Indigenous Māori values and perspectives to inform freshwater management in Aotearoa-New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In response to widespread water quality and quantity issues, the New Zealand Government has recently embarked on a number of comprehensive freshwater management reforms, developing a raft of national discussion and policy documents such as "Freshwater Reform 2013 and Beyond" and a National Policy Statement for freshwater management (NPS-FM 2014). Recent resource management reforms and amendments (RMA 2014), based on previous overarching resource management legislation (RMA 1991), set out a new approach and pathway to manage freshwater nationwide. Internationally, there is an increasing trend to engage with indigenous communities for research and collaboration, including indigenous groups as active participants in resource management decision making. What is driving this change toward more engagement and collaboration with indigenous communities is different for each country, and we document the progress and innovation made in this area in New Zealand. The indigenous rights of Māori in New Zealand are stated in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and in many forms of New Zealand's legislation. Local and central governments are eager to include local indigenous Māori groups (iwi/hapū) in freshwater management planning processes through meaningful engagement and collaboration. Key to the success of collaborative planning processes for Māori are enduring relationships between local government and Māori, along with adequate resourcing for all partners contributing to the collaborative process. A large number of shared governance and management models for natural resource management have emerged in New Zealand over the past 20 years, and some recent examples are reviewed. We provide some discussion to improve understanding and use of the terms used in these management models such as cogovernance, comanagement, and coplanning, and describe some of the more important frameworks and tools being developed with Māori groups (e.g., iwi/hapū), to strengthen Māori capacity in freshwater management and to support good collaborative process and planning.

A geomorphic perspective on the rights of the river in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…Through creation beliefs, the river is a living being, an ancestor with its own life force, authority and prestige, and sacredness.This positions a river as not just a resource to be used or a hazard to be controlled, but as an ancestral force to be lived with, reckoned with and respected. This is reflected in several common Māori sayings, for instance, Ko au te awa , ko te awa ko au (“I am the river, the river is me”), “Harm the river and you harm my ancestors,” “Take care of the land, and the land will take care of you.” This reciprocal relationship entwines manaaki whenua (caring for the land) and manaaki tangata (caring for people; Harmsworth, Awatere, & Robb, ). Custodial linkages are expressed through kaitiakitanga (guardianship), with deep respect for ancestral linkages that position people as part of landscapes and ecosystems (Marsden, ).…”

“…Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi), signed in 1840 between the British Crown (now represented by the New Zealand Government) and the leaders of indigenous Māori iwi/hapū tribal groups, established a collaborative partnership that crosses jurisdictions, agencies, and communities to recognize and acknowledge indigenous rights. It conferred responsibilities and obligations on subsequent New Zealand governments to uphold the rights of Māori as British subjects and New Zealand citizens, while protecting their land, estates, water, forests, and other resources or treasures ( taonga ; Harmsworth et al, ). The Treaty has been the subject of heated debate since 1840, with various interpretations of its meanings both in Māori and in English (see Salmond, ).…”

“…Recommendations and settlements that have resulted from Tribunal processes have included formal apologies, as well as economic and cultural reparation (Ruru, ). The Tribunal has articulated a number of resource‐specific principles, while stating that the spiritual and cultural significance of a freshwater resource can only be determined by tangata whenua and their traditional rights (Harmsworth et al, ; Ruru, ). These principles, along with other advocacy, have engendered significant Māori reengagement with environmental management policy in Aotearoa New Zealand.…”

Integrating multiple aquatic values: Perspectives and a collaborative future for river science

“…In New Zealand, indigenous rights of Māori communities in resource management are legislated in the Treaty of Waitangi (1840), the Resource Management Act (1991), and a number of regional and national policy documents. Where examples of co‐governance and co‐management exist, collaboration is successful when indigenous groups are involved from inception, and where there is respect, understanding, and acknowledgment of different perspectives (Harmsworth, Awatere, & Robb, ). Mātauranga Māori, “traditional knowledge and ways of knowing developed over centuries” (Te Aho, 2019), is both a “method for generating knowledge and all of the knowledge generated according to that method” (Hikuroa, ).…”

Te Mana o te Wai: An indigenous perspective on rivers and river management

“…The indigenous Māori have long raised concerns about the degradation of freshwater in New Zealand, have highlighted the shortcomings in Western scientific approaches, and are leading the transformation of law and policy for better governance and management of all natural resources (Harmsworth et al, ). This has involved integrating tikanga (indigenous laws and values) in river governance and management.…”