Holistic approaches to river restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand

A change of plan: Collaborative ambitions meet institutional realities for the Waikato River

“…This V&S articulates iwi values and aspirations for the rivers, including the use of m atauranga (knowledge). It aims to improve the health of the Waikato and Waip a Rivers, envisioning joint responsibility between stakeholders and M aori for both the restoration and protection of the river, with a particular focus on water quality and mahinga kai (food gathering) (Paterson-Shallard et al, 2020).…”

“…Aotearoa NZ exemplifies both the potential opportunities and challenges presented by moves towards collaborative decision‐making, as changing relationships between Indigenous Māori and the Crown (government) catalyse fundamental changes in how and by whom freshwater is managed. Settlements made in relation to Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi (signed in 1840 between the British Crown and a confederation of Māori chiefs), along with a growing body of jurisprudence recognising the mana (authority, prestige) of Māori in resource management are transforming resource management regimes and destabilising entrenched settler colonial institutions in Aotearoa NZ (Fisher & Parsons, 2020; Jones, 2016; Parsons et al, 2021; Paterson‐Shallard et al, 2020; Wheen & Hayward, 2012). Settlement of treaty claims have produced a proliferation of innovative co‐governance and co‐management arrangements between Māori iwi (tribes) and the Crown, often with a focus on freshwater.…”

Reanimating the strangled rivers of Aotearoa New Zealand

“…It is only in recent years, largely associated with the Treaty of Waitangi tribunal processes (Harmsworth et al, 2016), that the quest to redress indigenous dispossession and marginalization of Māori values has gathered momentum in Aotearoa New Zealand (Memon & Kirk, 2012; Parsons & Fisher, 2020; Paterson‐Shallard et al, 2020). Increasingly, efforts to break path dependencies incorporate formal recognition of Māori governance, values, and knowledge within policies, translating Māori values into tangible actions that seek to destabilize Western command‐and‐control approaches to flood risk management (Harmsworth et al, 2016; Parsons et al, 2019).…”

Indigenous Women’s Voices

“…Researchers have also identifi ed the relationships between geomorphology and culture as important for co-producing landscape and advocate combining landscape analysis and a focus on forms, processes and evolution, with human spatio-temporal relationships connected to space and home, and sociocultural interactions (Mould et al 2018;Wilcock, Brierley, & Howitt 2013), including an acknowledgement of intercultural communication, particularly with regard to Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous knowledges (Wilcock et al 2013). Such ways of seeing rivers in holistic terms are promising because they emphasize relationality, situatedness and complexity, which provides opportunities to dislodge dominant (modern) ontological framings and to accommodate epistemological and ontological diff erences, including M ā ori ways of knowing, doing and being (Fox et al 2017;Paterson-Shallard, Fisher, Parsons & Makey 2020;Wilcock et al 2013).…”

“…Th e Waikato-Tainui settlement acknowledged the ongoing degradation of the Waikato River (and tributaries) and the need to protect and enhance the river. Since the Waip ā River is the largest tributary of the Waikato River, the co-governance and co-management arrangements for both rivers are closely aligned (Paterson-Shallard et al 2020).…”