are our tīpuna who we have an obligation to care for and protect, and who will look after us in return, as well as future generations,” she says.

Jade adds the project acknowledges both mātauranga Māori and science to find solutions.

“He Awa Ora, He Tāngata Ora considers how Māori have come to know and continue to know their awa, through mahinga kai practices, whakapapa connections, waiata, whakataukī, pūrākau, and many other rich sources of mātauranga. We are also interested in exploring how science can be better used alongside this mātauranga to empower and whakamana kaitiaki involved in river restoration.”

The He Awa Ora, He Tāngata Ora report acknowledges that contemporary river restoration is complex. While fluvial geomorphic tools are useful, they can’t capture the intricate relationships Māori have with the environment, which in turn drives restoration aspirations and practices. The report recommends meaningful river restoration that adheres to Treaty obligations enabling Māori to enact their rights of rangatiratanga, mana motuhake, and kaitiakitanga.

Whenua Koiora: Resilient restoration of wetlands informed by mātauranga-ā-hapū

Kimikimi noa ana, rapurapu kau ana Kei whea ngā matuku noho puku, ngā kawau horo ika, ngā ruru kai kiore E... ka rehua i te ata

Searching... seeking... in vain

Where are the shy furtive bitterns,the fish-gulping shags, the rat-devouring owls? They are fading from sight in the early morning haze.

Kairangahau Māori Mahuru Wilcox leads Whenua Koiora, a project involving kaitiaki Māori to identify climate change impacts on wetland restoration projects. Mahuru has developed a resilient restoration wetland plan in partnership with Ngāti Whakamarurangi for the Toreparu Wetland, West Coast, Waikato Region. Resilient restoration is about restoring natural habitats as well as providing Māori communities who live near wetlands with strategies to deal with these climate change impacts.

Mahuru says both mātauranga-ā-hapū (local hapū knowledge) and science are needed for a holistic approach to resilient restoration. “When we want to build resilient restoration plans for our habitats like wetlands, we need to be looking at what data is available. For Toreparu Wetland, which is very close to the sea, the inundation of saltwater is going to significantly impact the breeding habitats of native kōkopu and īnanga and affect where people may harvest tuna. Combining data from external sources, such as existing monitoring information, with historical records, and traditional place names around the wetland can all give indicators on what some of those community priorities are,” says Mahuru.

Mahuru says her role as a kairangahau is to support hapū aspirations based on mana whenua key priorities and aspirations.

“The mana whenua of Toreparu Wetland are Ngāti Whakamarurangi and the key priorities and sites of significance have been identified either through their [Motakotako Marae Hapū] Environment Plan, or through some of their mahinga kai priorities that they have for the marae. My role is to come in and support their aspirations and objectives and look at what climate data is available for those impacts, and how we move forward in terms of restoration and what that can look like.”

A Toreparu Wetland Restoration StoryMap is a publicly available resource that combines local historical knowledge, hapū aspirations for restoration, and future climate change scenarios to highlight restoration approaches of key priority sites.

He Ngahere, He Korowai: Resilient land-use strategies for whenua Māori

Noho tahanga a Papatūānuku kia whakakorowai i ai ia

Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) lays bare; we must recloak her

Keita Ngata (Ngāti Porou)

Senior researcher Dr Suzanne Lambie leads He Ngahere, He Korowai, a project focused on identifying resilient land uses on highly erosion-prone whenua Māori (Māori land). Suzanne has identified transition pathways for converting highly impacted erosion- prone whenua Māori areas from exotic rotational pine forestry operations to natural regeneration of diverse native permanent forest.

“Land use change from pasture and rotational forest production to native permanent forest on highly erosion- prone land will decrease the impacts of future storm events,” says Suzanne. “But for this to mitigate climate change, native forests need to be established in the very near future.”

Suzanne says the project is focused on creating resilient landscapes for future generations.

“He Ngahere, He Korowai seeks to understand the barriers and solutions to changing to more resilient land uses on highly erosion-prone whenua Māori.

As part of this we are investigating how much carbon is stored in naturally regenerating forests, after the pine has been harvested, to facilitate land resilience for future generations.”

The Natural Regeneration Transition Pathway provides landowners with the tools to identify and manage the highly erodible land of exotic pine forestry that could be converted to natural regeneration, as well as identify support mechanisms for funding to undertake the transitions. The project has developed a natural regeneration plan that outlines the stages of a 3-year site plan.