Connections and belonging to ancestral lands are strongly and consistently argued as fundamental to Māori education, health and wellbeing. When our connections with and access to health-promoting places of belonging are damaged, we lose more than component parts of wellbeing. An entire cultural infrastructure integral to identity, community, spirituality, sustainability and even material sustenance is eroded, compromising health, wellbeing and vitality. Young people in rural areas are often seen as missing out on the amenities and attractions available in cities, but are assumed to have compensatory access to and positive relationships with 'nature'. For multiple reasons, many arising from colonial legacies, this is often not so for young Māori and there are initiatives underway that seek to reconnect them with customary environments. Place-based learning approaches that use local environments and ecosystems as living laboratories, reimagining the way students engage with knowledge, science and understandings of the natural world can be valuable in this respect. Te Rārawa Noho Taiao projects in the Far North of Aotearoa have been operating for nearly a decade, using Indigenous pedagogy that promotes Māori science, science leadership, and learning, applying them in ways that produce a range of health and wellbeing benefits. These include enhanced educational engagement, strengthened capabilities, increased participation/belonging, stronger connections, constructive peer processes and positive intergenerational interactions, all based in Māori values and praxis. Such elements are widely recognised in health-promoting frameworks as highly implicated in the creation and maintenance of health and wellbeing for individuals, communities and populations. In this paper, we use interviews with organisers and teachers of these Noho Taiao and a survey of student participants, to explore the educational and health promotion effects. (Global Health Promotion, 2019; 26(Supp. 3): 35-43)

Mana whenua (people with customary authority over land) have been grappling with the environmental collapse of Lake Ōmāpere in the north of New Zealand. The situation is of immense significance to us and Ngāpuhi-nuitonu (Northland tribes and sub-tribes). Use of the lake resource is determined by the health of the lake; the health of the lake and the health of people are intertwined. A restoration strategy was developed in 2005. This article provides some context for the key issues relating to the Lake Ōmāpere situation, discusses the community action approach taken and describes a climate of environmental mobilization where mana whenua knowledge and experiences are at the forefront of restoration. The account highlights the complex and multi-faceted nature of approaches to restore the ecological sustainability of these important waterways.

Complex multidimensional challenges have prompted a transformational shift towards holistic research integration with knowledge systems differing from conventional science. Embracing diverse ontological and epistemological approaches through new styles of collaboration, dialogue and practice enables durable solutions and desired outcomes. As societal and global issues become more urgent, complex and challenging, recognition of the intersection of the environment with economic, social, cultural and political dynamics means transdisciplinary approaches are advancing. Integrative, collaborative methodologies are central to indigenous-led research, providing insights for Western science. We describe characteristics of transdisciplinary research from the international literature and explore related kaupapa Māori (Māori theory and practice) approaches. Location-specific, indigenous-led environmental case studies from Aotearoa New Zealand show how they are transcendent of the transdisciplinary approaches they encompass. We demonstrate research beyond transdisciplinarity, modelling engagement, power sharing and collective action through integrative, collaborative endeavours across knowledge systems and praxis, stretching the development of transdisciplinary research everywhere.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori aspirations around land and water conflict with settler interests. As indigenous people, Māori struggle to enact agency over resources, despite Treaty (Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an 1840 agreement between Maori and the crown) settlement processes returning some lands. Returns are complex since changes wrought by dispossession may be extreme, requiring multiple stakeholder engagements. Tāngonge, a heavily modified wetland, in northern Aotearoa New Zealand has been the subject of iwi (tribe or tribes) claims since the 1890s. Reparation processes have returned significant areas surrounding Tāngonge to key iwi, Te Rarawa and Ngāi Takoto, who formed the Tāngonge Restoration Group to plan management and restoration. The vision of the iwi is to restore Tangonge as a wetland to rekindle usage by manawhenua (people with demonstrated authority and tribal links to the area in question) and local communities. However, perceived Māori privilege, distrust in Māori praxis and fear of alienation of stakeholders mean the situation presents challenges as well as opportunities. Understanding that various parties view knowledge in particular ways, the Restoration Group sought to juxtapose technical data and manawhenua knowledge about Tāngonge. Hydrology findings and local aspirations were aligned to produce ideas for actions that encompassed the broad concerns. This integration of knowledge provides strategic steps for working with administrative authorities who have historical and ongoing interests.

Community action research is an effective mechanism to improve the relationship between research and public health practice. The Alcohol and Public Health Research Unit (APHRU) and its Maöri research partner Whariki have developed practice in building partnerships with communities characterized by mutual respect of the different resources the partners bring to public health. A current APHRU/Whariki project focused on youth and drugs is a partnership with six communities in rural and urban areas throughout New Zealand, many predominantly Maöri. This project illustrates a model that aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, and to improve health and well-being through working with communities to increase their capacity to deal with alcohol and drug issues, and to introduce sustainable initiatives.