Highlights
Adult Oi
Te Urewera Stakeholder Summit
Te Urewera, in particular Te Urewera National Park, has held centre stage in the Tuhoe and Crown Treaty of Waitangi claim settlement negotiations for nearly four years. Aside from Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe (Tuhoe’s desire for inherent powers of self-government), the iwi’s aspirations include the return of Te Urewera National Park and restoration of their kaitiakitanga (guardianship) responsibilities. Key to this is an enduring governance system for Te Urewera National Park that embodies a Tuhoe worldview but which is interdependent with and meets the needs of all park stakeholders.
Te Kotahi a Tuhoe commissioned Landcare Research to undertake independent interviews and facilitate a Summit enabling stakeholders to define principles and priorities for the governance and management of Te Urewera National Park. Broadly, there was positive support — stakeholders felt they shared common ground with Tuhoe in relation to how they value and use the park. Overall, personal use and well-being and the intrinsic properties of Te Urewera National Park were the most commonly mentioned values. Stakeholders felt that the greatest contribution they could make to management was through advice and counsel, closely aligned with labour and expertise for delivering services (e.g. track and hut maintenance) and infrastructure (e.g. provision of boating facilities) in the park. Common issues centred around the possibility of a Tuhoe Authority being unencumbered; the loss of free, open access to the park; and potential loss of opportunity to in.uence management decision-making. Representation, transparency and accountability were the three most commonly listed principles for governance.
This summit was funded by Te Kotahi a Tuhoe
Customary harvest of seabirds
The results from our research into seabird populations support the Minister of Conservation’s decision to reinstate customary harvest of kuia chicks (grey-faced petrel, northern muttonbird) by Ngati Awa on Moutohora (Whale Island), Bay of Plenty, and their lifting of a 50-year-old rahui on harvesting chicks.
Te Tapatoru a Toi, a joint management committee consisting of representatives from Ngati Awa, DOC and the general public, wanted more information about the status of the kuia population and safe harvest limits. Using field data in predictive habitat and population models, we estimated that there was a population of 84,000 breeding pairs of kuia on Moutohora and that this population is growing at an average rate of 2% per year, which is consistent with a long-lived petrel species. Our population model predicted that the proposed level of annual harvest (200 chicks) by Ngati Awa posed a negligible effect to the kuia population. Harvesting within these limits means the birds will continue to deliver both conservation (e.g. marine nutrient transfer) and cultural benefits (e.g. matauranga revival and transfer) to the island and iwi.
This research was supported by MBIE contestable funding.
KEIA-R – decision framework
In collaboration with Maori organisations, under the umbrella of the Waahi-Whaanui Trust (Waikato-Tainui) and six marae that have strong genealogical connections to their ancestral river and lands, we developed a new framework to assist iwi/hapu groups and kaitiaki practitioners in organising and responding to growing workloads around resource management. Maori organisations increasingly have to address complex and interconnected cultural, social, environmental and economic issues, and to engage with many agency, industry and community groups.
Kaitiaki Environmental Impact and Assessment and Reporting (KEIA-R) is an issues-based framework that provides an easy way to capture and organise relevant information. It offers a step-by-step process guiding iwi/ hapu and kaitiaki practitioners through day-to-day cultural– environmental management issues for their region or district. It identifies the appropriate tools, processes and methods to address particular needs (e.g. processing of resource consents, cultural impact assessments) and achieve desired goals, aspirations and outcomes.
This work was supported by Core funding.